Before Sunset
d. Richard Linklater, 2004
Before Sunset is a brilliant film made by a master director. For little over a decade, Richard Linklater has been perfecting the art of making films that span over a day (or night). The last day of school, and the night that followed, in his Dazed and Confused was filled with unforgettable moments and ultimately provided a touching statement about people's inability to appreciate how special certain things are. Similarly, some of his other films like Before Sunrise (this film's predecessor), Slacker, and Waking Life all take place over a short period of time and rely heavily, almost solely, on conversation.
What makes Sunset his most ambitious project yet is that it doesn't cover several hours, but only about 80 minutes. Essentially, it takes place in real time. This is astonishing in two ways; first on a technical level, because of how difficult it is to shoot long, elegant takes with a lot of dialogue while making it look effortless and easy for the audience to watch. Secondly, and most importantly, the real-time setting is important to this story because it adds a sense of urgency. The movie, which takes place 9 years after the night in Vienna from Before Sunrise, revolves around these two people meeting again and slowly realizing that they may have missed out on something important.
Jesse (Ehan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) talk about everything from politics, sex, whether they met in Vienna again, their current relationships, and so on. What they are getting at, however slowly, is that they made a connection that night that is probably not going to come again. They are both now wise (pessimistic?) enough to realize that you do not meet many people with which you instinctively communicate with.
The last twenty minutes of the film are some of the best sequences in modern cinema, the dialogue and acting are so carefully nuanced that it makes me forget most bad films I have seen that pay no attention to characters. Although one can certainly enjoy Before Sunset on its own (it is that amazing), the experience is more engaging if you have seen 1995's Before Sunrise, which, although still great, falls short of the astonishing piece of work that is Sunset.
All of these threads (technical skill, wonderful dialogue, naturalistic performances) add up to what the film truly is: the most beautiful meditation on the nature of time that I have ever seen on film.
