Movie No. 183 (2013): BEFORE MIDNIGHT

Before Midnight (2013)
Director: Richard Linklater
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy

Jesse and Celine will go down in the history of cinema as popular couple and characters in a film. They had a chance meeting on a Vienna-bound train in 1994, strolled Paris while talking about a lot of thing, and parted ways before sunrise the day after. They met again after nine years, did some catching up, and parted ways again before sunset of that day. This movie, Before Midnight, the third installment in what appears to be a trilogy, is set in Greece, nine years after Jesse and Celine's last meeting in Before Sunset. Now they're living together with their twin daughters. In the movie they're spending the last day of their summer vacation in southern Greece.

Watching it is like watching a film written by Woody Allen. I mean witty dialogues and intelligent screenplay. This is one kind of movie whose greatness relies much on the dialogues and the actors who effectively deliver them on the basis of how the characters they play would do, complemented with appropriate body movements. I was expecting it to be a romantic movie. Indeed, to some level it is a romantic movie. But the movie has some horrifying aspects that give it some complexity and another layer. Just listen to the incessant debate of the couple leading to the film's conclusion, which, by the way, is masterfully executed. And I will not be surprised if, another nine years from now, a fourth sequel will be shown. Will they call it Before Dawn or Before Twilight? Just kidding.

Rating: 4.0/4.0

Date seen: October 28, 2013   

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