Review: Before Sunset (2004)

Directed by Richard Linklater

Starring: Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy

The plot picks up the story in Before Sunrise of the young American man (Hawke) and French woman (Delpy) who spent a passionate night together in Vienna. Their paths intersect nine years later in Paris, and the film appears to take place in real time as they spend an afternoon together.

This is the sequel to Before Sunrise, taking place 9 years after the first film. Didn't think I was ever going to say this, but I really don't want to finish this trilogy just yet. Anyways, I saw Before Sunset and it was fantastic, as expected.

The plot is more or less the same, with the two main characters discussing their views on life, love, death, and other affairs. The writing and directing yet again is spot on, and in my opinion I enjoyed this film a bit more than the first one. The acting is phenomenal once again by Hawke and Delpy, who again felt genuine and realistic, as if they fully evolve into their characters. Dialogue was fantastic and poetic, to the point I thought I was actually not watching a movie. This film is the shortest one in the trilogy, with a run-time of 1 hour and 20 minutes. At first, I have to admit I didn't quite like the ending. I felt it was too sudden and ambiguous. After giving it much thought, I admired the ending overtime, and thought it was ingenious.

The cinematography in this film is great, and I think is better than the first one. The pacing again was smooth, and actually was depicted in real time, which I found impressive and cool (which I also expected from a director such as Linklater). I also admire how the film looks like it was entirely shot in one-take (even though it wasn't), which was helped through it's great film-editing, and smooth pacing.

In conclusion, a great consistent sequel that picks up smoothly after the first film. I cannot wait to see how the next film will wrap up the trilogy.

My rating: 9.0/10

#FilmReview