Well-Acted, Directed, and Written

Rating: 8/10 (15 May 2017)

Before Sunrise follows a young man and woman who meet on a train and realize how good their chemistry is, so they decide to hang out for the rest of the night.
As per usual, Ethan Hawke kills it. While I wouldn't call this his best performance, he's still fantastic. And same goes for Julie Delpy. She does a great job, and the two play off of each other so well. It's a relationship that was actually authentic. I bought the idea that these two people were this compatible and could form a relationship.
The writing is fantastic. Partly the reason why these characters are so authentic and fleshed out is because they are both given personalities portrayed by amazing writing. Their characters are thought out and well developed by the end.
Another thing that came as a surprise was the directing. There were a handful of shots that went on for several minutes, during which the characters just talked. They had a huge chunk of lines to memorize and they had to play these particular characters for the entire time, again proving how great the actors are. Sure, there was probably a lot of improvisation, but even then it's still impressive that they managed to stay in character that long.
If I have but one problem with the movie it's that it could drag from time to time. Considering the movie is made up completely of conversations between two people over the course of several hours. It's not exactly exciting or riveting in plot, it's relaxed. And sometimes I felt like that too, maybe a little too much.
Overall Before Sunrise is a very well-acted, written, and directed film that suffers from being a tad slow. While it isn't a movie I can see myself watching again anytime soon, I absolutely enjoyed it, and in the end I would recommend it.