Sublime and profound

Rating: 9/10 (16 November 2005)

I saw BEFORE SUNSET as soon as it was released but never had even heard of BEFORE SUNRISE. But SUNSET stands alone and works alone. Having now seen SUNRISE - SUNSET is sublime in its even greater simplicity and its profundity. Linklater's even greater restraint in part 2 shows his total confidence in his creation and his astonishing actors. The frisson of engagement where all is in the subtext is just thrilling in both films, and, no, not everyone will get it, but for those that do, these movies affirm life and the power and subtlety of human love.
Someone in the postings said that the movie is unrealistic! Yep! It's a movie! Yep, the "real" characters (whoever they might be!) wouldn't say fascinating things every second together but this is a movie capturing the essence of the invisible electricity between two ordinary people. Listen to how we actually speak in "real" life.... We bumble and rarely stick to the point. To allow Linklater to edit their story (in the writing and in the cutting room) to the essence is called film-making and it does not represent a lack of truth but a heightening and intensifying of the experience of the two characters - akin to their own memory of what happened to them.
Thank God films like this get made, and for those that don't like them - go see the latest blockbuster of which there is an endless stream. The choice is between a bistro and McDonalds; a family run pensione or the Marriott. The vast majority choose the latter out of laziness, a lack of imagination and avoidance of risk. (Just the predictable story elements that Hollywood sticks to, to get the right demographics to get mass bums on seats.) Good luck to them.