Movie Review: Before Sunset
Apr 22nd, 2008 by admin
- Director: Richard Linklater
- Genre: Drama/Romance
- Year: 2004
I have to say, I love action, science fiction and dream worlds as much as the next man, but sometimes it’s these little movies that touch you, movies that could have been set down the street from your home with your neighbors as actors.
This movie, like the first one (Before Sunrise) takes place in a fraction of time, just hours before Jessie’s plane leaves back to New York. This time the setting is Paris, instead of Vienna and this time they have less time together. Expect little more than conversation…in the end, that is what this movie boils down to, the type of conversation that is believable enough to think you could have it, or some day have it.
It helped that I saw ‘Before Sunrise’ just a week ago, given the fact that the second one references the first quite a bit (as it should) the details were still fresh in my mind. This time around, the awkwardness of Jessie and Celine has been shaved off. It was not bad in the first one, in fact you expect it to be there, given that it is the first time they meet and are complete strangers. This time around the characters have set into their place but more importantly they have claimed their place in the actors. Occasionally you are reminded that it is a movie…realistically speaking, even here the conversation seems a bit forced, when you know that in a situation like that there would be more uncomfortable silences and perhaps a bit less monologues. However…to give us something that realistic would probably erase the charm this movie contains.
All in all I thought this was a very good movie. Simple, charming and thought provoking if nothing else.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Notes: Its an independent film and it circles mostly about conversation. There is not tremendous climax or moments of suspense. If you are easily bored, you may have a hard time with this one.