Title: Before Sunrise
Release Date: January 27, 1995
Director: Richard Linklater
Production Company: Castle Rock Entertainment
Summary/Review:
An American tourist, Jesse (Ethan Hawks), and a French Student, Céline (Julie Delpy) meet on a Eurail train. Feeling a connection, Céline agrees to spend a night wandering around Vienna before Jesse flies home in the morning. The movie is essentially a series of introspective and philosophical conversations held in front of the beautiful scenery of Vienna. Hawke’s character is borderline douchebro but shows enough vulnerability to reveal that much of what he’s doing is posturing to hide his sensitive side. Delpy, apart from her Gallic beauty, shows a lot of complexity and depth of character. There’s a certain artifice to their conversations, but even that feels real as it reflects the way people try to impress someone they’ve just met. Over time their defences wear down and they find pure Gen X romance while drinking wine under the moon in a Viennese park. They also make good use of the same iconic ferris wheel featured in The Third Man. In sum, this movie is a collection of beautiful moments.
Rating: ****
Panorama of the Mountains 