Before Sunrise

Rating:
Summary: No Finer Romance
Review: This movie has such power and pain, I can only bring myself to watch it once every few years. It's a perfect portrait of falling in love with someone for the right reasons at the wrong time. The reviewer is right -- it is an overlooked gem. It's a fascinating date movie -- ask your date what happens to the two characters after the movie is over. The answer will illuminate how that person thinks of love, fantasy, reality, and taking chances.

Rating:
Summary: A movie with dialogue? Who would've thought?
Review: This is probably the best movie I've ever seen for dialogue. The art of conversation, disregarded in Hollywood for cinematography, makes a bold return in Before Sunrise. Richard Linklater creates a story with words instead of shots, and shows off the imperfections of two twenty-somethings through various exchanges of ideas. A love story to the fullest, filled with philosophies, romance, pain, laughter, and a chance meeting of a Venician poet, Before Sunrise catches everyone off guard, just because no one's heard of it, and it's just so damned good.

Rating:
Summary: Before Sunrise
Review: i saw this movie on tv one day, and it was great. the setting is beautiful and makes you want to go to Austria yourself. anyone who is a sucker for love stories should definately see this movie.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best movies of the last 30 years.
Review: It's a shame that so few people saw this movie in the theater. It is smartly scripted, well acted, beautifully filmed, and, quite simply, one of the two or three best movies to come out of the 1990s. Fortunately, people have discovered it gradually, in the years since it came out, and it has worked its magic on them.

Rating:
Summary: I Still Love This Movie
Review: I was one of the few who actually watched this movie when it was in the theatres in 1995. 9 years later and I still think its one of the best romances I have ever seen. For me, the dialogue was very real. They used the same venacular and posed the type of philosophical questions that my friends at the time often brought up in our discussions. Of course it is still a drama and connecting with a stranger in Vienna is something that has never happened to me, but the idealism and the romantic spirit of the film epitomizes the 20 something college student I was in 1995.

Rating:
Summary: A tiny, overlooked, but brilliant little gem.
Review: "Before Sunrise" is a small film but a charming and rewarding one. Celine, a young Frenchwoman, and Jesse, a young American, meet on the train from Budapest to Vienna. Jesse has 14 hours before he must board his plane back to America; he persuades Celine to spend that time with him wandering around Vienna; they spend the time talking, meeting various eccentric Viennese, and falling in love. In the morning they part, probably never to see each other again, although they vow that they will. That's all there is to it, but it's delightful, thanks to Richard Linklater's savvy writing and direction and the sweet performances of Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. The dialogue captures perfectly the thoughts and personalities of two intelligent, thoughtful but not-quite-mature young people, and Linklater's camera takes us on a panoramic tour of Vienna (including several sites immortalized by an earlier, much darker film set in Vienna, "The Third Man"). What is most affecting about Before Sunrise, however, is the poignancy and urgency it gains as Celine and Jesse's time together comes to its inevitable end. Jesse's quotation from W.H. Auden--"O let not time deceive you,/You cannot conquer time"--is most appropriate, and as touching an endorsement of the philosophy of "Carpe Diem" as has ever been put on screen.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully crafted dialogue of two lonely lovebirds....
Review: Before Sunrise (and it's sequel, Before Sunset) is the kind of movie you can watch again and again and again and never get tired of its' beautiful script, Hawke's and Delpy's whimsical chemistry, and the beautiful backdrop of Vienna. It's only flaw is the tears that burn down the faces of the world's singletons in gleeful wistfulness at the sight of two soulmates exchanging their love. But those seeking substance, do not flee for fear of wishy-washiness; the script is smart, edgy, and exciting, and more like looking in on the dialogue of two friends for an evening rather than a potentially entertaining, multimillion dollar production. Sweet, beautiful, and enchanting, Before Sunrise has twice the substance of the average romantic comedy, a beautiful and well chosen cast (of two) and a lovely, almost tangibly realistic, storyline. If I could only take ten movies with me on a desert island to spend the rest of eternity with, Before Sunrise (and its' equally lovely sequel) would be two of the first I'd reach for.

Rating:
Summary: Isn't everything we do in life a way to be loved more?
Review: I would like to stress again that the chemistry between Hawke and Delpy was near to nothing. I saw no sparks, no interest, and no bond. It was as if Hawke hated everything that Delpy did (see the poet and the fortuneteller), while Delpy just was looking for an American man to spend the day with. I felt as if she was trying to create that special moment from nothing, as if it was her goal for the entire evening with Hawke. She wanted to have one of those romantic evening for two in Vienna, and I caught from her character that anyone with half-a-brain would do well for the adventure. That person, in this case, happened to be Ethan Hawke. So, they attempt to have these moments, forcibly interrupted by Hawke trying to throw a kiss in there every once in awhile that wasn't scripted (to seem more "real") that only made Delpy seem disgusted. I just felt that when these two did kiss, they didn't really enjoy it as much as they should have. As I think about this point, I can't help but think of a line that Celine uses in this film. She states,

"No, then it sounds like a male fantasy. Meet a French girl on the train, have her, and never see her again."

What if this was reversed on Celine, perhaps she was trying to find a man on a train, have him, then never sees him again. When I first met these characters, that was my initial thought. I did not see them together for the long haul, but after they talked for an hour and a half, I guess they had to fall in love. This was a totally mismatched pair by director Richard Linklater, and when you only have two main focuses in the film, I would have to say that should be your only job ... ensuring that you have two people that actually build chemistry on the scene. Hawke and Delpy did not.

Speaking of Richard Linklater (director of School of Rock), I do not think that he had a good grasp of this film from the beginning. I think he was attempting to show, without too much of a script, if two people could fall in love after a chance meeting on a train. What would be the "real" reactions, and how would it ultimately end? Sorry to say that Linklater does a poor job with this film, especially the ending where it doesn't even have a successful climax. That's the worst part of the film-it keeps on going and going, but it really overstays its welcome and becomes too repetitive towards the end. That was not helping him at all by having this slow ending.

I have heard people quote this film as the "greatest love story" ever. I would have to differ with them because of the characterization and portrayal of our Jesse and Celine. Both were uncomfortable, unstructured, and fractured in their parts and it was obvious through the screen. I have seen better love stories, and better stories will continue to be released!

Grade: ** out of *****

Rating:
Summary: the best romantic movie ever about a one-night fling
Review: Everything about this movie is brilliant. In the space of 24 hours, the characters make a connection that is so poignant that it is sheer torture when the new day dawns and the two have to go their separate ways. You kinda wish that time would stand still and real life would butt out. 'Before Sunrise' captures the essence of what it's like when two people seredipitously discover they are each other's soulmates. Richard Linklater is a god.

Rating:
Summary: ENDEARING HIKE OF SMALL ADVENTURES
Review: Like its characters, Before Sunrise struggles to appear relaxed. But it develops meaningfully. What might easily have turned phoney manages to float on the delicious promise of an earnest, youthful, bittersweet romance.

"After tomorrow morning we'll probably never see each other," one says.
"Well, who says relationships have to last forever?"

Not your hackneyed Obstacles-to-be-Overcome scenario of a garden variety romantic comedy. They are both bright, articulate, and on a train from Budapest to Vienna. The mutual attraction is guileless as they slide into a first-date type banter about anything and everything, from music, TV, parents and expectations, to dating and sex.

This ends up being rather chatty but it's engaging; simple everyday rhythms of two people slowly yielding to each other. As we go along, the film incrementally acquires a cache of humor and emotion to create two of the most vivid characters of the 90s.

Hawke and Delpy are excellent: unaffected and occasionally perhaps a little too offhanded (what college kids aren't?) but the chemistry is so conspicuous you could slice it with a cheese knife.

If you're after a movie with a distinct plot, skip it. But if you can savour a turn of heart in a very realistic, credible setting, you'll love this charming caper.