Better than my expectations, great acting

Rating: 9/10 (19 August 2004)

I happened to hit on 'Before Sunrise' about 5 years ago while zapping through the Telly, i was actually looking for the news but was caught by the movies atmosphere instantly. I had never seen a movie like that before; i really enjoyed it and i was inspired by the smart and interesting dialogs. Almost forgotten the movie, i now saw a poster for 'before sunset' and i started to remember the first part. I wasn't actually that eager to see the movie, because i thought that one couldn't top the first part anyway without copying it all in all. Furthermore, i thought the idea of it playing in Paris too much of a cliché and considered that the movie would probably be just normal bad Hollywood sequel of some low class director who bought the rights of 'Before Sunrise', trying to make some easy dollars. Eventually i did go see it ( on the last day it played ), and was a lot better than my expectations:The movie is far more focused on the dialogue between the main actors. There are virtually no other actors in the movie ( except for some journalists and a guy standing at a grill ). There are hardly no interactions with other characters and during the whole 90 min movie there is no time-cut or time-gap. And the movie is definitely something new. The characters seem far more mature and seem to have laid off there naiv sides. I wouldn't even consider the movie a romance story any more, the theme is far more dramatic and subtle than the first part. The topic includes a lot more of the characters dark and vulnerable sides. Some parts though didn't fit in the atmosphere of the movie at all. The choice of profession of the main characters didn't really fit. She turned out to be an environmentalist and Ethan Hawke became a famous Novel author. In The first scene, seeing him in front of journalists discussing his new book didn't really fit. Apart from those two scenes, the acting was still amazing: later on i read that the script was very exact and that the actors weren't allowed to improvise: but it sure does seem like it. Both played amazingly realistic and very natural. I still think it shouldn't have played in Paris even though it was very nicely put into picture, leaving out all the familiar touristy attractions. But why didn't they choose a not so popular and romance-clichéd city, like Barcelona or something like that.
All in all 'Before Sunset' is truly a worthy sequel to the original movie, so realistic and well written, that i now, couldn't even imagine the story of this couple to be complete with out the second part.