Saturday, June 19, 2010
From the Vault: Before Sunrise
In an interview last month, director Robert Altman said it's always better seeing a movie a second time. Knowing what's going to happen, he proposed, relaxes filmgoers so they can concentrate on details.
Unfortunately, constraints more often than not prevent a critic from having a second viewing before the review is due. Thankfully, this was not the case with Before Sunrise, writer-director Richard Linklater's latest film, which offers great support for Altman's statement.
Linklater, with his naturalistic style and the ensemble casts of his first two films, Slacker and Dazed and Confused, could be superficially compared to Altman, but the most important trait they share is the rarest of things in movies today - the willingness to cross the cinematic tightrope without a net.
This is what Linklater has done with Before Sunrise, a distinct departure from the free-wheeling fun of his first two efforts. While it's hardly a complete success, it does provide ample rewards for the discerning viewer and further secures the 33-year-old Linklater's place as one of the major talents of the new generation of filmmakers.
Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy star in Before Sunrise and, unlike the vast casts of Linklater's previous work, they are the only characters the viewer has to focus on, playing twentysomethings from the United States and France, who meet each other aboard an Austrian train and decide to spend Hawke's remaining hours in Europe strolling around Vienna.
Linklater co-wrote the film with Kim Krizan and together they take An Affair to Remember, drop the hokey melodrama and crossbreed it with My Dinner With Andre. On one level, it's a brief romance between strangers, but deeper down Before Sunrise tackles the love of conversations and ideas.
Given its talky nature, audiences with short attention spans will likely grow fidgety waiting for a plot engine that doesn't arrive.
Though I admired Before Sunrise the first time, I didn't freely enjoy it until that second viewing.
The first time, Hawke seemed too frantic in the early stages of the movie, coming off like a grunge Woody Allen. In retrospect though, his exuberance stems purely from his character's desire to captivate Delpy and not from a conceit.
Delpy, on the other hand, is charming from the very first, and the fact that she is as much a newcomer to Vienna as Hawke adds to the accurate depiction of visitors to foreign countries.
Aside from a slow start, the only real problem is the abrupt ending. It leaves you wanting more and even a tentative resolution would be more satisfying.
However, that's a quibble, because Linklater is sticking his artistic neck out so far, you want to couch criticism of it in the softest terms so as not to discourage him from striking out in daring directions.
Since Linklater is so talented, that probably shouldn't be a concern. Before Sunrise will not please everyone, but only the grumpiest of moviegoers should fail to be seduced by its charm.
Tweet
Labels: 90s, Altman, Hawke, Linklater, Woody
Comments:
<< Home
Before Sunrise is a basic love story. The story is very simple yet beautiful. It's about life, romance, and love of two people who are just strangers. It's kind of boring because most of the scenes keep on talking and talking about everything, it’s like your reading a novel. The film is entirely original in every way, mostly on how the characters handle the conversation and how they handle their relationship. The best thing that I love about this film is how the two characters fall in love with each other through words, not because of a sexual thing. One of the critics said that Before Sunset is a film that presents a whole new set of moments to discover and it's this that makes the film ageless.
I love this movie.. My mom and I we're both watching this movie, and we both cry.. we cant stop crying, though there are some parts are that are sensual but still it's a good movie.
Post a Comment
<< Home
