The impact and idea of time and the power of human connection explored in one beautiful package

Rating: 9/10 (26 February 2015)

The kind of connection the two lead characters in Before Sunrise merit is the kind of connection I've only managed to achieve a few times in my life; it's the connection with someone who is a complete stranger, but as soon as you meet him, your wall of protection and tact almost completely crumbles. You feel compelled to share personal information with this stranger, deep thoughts that no one other than you have pondered or heard, and talk until your throat is raw about everything you can think of in that given moment. Your become verbally diuretic, and after it's over, you're upset that the conversation has ended, but you've achieved a state of personal tranquility thanks to a release of all that was on your mind that you are at a sort of bliss. It's a strange thing to articulate, and those who have had that kind of connection know precisely what I'm talking about. To those who can't pinpoint that kind of connection (if you have to think hard about it, you've probably never had one), you're in for one soon.
Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise, which kickstarted a trilogy that spanned the course of three separate decades and analyzed Linklater's favorite cinematic idea, time, is an ode to that kind of comfortable, life-affirming connection we all should experience. Linklater thankfully devotes an entire film to that kind of connection, making a film entirely focused on characters rather than the events, the location, or the supporting characters surrounding them. It's as if Linklater got fed up at watching interesting characters, their motivations and their potentials, in other films squandered so other, more trivial matters could be attended to. In Before Sunrise, he strips down everything to two central characters and their views on a variety of different issues, philosophical ideas, and past experiences.
Those two characters are Jesse and Céline (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy), who, from the moment they meet on a train-car from Budapest heading to Vienna, they reveal personal details and personal opinions on love, romance, and just their general upbringings. When Jesse's stop at Vienna finally rolls around, he convinces Céline to hop off the train with him, to which she throws caution to the wind and obliges. The two divulge in a great deal of personal matters together; he is a romantic soul masquerading as a cynic after breaking up with his girlfriend, the whole reason he's in Vienna in the first place, and she has fallen before and is cautious about doing so again. The two, however, recognize their separate agendas and treat this night as their one and only encounter, leading them to get personal and loquacious with one-another while walking through the entire city.
As stated, Linklater strips this film back a plethora of layers to simply being about these two characters. Linklater even limits pictorial distractions, as the two characters walking through the city of Vienna leaves for a great deal of possibility to stumble upon something distracting. That occurs, if I remember correctly, once in the film, and it's incorporated so well into the discussion and the flow that you're bound to miss it. It's no lie that Linklater has seriously found himself committed to making this project about this simple yet unbelievably affecting kind of connection, which, in this case, transcends personal bounds into becoming romantic, leading the characters to question how they feel and how they want to proceed.
Hawke and Delpy, I feel, aren't doing much acting here; part of me feels they're conveying their own kind of presences to one another and that there's little effort required on their part to change who they are or become something they are not. The film also bears the necessary pacing element of being lax and carefree, never rushing these characters onto the next setup nor making them take detours for comedy's sake. This is Linklater driving the truck down a path that has many different routes and he chooses the most direct route, and simultaneously, the most beautiful and mystifying.
Before Sunrise beautifully illustrates the power of human connection through two strong performers and a writer/director obsessed with the impact and idea of time and the realism and the aforementioned kind of connection. Here, he displays his affinity and talent for both through a film that is equal parts contemplative in a philosophical sense and also incredibly beautiful on a human scale. This is a romantic comedy for people who have grown sick and tired of falsified, picturesque romantic comedies and hunger for something genuine, real, and lasting, much like the impact of these characters' relationship with one another in the film.
Starring: Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Directed by: Richard Linklater.