Before Sunset (2004)

Before Sunset, by Griz Bear Man

When "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith "came out, I read and heard lots of whining and complaining bout the dialogue and acting, which I defend on the basis that the acting and dialogue is in keeping with the concept of Star Wars (read my comments by looking up the movie).

To the whiners and complainers, I say, if you love great acting and great dialogue so much, shut up and go check out "Before Sunset" and its prequel "Before Sunrise" because you will get from both movies great dialogue and superb acting in rich, profligate, extravagant abundance, a veritable epicurean feast of great acting and dialogue. For my money these are two of the best flicks I have ever had the priviledge to see.

"Before Sunset" is the sequel to "Before Sunrise" and takes place nine years later--literally, for the sequel is actually shot nine years later. It is impossible for me to say which film is better because they are both so classy and the characters and dialogue so believable and so natural that they seem like real people that you would actually meet, not movie characters reciting a script. I will say, however, that I like Jesse (Ethan Hawke) better in the sequel because he has matured from the admittedly fascinating, lively but also more self-indulgent callow young man in the first movie to one who is more sensitive and empathetic with Celine. It also comes as no surprise to me that, since their first meeting (in "Before Sunrise"), Jesse has become a critically acclaimed author of a book (a fictional rendering of their first meeting nine years ago), because in the first film he shows himself to be a young man of keen, lively intellect and I sensed he had a kind of literary mind. But I don't like Jesse better because Ethan Hawke's acting is better (it was great in the first film), but for the reason I would like him better as an actual person, for his added maturity. I felt Celine was too good for him in the first film, but now he is much more worthy of her.

I have never seen better chemistry between two actors than between Ethan Hawke as Jesse and Julie Delpy as Celine. And what can you say of Celine? Except that she is every man's dream woman (unless you don't have a fucking pulse)! A beautiful very independent woman of high intellect, intelligent, educated, articulate, urbane, great sense of humor, and best of all (for me) an environmentalist (we need her likes to kick ass for wilderness). But, we also learn more about her, about her issues, and difficulties that make her a more complicated character which also complicates the relationship in the second film. Their relationship is still deliciously sweet, but there is now an edge that makes it even more interesting and compelling than before.

Believe me, things have become more complicated since they first met nine years ago, when they made a pact to meet again in Vienna after they met on a train, discovered one another to be soul-mates, and subsequently spent a gloriously enchanted evening of conversation and walking the streets of Vienna. Well, you find out what became of their pact (but I won't say what happened) and you also find out the magic is still there. As a result they face some difficult decisions, which come to a head in the film's delectably ambiguous ending. One thing I will add: I was actually disappointed these two had sex at the end of "Before Sunrise" but, now that I have seen "Before Sunset" I don't feel that way anymore. Their sexual relationship actually added to the poignancy of the second film as it plays out...well, anything to thikcen the plot--or conversation since the film is mostly conversation (which, like "My Dinner with Andre," is the genius of both films--to make a conversation damn interesting, more riveting by far than your standard action-adventure flick).

What the fuck, nothing I can say does justice to how great this film and its predecessor were--the respective fabulous settings of Vienna and Paris alone make each film well worth watching. So, instead, I will colse by taking yet another opportunity to diss the film "Closer" (which I do every chance I get for the flimsiest of reasons as it is one of the very worst films I have ever seen and I want to tell the world) by comparing "Closer" very unfavorably to "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset" "Closer" was billed as being a sophisticated, adult film. Poppycock! Its characters are rude, vulgar, and revolting. Moreover, far from being sophisticated or adult, they were juvenile in the very worst sense of the term. Therefore, if you want a mature, sophisticated, intelligent, gorgeous film with complex, highly appealing characters, forget about "Closer," and look no further than "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset."

Cheerio, mates!

Grade: A+ (Nobel Prize for Film Making, if only there was one!)