Contemporary romance at it's best....

Rating: 9/10 (15 April 2007)

"Think of this as time travel" Jessie (played by Ethan Hawke) says to Celine (Julie Delpy). After spending moments on a train with a beautiful French student, an inclined cocky young American utters these words in a proposition, which sees two people embark on an impulsive journey around Vienna, where romance slowly flourishes.
I've seen Before Sunrise several times now, for the first time a year after its release, and years later when I revisited the film after buying it on DVD. Still years later, the film maintains it's independent glow, and beautifully eloquent dialogue. Jessie and Celine walk the streets of Vienna, visiting cafés, shops, and parks like a pair of tourists on an ignorant quest to discover the real Vienna as well as themselves. The two discuss situations, and exchange thoughts and ideas in an articulate skillful approach that accompanies their yearning to learn more about each other. The film works because the director clearly spent blood and tears painting such complex characters. Their discussions are so private and truthful you have to feel almost ashamed that we cant allow them share their moments on their own, and yet we feel so blessed that we are able to witness these situations. Before Sunrise is above all an honest perception of modern relationships and social interaction. It is a film that carefully expresses its need to believe in love, as it exists today through the eyes of two total strangers who derive from different worlds. This truly is one of director Richard Linklater's most personal films, and it adopts a very European independent style of film-making, which embodies everything that defines Linklater as one of the leading indie masters of our time. It raises questions through its ambiguity and forces the audience to question their own beliefs and approaches to our own unsettling need to find a connection with someone, just like the characters. There are clearly very few films like it, and it successfully raises the bar for which other contemporary drama/romance films will find it difficulty to reach within its depth, intelligence and warmth.