lovely, engrossing

Rating: 8/10 (7 May 1999)

There was a fellow whose home videos invariably annoyed me. One day I realized why; each time a conversation began -- something beyond "Hi, mom!" and waving -- the tape would cut and the next scene would begin.
One begins to wonder -- does this person even LIKE people? Apparently the stuff of real life seems too dull for some, and they need Entertainment; the amperage on that entertainment has to keep going up and up, also, because we develop immunity toward all of our fixes. Thus, we wind up with ARMAGEDDON, GODZILLA, et al, or soap opera hysterics; everything pushing the envelope just so we can feel a little (and recognize a movie's cues to us).
I thought BEFORE SUNRISE was great not as a reaction against that, but because it's so obvious Linklater and his actors give a hoot about human beings. Yes, some of the dialogue -- which is very, very sharply observed -- is silly and pretentious; these are kids who want to impress each other, like each other, and enjoy "deep thoughts." It reminded me so much of college: that thrill of ideas, possibilities, yearnings.

The movie looks beautiful and is terribly romantic. Thank God Linklater is savvy enough to play out some conversations in long takes; a cumulative effect and rapport is built between Delpy and Hawke, their pinball game, and us. They're both movie-star beautiful, but for a while, they're just regular folk.
Kubrick and Hitchcock may be better directors than say, Linklater or Levinson, but their cold formalism does make one wonder what grudge they hold against people. The Coens seem to be warming as well -- FARGO and THE BIG LEBOWSKI bespeak a new affection in their clever hearts. But, for my money, give me a director who loves people -- a Sturges, a Lubitsch, and, yes, Linklater -- and their works will shine in a way that some geniuses' never do.