Before Sunset

On paper, I’m sure that a movie about two people conversing for an hour and 20 minutes would make a good movie. Wait, no it doesn’t. It sounds about as mindnumbingly boring as the movie turned out to be.

Have you ever been invited to be the sidekick for somebody else’s company Christmas party? You’re there, with your one and only friend, as she/he hits on their favorite playtoy, effectively leaving you completely alone in this room full of smiling people. That is exactly how this movie made me feel. I sat there, watching these two people flirt with each other, and all I wanted to do was go home.

Here we are, conveniently nine years after the release of the movie’s predecessor, Before Sunrise. In Before Sunrise, we watch two people hookup after spending the night talking. The characters, Jesse (played by Ethan Hawke) and Celine (played by Julie Delpy) pick up right where they left off when they meet again on the streets of Paris. They spend the afternoon waxing about life and love and sex while the harsh realities of Paris life beat out around them. If you are looking for more of a plot summary, don’t. There isn’t one. They just talk. That’s it. For 80 minutes. Oh, they walk, too! Yes, there was sex in the first one, but not this time around. Just walking and talking.

Walking.

Talking.

The discourse is boring. The delivery, although animated at times, is boring. The philosophy is shallow and superficially pointless, and in this regard, it has one point of genius. Both Delphy and Hawke converse like they don’t really know the other person well. They don’t open up and share truly intimate thoughts. Rather, they feign intimacy by talking about extrinsic ideals, rather than bonding with shared realities. The discourse between them is completely without empathy. Hawke and Delphy share script credits with Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan because there was some improvisation during some of the scenes.

In addition to the lack of just about anything interesting, the camera has a bad habit of focusing on the back of their heads for long periods of times. In fact, the filming is just about as mundane as you can get. Then again, what can you do when the entire action of the film takes place between the nose and neck of the only two actors in the film? How much camera movement do you need?

Although, this is the Gigli of 2004, I’m sure that pseudo-intellectuals will claim it is the best movie of the year. They just don’t want to admit it. If you are one of those people, you might get a chill down your spine from buying “Girl With a Pearl Earing“. Run along now. Go be a good consumer.

Where on earth is my zero rating!