DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

Okay, the doors are open on the discussion. I'll comment more later, but will say I came to this movie not knowing anything about it except I thought it was a LA Cop movie (I've no idea why), and really enjoyed it a lot. It's a beautiful little film.

Okay, GO!

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

this is in my top ten films of the 90s and is generally a go to for me anytime I just want to see something enjoyable. What I really like about it, is how it is a romantic comedy, without all of the trappings of the genre. It's just two people walking, talking, and getting to know each other over a 16-18 hr period of time

What is also interesting is their outlook on life. Both Jesse and Celine are very wide eyed and think that a lot of great stuff is going to happen to them. maybe it will, but its also refreshing to see these people really capture the positive mood of the mid 90s when most of the western world was in a big economic boom. We also see that both of the characters are much more learned then one would give credit to a 23 year old, and its also kind of sad to see how most mid 20 somethings today crave to be a reality TV celeb compared to how both Celine and Jesse just want something more meaningful with life

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

db,

you thought it was an LA cop movie?

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

so...yeah...KDawg pretty much just knocked it out of the park

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

[ QUOTE ]
db,

you thought it was an LA cop movie?

[/ QUOTE ]

I did. Confsed with Tequila Sunrise maybe?

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

I can't think of another movie that makes me grin more than this one...I love it to death. Whenever someone has the balls to make a movie about two people talking it always amazes me when it actually works. My Dinner With Andre and now Before Sunrise shows just what magic exists through simple, yet profound conversation.

It's hard to separate this from its sequel, Before Sunset, and I tend to gravitate towards the latter for the simple reason I can better relate to the wistful, somewhat jaded yet still hopeful realism that the two leads bring to the story as opposed to the sheer romanticism of youth that the first one so expertly captures. They're both little miracles of film making and are my two favorite romance movies ever.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

I liked Lost in Translation a lot more than this. I think Coppola did a much better job of relating to me the magic, wonder and beauty of those infrequent moments when we connect with another peson.

Before Sunrise seemed like an honest attempt at aspiring to something, whereas Lost in Translation actually succeeded. The connection made between the characters in Sunrise was much more trivial than the connection achieved in Translation. Sunrise seemed more about a physical need for company in life, Translation about a spirtual need.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

Before Sunrise and Before Sunset are my favorite romantic movies by far and they made me look into the other Linklater movies. I think he is a very talented filmmaker.

I recently watched Cleo from 5 to 7, a French movie that follows Cleo, a french singer, for two hours of her life. The last 15 minutes are she and a random guy from a park talking about different things in life. I know Linklater wasn't inspired by this (at least imdb doesn't mention this as inspiration), but that moment reminded me a lot of Before Sunrise. My favorite part of Cleo were those wonderful 15 minutes, and Before Sunrise managed to extend those 15 minutes into 100 minutes.

Before Sunrise also brings great memories of a trip I once made, so I have this movie in a special part of my heart.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

[ QUOTE ]
Both Jesse and Celine are very wide eyed and think that a lot of great stuff is going to happen to them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't get this impression at all. Especially from Jesse. I know he just got dumped by his gf in Spain, and has reason to be upset after flying over to be with her, but he seemed more bitter and for deeper reasons than that scenario would justify.

His reaction to to the poet (he probably uses the same poem with everyone and just plugs in the key word), the palm reader (she only tells you things you want to hear), the waiter on the train (service is too slow - although this may have been a slam on American impatience and the I want instant gratifacation syndrome as it was rehashed later by another American couple in a restaraunt)... these things and probably some others I just don't now recall, led me to believe Jesse was a sceptical, untrusting, pessimistic character who is going to lead a very lonely life.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

fyodor,

despite all that, he's still a generally optimistic character. or, at least when it comes to love. he's a cynic waiting for a hot French chick to steal his heart. he's an idealist and a cynic at the same time--take that final scene on the trail platform, for example. they won't write, b/c then all the romance and magic will be taken out of it, but they still plan to meet back there 6 months later. a "sceptical, untrusting, pessimistic character" would never do that.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

On the train platform he's caught up in the moment. He's just spent a night in a foreign country with a foreign girl and she's helped him temporarily forget his troubled life. 24 hours later he will know they won't be hooking up again in 6 months.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

[ QUOTE ]
On the train platform he's caught up in the moment. He's just spent a night in a foreign country with a foreign girl and she's helped him temporarily forget his troubled life. 24 hours later he will know they won't be hooking up again in 6 months.

[/ QUOTE ]

even without seeing the next chapter, I'd doubt that very much

even so, even if he did "know" that (b/c, really the odds are pretty astronomical), that wouldn't prevent him from taking steps to make it happen (like, heading across the ocean again). there's a diffence between being a realist and a cynic. Jesse is a realist, but that doesn't mean he's a cynic. if he were really a cynic, i very much doubt he would have even gotten her to get off the train in the first place.

there's a decent amount of optimism in that first few minutes.

hell, i'm a pretty big cynic, and i never once in the years between Before Sunrise and Before Sunset that Jesse didn't get on that plane 6 months later, unless something happened beyond his control that prevented him from doing so.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Both Jesse and Celine are very wide eyed and think that a lot of great stuff is going to happen to them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't get this impression at all. Especially from Jesse. I know he just got dumped by his gf in Spain, and has reason to be upset after flying over to be with her, but he seemed more bitter and for deeper reasons than that scenario would justify.

His reaction to to the poet (he probably uses the same poem with everyone and just plugs in the key word), the palm reader (she only tells you things you want to hear), the waiter on the train (service is too slow - although this may have been a slam on American impatience and the I want instant gratifacation syndrome as it was rehashed later by another American couple in a restaraunt)... these things and probably some others I just don't now recall, led me to believe Jesse was a sceptical, untrusting, pessimistic character who is going to lead a very lonely life.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think your examples really make a person cynic. He is sceptical, but not entirely pessimistic. It could be that on just those three subjects he has deep ingrained beliefs by the way he was raised. I am usually wide-eyed about life, but there are things where I am very sceptical, like things like palm-reading or people that see ghotsts and stuff. I don't think saying that palm-readers say what you want to hear gives any information on you. Saying that you believe in palm-readers would give a lot of information but not the other way around.
With the impatience, that could just be, as you mentioned, american impatience with service.

The one about the poet is the only one that seems pessimistic, but just one example, doesn't give much. Every person in the world has its contradictions, you can be very optimistic about most things but pessimistic about some.

I agree with pryor's view as realistic different from pessimistic.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

I would hate to have to rewatch this to dig out more. That's the impression I was left with though and when I thought of why, those are the examples I remembered.

Perhaps it was also the fact that he was so ready to express his negativity when the situations arose. It's obvious he wants to sleep with Celine and perfectly natural. When she was so charmed with the poetry, his immediate attempt to discredit it for her bodes poorly for his chances.

Maybe it goes more towards showing a conflict in his character, or his inexperience or something, but given it happened more than once, I read it the way I read it.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

[ QUOTE ]
I liked Lost in Translation a lot more than this. I think Coppola did a much better job of relating to me the magic, wonder and beauty of those infrequent moments when we connect with another peson.

Before Sunrise seemed like an honest attempt at aspiring to something, whereas Lost in Translation actually succeeded. The connection made between the characters in Sunrise was much more trivial than the connection achieved in Translation. Sunrise seemed more about a physical need for company in life, Translation about a spirtual need.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll disagree totally here. I think Translation ultimately failed in showing any kind of connection between the two main characters.

As Dom implied, once you've seen the sequel, Before Sunset, it's nearly impossible to separate the two movies.

I originally thought that Before Sunrise failed to show the connection also. But one viewing of Before Sunset will turn that belief around. I don't want to spoil it, so I'll just say the following in white: <font color="white">The second movie shows the profound effect their 16 hour encounter had on each other and makes the movie, when considered together with its sequel, work a lot better. </font>

For me, I guess that's why Before Sunrise succeeds--because I view it as just the first half of a really long movie.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

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I originally thought that Before Sunrise failed to show the connection also. But one viewing of Before Sunset will turn that belief around.

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You'll get the connection in Lost in Translation when the sequel comes out in 7 years. Meanwhile just trust me on this. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

Just want to say that I have the movie in my possession and have not yet read the thread...I'll be here within the next two days.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I originally thought that Before Sunrise failed to show the connection also. But one viewing of Before Sunset will turn that belief around.

[/ QUOTE ]

You'll get the connection in Lost in Translation when the sequel comes out in 7 years. Meanwhile just trust me on this. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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I guess I deserved that. My thoughts in brief: LiT was maybe a 4 or 5 on the IMDb scale. Before Sunrise, as a standalone movie, was maybe a 5.5 or 6. It was OK, but it could have been a lot more. The sequel was a very good movie, maybe an 8. So when you view Before Sunrise as being part 1 or 2, it becomes part of a successful movie that is about a 7.5 or so.

This isn't a LiT thread, but I didn't see any connection at all between the stars. It also could have been because I though Scarlett's character was incredibly boring. Delpy's character was great and I could easily see why Hawke's character would fall for her. They just seemed to click.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

IMHO, sunset was better (and it's not close, jadedness ftw).

Edit: Also, I thought Delpy was a lot, lot better the second time around. There's no scene that compares to her breakdown in the car. Genius.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

I liked this film a lot. The two leads were effective and totally believable as their characters, and the film really felt like we were eavesdropping on a really cool date (and appeals to the Nosy Neighbour inside all o us for this reason).

Not only do we get to really know about these two characters as they slowly reveal more about themselves, we also see the seeds of what might cause problems in their relationship (he's sharply and vocally cynical and hasn't learnt the wisdom some of us old guys have of shutting up when we see our woman happy in something we don't think much of, just happy that she's happy; she's maybe gullible, and a little obsessive), and wish our dates were all like this one.


This is absolutely the perfect date movie, btw. Not only does it set the perfect mood, it gives you a ton of subjects you can spin your own conversations from, and allows you to catch the mood of the movie.


And the man's a fool for letting the girl go (which he will, you can just tell. I haven't seen the sequel, btw, so no idea what actually happens).


Favourite part: The music booth. She's happy how it's going, waiting (but not impatiently) for him to kiss her, and he's not sure of his footing. Such a beautiful little moment.



I will be watching the sequel sometime soon.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

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I will be watching the sequel sometime soon.

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FWIW, I find the best way to watch the sequel is to give Sunrise at least a couple days to sit on your pallet before diving into Sunset. Give it a couple days to completely sink in. Then watch the next chapter. I've been hyping these films to a bunch of people and almost everybody who watched them back-to-back came back with lower opinions than those that gave it some time between.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

Well I’m a little late to the party but I just watched the film last night and loved it. Thank you, thank you to everyone who recommended it! I thought the performances by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy were brilliant and so natural. Wonderful script. I found myself hanging on every word.

I agree with diebitter about the listening booth scene. It was my favorite scene too. When she would look up at him he would look away and when he looked at her she looked away. You could feel the tension (nice music btw) and man did I want him to kiss her (and kiss her hard!) but he didn’t. Gah, men!

I thought the dialogue in this movie was really cool and unlike anything I’ve watched in recent years. Not pompous or contrived at all. I agree with Kdawg that both characters seem more learned than what we would expect and it was just wonderful.

Fyodor wrote –
“these things and probably some others I just don't now recall, led me to believe Jesse was a sceptical, untrusting, pessimistic character who is going to lead a very lonely life.”

Yes, I agree he was skeptical and slightly pessimistic but it didn’t matter to me. Like Celine said, what’s so wrong with conflict? We can have conflict and disagreements about important things and still feel love and admiration for the other person. You don’t have to agree on everything. It actually made the couple believable to me. His character became very masculine and logical. She was the romantic, wanting to believe in the palm reader’s words. He was the typical guy who scoffed at that kind of thing and enjoyed expressing his skepticism and creating conflict. It made him more real and yes even appealing.

I liked the part where they are in the bar (or was it a restaurant?) where they are pretending to be phoning home and talking with their friends. Delpy is just mesmerizing isn’t she? And that shot of them laying side by side in the grass after drinking their wine, Ethan Hawke has never looked so sexy. My only complaint about the whole movie…no sex scene! Why couldn’t the director have let that scene go a little longer before cutting?

I have to admit that I really didn’t want to watch towards the end. I dreaded the ending. What a tear jerker. It’s kind of weird because I never thought Ethan Hawke was very attractive before this but his performance was so nuanced and honest. I liked it better than Lost in Translation myself.

My question, will watching the sequel ruin the magic of this one for me? I am on the fence about renting the next one.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

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My question, will watching the sequel ruin the magic of this one for me? I am on the fence about renting the next one.

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No, it only adds to the magic.

I just realized that I didn't write up anything substantial in this thread. I did watch it, then about a week later I watched Sunset. Pretty much I agree with a lot of what was already said. And it's way better than Lost in Translation, even though I not sure why these two movies are being compared.

These are two of my favorite films. I always tell people that it's my example of a "perfect" film. The direction, acting, dialogue, scenery, story, romance, and even the unresolved issues at the end that kept me thinking about it days and years afterwards. All adding up to a film that, for what it's trying to accomplish, is as close to perfection as I've ever seen.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

[ QUOTE ]
My question, will watching the sequel ruin the magic of this one for me? I am on the fence about renting the next one.

[/ QUOTE ]

Katy,

if you only ever trust me about one thing in all of cinema (to borrow a phrase), this is it: you pretty much have to watch the sequel. If you don't, you'll regret it

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

I was the one that started the Lost in Translation comparison. After the similarities first crossed my mind I found where other people had compared them as well.

For me both movies were essentially about connecting with another human being. The largest chunk of our lives is spent alone in our brains. Our life experience, although it can be similar to someone else's, is essentialy unique. It is rare in life to really connect with someone else. I have close friends I have known for 30 years and we still don't 'know' each other.

Both these movies attempted to portray how special that rare connection can be when it happens. Sunrise tackled it as a love story and for me, was consequently much more mundane.

Translation was a deeper and more joyfull connection to behold. Translation was a tougher movie for me to watch as it was less clear for a longer time what it was about. When it pulled together in the end I was as blown away as I have ever been at a movie. I thought Sophia did a brilliant job constructing that film. I thought Linklater did a good job of constructing a love story.

I realize I'm in the minority. Sunrise (and Sunset) were both well made films with good acting, but for me they didn't really deliver anthing more than the story itself. Translation got me high.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

[ QUOTE ]


My question, will watching the sequel ruin the magic of this one for me? I am on the fence about renting the next one.

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The sequel makes the original all the more poignant and amazing. Before Sunset so incredibly good it's scary. And the ending to the second one will make you smile and smile and smile....go rent it now!

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

[ QUOTE ]
And that shot of them laying side by side in the grass after drinking their wine, Ethan Hawke has never looked so sexy. My only complaint about the whole movie…no sex scene! Why couldn’t the director have let that scene go a little longer before cutting?


My question, will watching the sequel ruin the magic of this one for me? I am on the fence about renting the next one.

[/ QUOTE ]


I actually really like the fact taht there was no sex scene. We all knew it happened when they were walking around at like 6 in the morning and that kind of adds to the magic of both films. THere are things that we know happened, but at the same time, don't really know. It plays on our imagination, which makes it fun

as far as watching before sunset, do it, do it soon, do it tommorrow. Actually, I'd give it a day or two and then watch it, but you'll love before sunset. I find myself putting it in a lot when I just want to see something that will make me smile and say yea at the end

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

God I want to marry Celine so badly. I just watched this film after having seen Before Sunset (weird watching that one first but actually I think it's a great way to go) and it is now perhaps my favorite film of all time (next to My Life as a Dog, and the Empire Strikes Back). Holy bajeezus it is good, and I'm a film production major so I would know [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] I actually liked Before Sunrise more than Before Sunset, maybe because I'm just a hopeless romantic myself and secretly wish (or not so secretly now) that I could be Ethan Hawke. Their whole encounter in Before Sunrise is just pure magic and so is the movie imo.

Why is this movie so good? It's genuine, it's more real life than a documentary. There are so many fantastic moments after the next and really it's just two people talking. Simplicity is lost in modern cinema. Audiences today demand special effects and fancy editing but really the most beautiful things in life are the most simple. For instance, I love my mom, because she's my mom and she loves me. Simple right? Beautiful? Yes. Circular logic? Yes, but sometimes the most true things in life can't be explained, and those are also some of the best things in life.

The acting blew me away. Hawke and Delpy, wowowow, amazing together. Personally I think Delpy is even better than Hawke, but maybe that's because I couldn't keep my eyes off of the Boticelli angel. If I could show one film to an actor to explain what great acting is this would be it. I've said this before but it's just so real. Half of that is the script which is zomg amazing. I can't say enough about this movie, but seriously I think it just changed my life.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

[ QUOTE ]
God I want to marry Celine so badly. I just watched this film after having seen Before Sunset (weird watching that one first but actually I think it's a great way to go) and it is now perhaps my favorite film of all time (next to My Life as a Dog, and the Empire Strikes Back). Holy bajeezus it is good, and I'm a film production major so I would know [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] I actually liked Before Sunrise more than Before Sunset, maybe because I'm just a hopeless romantic myself and secretly wish (or not so secretly now) that I could be Ethan Hawke. Their whole encounter in Before Sunrise is just pure magic and so is the movie imo.

Why is this movie so good? It's genuine, it's more real life than a documentary. There are so many fantastic moments after the next and really it's just two people talking. Simplicity is lost in modern cinema. Audiences today demand special effects and fancy editing but really the most beautiful things in life are the most simple. For instance, I love my mom, because she's my mom and she loves me. Simple right? Beautiful? Yes. Circular logic? Yes, but sometimes the most true things in life can't be explained, and those are also some of the best things in life.

The acting blew me away. Hawke and Delpy, wowowow, amazing together. Personally I think Delpy is even better than Hawke, but maybe that's because I couldn't keep my eyes off of the Boticelli angel. If I could show one film to an actor to explain what great acting is this would be it. I've said this before but it's just so real. Half of that is the script which is zomg amazing. I can't say enough about this movie, but seriously I think it just changed my life.

[/ QUOTE ]

very cool you liked these movies that much...if you want to see another side of Delpy's range check out Three Colors: White.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] this movie and would [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] to discuss, but just can't bring myself to watch it.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

Okay I finally got a chance to see this one. I liked it. I liked it a lot.

The characters where great and the performances just about perfect. I agree with Dominic about the idea of just 2 people talking can be very powerful when it works and here it really worked well. I felt the script was just about perfectly written.

I really liked the scene at the end that just went around showing for a few seconds all the places they spent their time together. I expect I will be watching the sequel in short order.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

I have the sequel ready to watch. Anyone else wanna parlay this particular club choice into a second part then?

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

[ QUOTE ]
I have the sequel ready to watch. Anyone else wanna parlay this particular club choice into a second part then?

[/ QUOTE ]
of course!

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

okay, let's discuss it,er, Friday?

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

Before Sunset


What a beautiful film. Again, the two leads really make a terrific impression, and their time together is magical and thoroughly engaging.

This film seems more realistic than the first. Stuff in the first like the poetry writer and the fortune teller seems like partly-forced devices to steer the conversation (and don't get me wrong, this is a very minor quibble), whilst the second seemed completely natural start to end.

It's also a deeply tragic film. It's always a little sad to compare youthful hope and optimism with older, wiser but less sure older versions of a person (watch "42 Up" to see what I mean), but it's way deeper than that.

I still remain unsure whether he actually turned up (I think he probably did, but I was convinced at the end of the first one he'd be the one not to show up, cos he didn't realise what he had in Celine), but he seemed to have attempted to move on past Celine in a way she couldn't. She was just lost, period. He didn't succeed in moving past her though.

The scene in the car was the most affecting to me, and I can't recall two actors in a realistic scene having such a strong effect on me, and being so powerful.

Their first time together seems to have been, in some respects, the ruin of them. They both met someone they deeply connected to, and it seems thereafter they could not get past it - I think some of us have had this (I know I have), to have really loved someone and lost them, and been haunted by the ghost of love lost for months and years and feeling lost, maybe hurting for being discarded so thoroughly and casually...

And I'm sure many men (and women) feel like they're 'running a small kindergarden with someone they once dated' too, life sometimes works out like that. But they continue that way because of the deep and profound love for their children, and believe that they are doing what is best for their kids, like Jesse says.

I was saddened when she suddenly mentioned she'd read he was married with a child - up till that point I thought the sky was the limit for them, but after I knew if they were to be together, people would get hurt. And if they weren't together, they'd never be happy.

I think I'll probably not watch this movie for a long time - it saddened me deep down. Even with that GREAT ending.


Ah, I'm rambling, and probably have more to say, but I'll let others speak first.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

I've got it in my possession and will try to watch this evening. I'm not reading your review until then.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

the car scene may be one of the best 5-10 minute scenes in film. yea, it was that good. What I really love is that there still is some of that bright eyed kid in them when they get back together, but time and relationships prevent them from bringing out that side fully in them. You see them wanting to fully reach out to one another but holding back because a) it's been 9 years and b) they are both in relationships and have to honor that fact though both of them clearly just want to be with each other.

what really gets me more with this one is that it's all in real time. What we see is their actual time together up until the end. I really think that really sucks us in and really makes us believe that we are just peering into these two people's lives for 80 some odd minutes and it just makes it all that much more real. What I like about this the most is that these two people are people that we may come across in our daily lives, granted, they are better looking and quite possibly much more interesting then the general populace, but, real nonetheless. THey have normal problems and Linklater doesn't glorify their problems by making them out to be more then they are. This is a film that I personally have watched probably 12 times and have picked up a lot of stuff each and every time.

something interesting that I realized later was that in waking life, Linklater gives us a possible spoiler for their story. of course, it could just be his way of messing with us

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

[ QUOTE ]

It's hard to separate this from its sequel, Before Sunset, and I tend to gravitate towards the latter for the simple reason I can better relate to the wistful, somewhat jaded yet still hopeful realism that the two leads bring to the story as opposed to the sheer romanticism of youth that the first one so expertly captures. They're both little miracles of film making and are my two favorite romance movies ever.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agree 100% and although Before Sunrise is a wonderful film I think the sense of regret that permeates the sequel makes it even more powerful.

I also think it's a crime that neither Delpy or Hawke were nominated for their acting in Before Sunset. 2 of the most believably natural performances I've seen.

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

It's hard to separate this from its sequel, Before Sunset, and I tend to gravitate towards the latter for the simple reason I can better relate to the wistful, somewhat jaded yet still hopeful realism that the two leads bring to the story as opposed to the sheer romanticism of youth that the first one so expertly captures. They're both little miracles of film making and are my two favorite romance movies ever.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agree 100% and although Before Sunrise is a wonderful film I think the sense of regret that permeates the sequel makes it even more powerful.

I also think it's a crime that neither Delpy or Hawke were nominated for their acting in Before Sunset. 2 of the most believably natural performances I've seen.

[/ QUOTE ]

Strangely enough, they both WERE nominated for Oscars for this film - for their screenplay (along with Linklater).

Re: DVD Discussion: Before Sunrise
 

This one touches me more than the first, too - mostly for the reasons DB mentioned. There's something so incredibly melancholy about it that just, well...hurts. Lost love, choices made and not made, regrets, feeling like you're stuck in a life not of your making but still somehow responsible for...believe me, I can relate.

And what's even more touching to me is the two leads physical presence. It's 9 years later and Hawkes is more gaunt with lines around his eyes and face, yet that youthful passion and light is somehow gone from his eyes. It's as if the weight of his responsibilities weigh him down. And Delpy, though still incredibly beautiful, has lost some weight (like so many 30-something women feel they must do); that lush ripeness of youth is no longer there. Her character also seems manic, almost desperate now - for that connection to be real once again. You get the feeling that if she found out it had been merely a figment of her romanticized youth she would have a breakdown.

The car scene is very real, and it's painful to watch. If the movie had ended there it would be almost unbearable. Thank god then for the magical place it does end on! Delpy's dance and song (which she did, in fact, write herself) is so perfect and romantic and real that it leaves me with a high I don't come down from for days.

Perfect, perfect film. One of my top ten favorites for sure.