Beautiful

Rating: 8/10 (29 July 2005)

At first glance, 'Before Sunset' may not seem extraordinary or even remotely moving. However, a second glance will prove all first impressions wrong.
Ethan Hawke and Julie Deply are natural before the camera - they slip into the lives of Jesse and Celine so essentially that you can't see the boundaries between actor and character.
The music, with three songs performed by the talented Julie Deply, is equally astounding. I found myself re-watching the movie just to listen to the soundtrack.
The script, written by the director and the lead actors, is amazing. I love the fact that the actors, the closest people to the characters, had great parts in the composing of their own text. In this way, the words are more natural, closer to the personalities of the characters themselves. Jesse and Celine are ordinary people, and yet they aren't. They're normal, in the sense that they lead lives and discuss utter randomness that becomes meaningful in the manner that it is spoken. They are extraordinary because they have each other, two chance encounters that can be played out only on film. But that's what movies do - they capture the extraordinary. And that's what sets this one apart from the rest - the sprinkle of surreal in a sea of the ordinary. And what a beautiful sea it is!
Needless to say, one of my favourites.