BEFORE SUNSET

Director: Richard Linklater (Before Sunrise, Dazed and Confused, The School of Rock)
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy

Not having had the benefit of seeing Before Sunrise I had to take this film on its own rather than as a matching bookend to that film. The structure of the story allowed for this, but I'm nonetheless convinced that the predecessor film is necessary to truly enjoy this one. The two films: First, as young adults, an American and a French girl meet and fall in love in Vienna. They promise to meet again in 6 months, but we never find out if they do. In this film, it's years later and the two meet again (but not as they had planned in Vienna), discuss what happened with their lives, and fall in love yet again. Here we get a sense of the passion these two felt years before, but without my having seen it, I don't think it came across as purely as it would otherwise. Certainly the passion of these lovers was evident this time around, but it seemed strange not knowing their history when it's all they could talk about. Despite this it is an interesting film, creative and well acted. My last concern is that while it is intriguing to watch to people really fall in love (as opposed to most absurd movie love), it's also a little annoying. I don't love these people. I like them, sure, but I don't love them. I'll assume my grade might change a bit once I see the original film, but for now ...

Standouts: The dialog. Simply great dialog. The tone. The central idea of the film.
Blowouts: I was a little annoyed by the characters after a while.

Grade: B