Great

Rating: 10/10 (23 April 2001)

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. I don't think I could ever get tired of it or not be moved by some part of it. The story is so simple, but I've never seen or heard of another movie like it -- a document of two people meeting on a train in Europe, deciding to spend the day with each other and falling in love. There's a line in the movie which goes:
I believe if there's any kind of God, it wouldn't be in any of us. Not you, or me... but just this little space in between. If there's any kind of magic in this world, it must be in the attempt of understanding someone, sharing something. I know, its almost impossible to succeed, but... who cares, really? The answer must be in the attempt.
The movie is filled with intelligent lines like this between two intelligent, likable, complicated, confused people, just contemplating life and each other, which just hit me with their truth and beauty. It sounds cornball, I know. Ultimately, Before Sunrise may be nothing if not a test of how sappily romantic you are. But I think objectively it succeeds because it walks the line so artfully between realism and romanticism, and I think you have to be a little bit of both to like it: knowing how unlikely it is for a stranger on a train to change your life, but allowing for the possibility, and rooting for people who take it when it comes.
There's a voyeuristic element to the film, like My Dinner With Andres, or a documentary, where you're just listening to people talking, and it wouldn't be anything worth mentioning if it weren't so beautifully written, and completely believable. I normally don't like Ethan Hawke, but he's very good in this. And if you're a red-blooded male, you have no choice but to fall in love with Julie Delpy. A must see.