Before Sunset
Review by Loc

Let us journey back to a time when Before Sunset was only a smoldering thought in someone’s mind. Yes, before Before Sunset there was Before Sunrise, the artsy little romantic flick featuring a young Ethan Hawke getting his freak on with Julie Delphy. To be honest, still have not seen the whole thing in its entirety to this day. Now, jump ahead nine years and we’re treated to the sequel. And once again, time plays a vital part to this film as our once-young lovers meet again for only a fleeting moment. Why discuss this film now, two years after its release? Because it’s moved into “the important movies” list of the BMF database. It’s so important that this review will be less review and more discussion. Read on.

Some of you may enjoy the talky movies, flicks dominated by characters discussing stuff instead of blowing things up. There are many different types of talky flicks, something like Pulp Fiction qualifies even though its most vivid images are the excessive horrors found in the underbelly of life. Yet, when you boil that movie down, it’s about Jules and Vincent discussing the vagaries of vagrancy in a coffee shop that make it Pulp Fiction. That’s one end of the spectrum, clever, deconstructed dialogue that the actors chew up on-screen.

Then there’s something like Searching For Bobby Fisher. Now, some of you may wonder why that movie keeps getting so much attention here at BMF. Well, that’s because it too has ascended into “the important movies” list. And some of you may continue to wonder, why? Well, Searching For Bobby Fisher delivers something so rare in cinema: heart. It’s a quiet little movie about a kid genius, and yet the whole movie revolves around his relationships with his father-figures: Ben Kingsley’s chess teacher, Lawrence Fishburne’s chess mentor, and Joe Montegna’s chess dad. I’ve heard it described as “that boring chess movie,” and for some, it probably is a boring chess movie. Mostly for those people who have no soul. But I digress, Searching For Bobby Fisher is a talky movie because the film depends on the relationships that develop between kid and others, no stuff going boom, no people getting killed. If you haven’t seen it, I would say, “Don’t move until you see it.” If you have seen it, then you’ll enjoy the glorious pun I just delivered.

Before Sunset is a talky movie, it’s a flick about two people strolling through Paris on a lazy afternoon, shooting the shite as well as anyone. Boring you say? True, some will find it boring. Once again, those lacking souls. However, when you start to pay attention to what the characters are saying, what they’re avoiding to talk about, what they’re itching to say but can’t, you begin to see the heart of the film. Can they be self-involved pansy-ass pansies? Well, sure. But seriously, watch Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy navigate through a mine-filled conversation and you begin to realize, maybe just maybe, you’ve been there, too.

To give the briefest of plot synopses, Before Sunset picks up nine years after the star-crossed couple met on a train in Europe. At the end of the first film, there was hope they would reconnect in six months and rekindle their magical relationship. What is great about the sequel is that the fairytale never came to be. Not because of anything catastrophic, simply because life went on and karma dealt them an uneven hand. So now, nine years later, Ethan Hawke’s Jesse is concluding a book tour in support of his romantic semi-autobiographical novel and finds himself in Paris. Julie Delphy’s Celine has come to the bookstore to see her ghost from the past.

Over the course of 90 minuets, Jesse and Celine wrestle with how to approach each other. You see the awkward reunion give way to guarded friendliness, which turns into regretful reminiscing. It unearths forgotten yearning and bittersweet memories. And in the end, you have two people who connect and yet, two people who have missed their connection as life pushed them forward. Do you let it all go and live the life you’ve built? Do you let life go to find yourself with the one thing that has been missing? Or do you do a little of both and struggle with the results?

There are few answers in Before Sunset, just a reflection of how easy life moves on with or without you on board. What makes it stirring is how they’ve grounded the characters into a fitful reality. There’s no grand reunion and fireworks in the sky. There’s no life-altering kiss and fairytale following. There’s no depressing remorse. No relentless darkness. There is life, two people’s lives, and how their brief 90 minute encounter affects them.

One of the more amazing aspects of the film involves the briefest snippets of dialogue. As Jesse describes what his next novel might be, he goes into detail about how he’d like to write about a single moment in time framed by a single song. During that song, a young father watches his daughter playfully dance her worries away. At the same time, he remembers the song played when he met his high school sweetheart and how she danced atop his car as the song played over the radio. And for that moment, both events were real to him, there was no past or present or future, time was not a confining linear path. For that moment, everything was true. Keep note as you watch the film and realize how it might reflect the proceedings. Take note of how Jesse’s description of the moment mirrors what happens later on in the film. And ask yourself how everything might be happening at once for Jesse, how it all fits together.

There are little things like that, little things that make the film a little more transcendent than two people yammering away for over an hour. Watch the opening montage of images and you’ll notice they are very specific places in the film. Pay attention to the order of the montage and you’ll realize they have significance as well. Then connect that to Jesse’s statement about time, about everything colliding into a singularity. It’s all very cool.

In the end, Before Sunset works because I’m willing to relate to the characters. If you don’t want to go there, probably best to just write this one off as one of Loc’s ramblings. If you give it a shot, give it some time to stew in your head. Let it percolate and simmer in there. Then if you only watch the beginning moments again, you’ll at least recognize the significance of the montage. If you make it all the way to the end, you’ll see the fade-to-black and wonder what that last glimmer was on the screen. You might even rewind it to see. And you might pay attention to the music a little too. And you might find that Celine’s last line holds more weight to it than you initially imagined.

In my brief existence, and some of you may say it hasn’t been that brief, to which I say, you’re so funny. In my brief time here, I’ve found that life twists and turns at it pleases. Sometimes you’re totally in synch and enjoying the ride, sometimes you’re not. Most of the time you’re futilely trying to massage its path, hoping you can control the outcome. Sometimes you’re successful. And sometimes you have to wait nine years to see the girl again.