This viewing reminded me for some reason of my last viewing of Pieces of April. I wanted to take a look at Ethan Hawke’s performance more, since on the first viewing I was more mesmerized with Julie Delpy; but yet again, Delpy had a hold on my eyes that was hard to shake. Finally it happened, in a scene that should end up the Oscar clip for both performers: it’s in the car as Hawke talks about his wife and kids and the problems he’s having, as Delpy tries to reach out and comfort him.

Still, Delpy is the main attraction in this movie. And it’s all the more a mesmerizing experience since between my virgin viewing and now, I’ve watched the original Before Sunrise. I still feel the need to stress that you don’t need to have seen the 1995 movie before watching this, but it does add to the whole emotional arc.

I continue to be astonished by the realisation of the real-time structure. It’s even more subtle than I remembered. I’d remembered how brilliantly the light was altered throughout the movie, truly realistically, despite the film being shot over several days despite the story taking place in an evening; but for some reason I’d magnified this in my memory, so it was broad daylight at the start and then dark at the end. Instead, the light changes are just as brilliant, but incredibly subtle. Look at the way the setting sun bounces off the couples’ hair as they’re floating down the river on a tourist boat, compared to the grey evening light of the following scene in the chauffeur-driven car.

Halfway through watching this this time, I found myself saying, I’m gonna find myself on a perpetual loop with these two movies. Before Sunset makes me want to see Before Sunrise, and vice versa. Technically speaking, though, the sequel is by far the best.

I wrote before (30/09/04):

I’d heard a lot about this movie and since I watched and loved what is probably Richard Linklater’s most uncharacteristic project, The School of Rock, I also watched his Waking Life which was very interesting and re-watchable, I had a feeling this would be somewhere in the middle. Many reviews suggested it would be interesting to see Before Sunset before the movie it follows, Before Sunrise, and since I’m rarely in the position to do this with movie series, and it sounded like an interesting idea, I took the plunge and saw this first.

I think I would have preferred to watch them in order: I’m sure I will love Sunset when I watch it next. I think what will hold true for most people, though, is that whichever movie you watch second will be the one you love the most. It is an interesting set of movies in the way they play off each other differently. The thought that I’ll never get to see Before Sunrise “first” is almost like a thought directly out of Linklater, Hawke and Delpy’s screenplay, in fact.

I’m not usually good with these movies. I’ve yet to give Lost in Translation, a similarly sparse subtler-than-subliminal romantic travelogue, a third chance (I’m determined to find something not to hate in it). But Hawke and Delpy create fun characters to be around, and the Paris setting just can’t be dismissed. The realtime structure is handled almost miraculously (it must have been shot over several days, but it flows almost like a single take, performances, lighting, everything).

I wanted the movie to really grab me after all I’d read about it. So as time went on I was annoyed that nothing was really stirring deeper than cutesy emotions in me. That is until Jesse’s car shows up 20 minutes before the end. It was at that moment I suddenly realised, I didn’t want him to go, I didn’t want her to be left alone, I didn’t want them to part. Suddenly I realised that the romance had completely crept up on me. These two characters are so comfortable together, you don’t realise how special it is till that moment when it’s like, “Oh, here’s your car, so I guess this is goodbye!” and Delpy is so damned matter-of-fact about it, it’s incredible.

It’s going to be very interesting if they make another one in 10 years.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 8th, 2004 at 11:28 pm in Movie Reviews, unrated. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.