Watched Before Sunset last night (the 2nd in the series), Before Sunrise (the first), two nights before. Going to watch Before Midnight (the third) tonight for the first time. Looking in my notes I found the Rotten Tomatoes post that convinced me to watch these in the first place. It's very convincing:
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Aram Fingal says this in his sig linked thread "8,000! The A-Z of Aram's DVDs!"
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/showthread.php?p=7315037
Before Sunrise / Before Sunset
(Aram Fingal had here the below-quoted poem created for the two main characters by the poet they encountered in their strolling in the first movie) *
It took me many years of people frantically recommending these movies for me to sit down and watch them, and now I'm deeply sorry I waited so long. Richard Linklater's classic, understated study of two young people and their brief but deeply meaningful encounter, is so much fun to watch. Julie Delpy is smart and alluring, but not above a rude comment or two -- she's no prim and perfect love interest, but a real person, every bit as interesting as the cynical, sarcastic, somewhat irritating Ethan Hawke. The movie tackles nearly every subject under the sun as these two characters walk through Vienna, engaging in a microcosm of a relationship, sharing everything of each other that they can in the short time that they're together.
Of course, when Linklater returns to these characters ten years later, they've grown and changed, and the sequel is not quite so breathlessly romantic as the original... but moves on a very different, more mature level. It deals with the lessons that everyone who grows into adulthood must learn... about compromise, sacrifice, responsibility... and temptation.
I simply adore these films.
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* The poem:
"Daydream, delusion, limousine, eyelash / Oh baby with your pretty face / Drop a tear in my wineglass / Look at those big eyes / See what you mean to me / Sweet-cakes and milkshakes / I'm delusion angel / I'm fantasy parade / I want you to know what I think / Don't want you to guess anymore / You have no idea where I came from / We have no idea where we're going / Latched in life / Like branches in a river/ Flowing downstream / Caught in the current / I'll carry you / You'll carry me / That's how it could be / Don't you know me? / Don't you know me by now?"
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Excerpt of Roget Ebert's review of the second movie: "Before Sunrise" was a remarkable celebration of the fascination of good dialogue. But "Before Sunset" is better, perhaps because the characters are older and wiser, perhaps because they have more to lose (or win), and perhaps because Hawke and Delpy wrote the dialogue themselves. The film has the materials for a lifetime project; like the "7-Up" series, this is a conversation that could be returned to every 10 years or so, as Celine and Jesse grow older.