BEFORE SUNSET
Released: July 2, 2004
Richard Linklater, a director I really admire, returns hot on the heels of his 2003 hit "School Of Rock" with the long-awaited sequel to his 1995 overseas conversation piece "Before Sunrise". Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy return nine years after their characters Jesse and Celine first met; now, they encounter one another on the French leg of Jesse's book tour. Conversations are different now with nine years living under their belts, much "what if?" type scenarios are talked out and we are treated to some of the best conversation, character driven movie making since Linklater's own 2001 flick "Tape", where Hawke, Uma Thurman and Robert Sean Leonard talk to each other in a motel room for the whole movie. Linklater is special and so are his movies. The lost art of conversation is interesting but I doubt today's multiplex zombie crowd will have the maturity for this stuff...
80 Minutes
Castle Rock/Warner Bros.