-
Trust Weighted
Perfect
-
66Trust Points
Wick's Review
Summary - Perfect 5.0
A perfect romance for the highly verbal. After meeting on a train, the cynical American guy and the tartly romantic French gal talk and talk. By turns delirious, impudent and philosophical, their conversation turns a one night stand into more of a one-night-talk.
The story concludes in Before Sunset.
Acting - Great 4.0
Ethan Hawke captures well a guy we all know: the talented child of privilege from a broken home who becomes a slightly slippery adult.
Julia Delpy nicely conveys a sweet intelligence, and does it in three languages.
Male Stars - Great 4.0
Female Stars - Great 4.0
Female Costars - Great 4.0
Male Costars - Great 4.0
Film - Really Great 4.5
All hail Richard Linklater, a true auteur. He does avant-garde (Waking Life), comedy (The School of Rock), and perfect romance with Before Sunrise.
Direction - Really Great 4.5
Dialogue - Perfect 5.0
*Before Sunrise* has to be one of the best ever two person conversation movies. Though radically different, only "My Dinner with Andre":http://www.viewguide.com/movies/380611 compares to it in terms of intense extended dialogue. But that movie depended on Andre Gregory's huge talent as a monologist. *Before Sunrise* is scripted, wonderfully so by Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan.Music - Very Good 3.5
Visuals - Perfect 5.0
Partially funded by the city of Vienna, the movie is a beautiful postcard of an exquisitely romantic city.Edge - Tame 1.4
They finally do do the deed, though off screen in this throwback romance of a movie.
Sex Titillating 1.8
Violence Gentle 1.0
Rudeness Polite 1.3
Reality - Natural 1.0
Though entirely natural, the circumstantial reality is worth a comment. To wit, the movie takes place dead smack in the middle of the Clinton years, during the vacation from history that began when the Berlin Wall came down and ended when the Twin Towers were brought down. This came to mind when Ethan Hawke’s Jesse tossed off the throwaway line “I don’t really know if there is an enemy.” In the mid-90s, there wasn’t.