Before Sunrise
Cast
N/A
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rater #2
7/10. Romance is basically dead in movies. We get romantic comedies, but
those usually involve calling people the wrong name in bed. But epic
romances a la Gone with the Wind are basically, um, gone with the
wind. That is, before Richard Linklater came along. I'm not calling
his Before Sunrise an epic romance by any means, but it's a nice,
small romance that actually has believable characters in a
believable circumstance. You can't really get that from a
recent "romance". What Linklater (and co-writer Kim Krizan) create
is an engaging love story that, unfortunately, has never heard
of "too much of a good thing".
Taking a train through Europe, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) starts talking
with Celine (Julie Delpy). He convinces her to get off of the train
in Vienna to spend his last European night with him. They wander
around the town, talking about life, the universe, and everything,
as the clock winds down, because Jesse has to catch a plane.
Before Sunset, the sequel to Sunrise, has basically the same format.
The conversations in both are very interesting and entertaining, but
I'd say that Sunrise's conversations were more varied. Some were
more interesting, some were less interesting, and some were
mediocre. But it's the conversations that make both Befores such
great movies. They let you get inside of the characters, realize
what they're thinking and how much like real people they are. And
not only is the dialogue entertaining, but it's thought-provoking
and all natural. It all seems ad libbed, which it isn't, which
finalizes the humanity and the true-to-life qualities of these
people.
But where the second one succeeded, the first one failed. The second
came in at a quick 80 minutes, which was 80 minutes of dialogue
shown in real time, creating a very intimate bond between the
audience and the characters. In Sunrise, it's not in real time
(which is okay, but not up to par with the sequel), which allowed
unnecessary establishing shots to be put in. But what was the worst
about this movie was its inability to end. Instead of doing
something like the short 'n sweet 80 minutes of the second film,
after 80 minutes is up, Sunrise isn't over yet! You've had enough of
these characters and you want the movie to end (in a good way), but
the movie keeps on chugging along. It goes on for 20 more minutes,
and it doesn't even have a successful climax. That's the worst part
of the film-it keeps on going and going, but it really overstays its
welcome and becomes too repetitive towards the end. Obviously, you
should see this movie before the sequel, but I think it's safe to
say that Sunset is the better movie overall.
Rated R for language.
Running time: 100 minutes
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