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| Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in 1995's "Before Sunrise" |
I first saw the Richard Linklater movie “Before Sunrise” as a rental way back in 1995, and I mean to tell you, it blew me away! Besides giving my first glimpse into the loveliness that is Julie Delpy, I was taken in by the film’s slow, gentle pacing and attention to details.
The story of two young passengers on a train named Jesse and Celine (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) who make an impulse decision to spend an evening together walking around Vienna immersed you so completely that for weeks after I still felt like I had BEEN in Germany!
After a chance meeting on the train, the two chat up, and taking a chance, Jesse works up his courage to ask this interesting young girl to spend time with him til his morning connecting train. Once they get off the platform and step out into the streets, it is one long, magical night of two people non-stop talking away the time, getting to know each other better and better.
As witnessed by his other great classic “Dazed and Confused” (which I’ve raved about here), Linklater takes great care in introducing you to likable characters, dropping them into vibrant backdrops, and then sitting back and let you just take time to enjoy being with them. Restaurants with chatty regulars, Quaint bookstores and Record Shops, the two take in the nightlife of Vienna, and you are RIGHT THERE WITH THEM!
One of the things I really, really love about Before Sunrise is the subtle passage of time. As the two walk around, behind them you can see the day go from afternoon to sunset, to a bustling city nightlife to midnight where only the night owls are about, to very early morning where it seems Jesse and Celine are the only two alive, and then finally the crisp, chilly following morning!
For weeks I couldn’t stop telling everyone around what a fantastic find Before Sunrise was, but the slow paced premise didn’t really draw much enthusiasm. In fact, one girl I recommended the movie to rented it and came back to me a week later saying, “Z, you know that movie "Before Sunrise" you suggested?”
"Yes?", I asked, hopefully.
She shook her head disappointedly and exclaimed, “That Movie Sucked!!!”
LOL, it was then that I realized the charm of the movie was not for everyone!
*Attention: Mild Spoilers ahead*
Before Sunrise ended with Jesse and Celine promising to meet back in Vienna in one year’s time, and we are left with wishful hopes that the two would do just that. A perfect if ambiguous end, so I was surprised when I saw that in 2004, Linklater, along with now co-writers Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, had come out with a SEQUEL to Before Sunrise, called “Before Sunset”!
The time is about 10 years since that fateful night, and Jesse, whom we know has had aspirations of becoming a writer, is now an up-and-coming author, out in Paris promoting his new book, the contents of which are (with names changed, of course) -all the events of that magical evening with Celine back in 1995.
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| Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy reprising their roles in 2003's "Before Sunset" |
At a book signing, Jesse looks up and whom should he meet but his beloved Celine herself. After the signing is over, the two get to talking again. Turns out that while Jesse did in fact return the following year to Vienna as promised, Celine’s grandmother had died so she hadn’t made the trip.
I have to say that at the time I couldn’t get into this second movie. It seemed to me like they created a reason for the two to NOT be together so they could re-use the plot of the first movie, and when the two began walking around the city that evening re-discovering each other, I didn’t connect like I did the first. Oh Well, I still really loved the first one.
So, fast forward to this past year, where I’d recently dug up the 1995 movie “Killing Zoe” (which I talked about here) with Eric Stolz as a Safecracker in Paris, and my GOSH, Julie Delpy was SO freaking gorgeous, I was dying to watch Before Sunrise again. Going online, I found that there was a special collection that sold both Before Sunrise AND Before Sunset as a two-disc set.
As soon as I got the set in the mail I popped Before Sunrise in and not only was it even MORE beautiful and magical than I remembered…but THIS time, even Before Sunset blew me away! As I re-watched it, I just couldn’t understand why I didn’t love this sequel the first time I saw it , but better late than never! My GOSH, I found that I loved it just as much as the first one now, rewinding scenes over and over, and MAN, the scene with Celine doing her little Nina Simone set was just MESMERIZING!!!!
After that, I wanted to read more about Linklater, Hawke and Delpy and, going onto trusty Wikipedia and reading up on Richard Linklater and his projects, I was absolutely STUNNED to find that just this past year, the three had made yet ANOTHER SEQUEL to the Before Sunrise Movies!!!
Called “Before Midnight” the film takes us yet another 10 years into the future where we find Celine and Jesse vacationing in Greece. I couldn’t BELIEVE there was another film, and immediately ordered it! The film came in today, and once again, I am just TAKEN with the story of these two souls!
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| Celine and Jesse in 2013's "Before Midnight" |
Where the first film was about romance and whimsy, Before Midnight is a more realistic take on what happens to the two star-crossed lovers when reality sets in and you find you’re actually living your life...
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| Greece Trip with Twin Daughters in Tow! |
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| Having a chat with Son Hank |
Jesse has his son Hank (from his previous marriage) with him, and we are to find that not only is he still with Celine after all these years, but they share two beautiful girls between them as well! A much more somber tone that the first two, but so good, I tell you, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are freaking’ AWESOME as the (now) 40-ish couple! So, sooo good!
Richard Linklater has, of course, most recently been the subject of praise for his latest wonderful movie Boyhood,(whihc also, coincidentally, stars Ethan Hawke as the Father) and his fantastic idea to shoot a boy’s life over the course of 12 years using the same actors so that you actually see them grow up in the film… Folks I talk to are surprised at the extremes Linklater has gone through for the sake of his vision, but as a fan of Dazed and Confused and now his wonderful SUNRISE Trilogy, I’d expect nothing less!!!
PS: Years later, I met up with my friend who had had those less than praiseworthy words about Before Sunrise, and while we chatted about movies, she said, “Did you see that movie Before Sunrise?”
I stopped, and cautiously said, “Yes, of course….”, to which she then said, “that movie was awesome!”
In shock, I stuttered back, “B-but you told me you thought that movie SUCKED!”
“Oh, Did I?” she shrugged and smiled, “Well, I saw it again recently, and I loved it!”
LOLOLOL
