Monday 27 August 2012

Before Sunrise

Before Sunrise

Director: Richard Linklater.
Written By: Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan.
Photography: Lee Daniel.
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy and Andrea Eckert.
Year: 1995
Country: USA, Austria, Switzerland.


 Richard Linklater, a figure whose impact on American cinema is often understated, stunned everyone in 1995 with his simplistic and charming romance of two strangers finding love in Europe. 

 Jesse, played by Ethan Hawke, is an moneyless American travelling from Budapest to Vienna by train when he encounters a French beauty named Céline (Julie Delpy) making her way back to Paris. The two engage in discourse and strike an instant affinity for one another. When the train pulls up in Vienna, Jesse takes his chance and ask her to get off with him. Although they both know that he needs to make his flight back to the US in  the morning so they only have the one night together. 

 In their exploration through late night Austria they meet an assorted array of idiosyncratic characters, including avant-garde actors, fortune tellers and poetic bums. Raising similarities  to the film that made Linklater famous, Slacker. It's essentially the same film only giving it a story and changing the location from Austin to Vienna.    

 The film is written with a great deal of intelligence but not in a contrived way; it's apparent that the writers of the film (Linklater and Krizan) are both smart and it comes through naturally in the screenplay. The two characters, Jesse and Céline are likeable and well acted, unlike the unbearably cocky characters you get in most contemporary romances like the horrible The Notebook. 

 Before Sunset has one of the strongest female voices in cinema, developed from Kim Krizan and Julie Delpy's involvement in the film. Yet there is only one named female character in the whole film, so it's helps prove how little weight the The Bechdel Test holds.

 Guaranteed to make you laugh and likely to make you cry, Before Sunrise isn't another unrealistic and ostentatious romance film; it's a slice of real life and a showcase of real love. 

 Score: 5/5

   


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