Before Sunset
Just like its predecessor, Before Sunset proves that sometimes all you need is 2 people talking for 80 minutes to create a work of art that is equally entertaining, thought-provoking, and emotional - while managing to build on the foundation set by Before Sunrise to surpass it.
9 years after their meeting in Vienna, Jesse and Celine meet once again in Paris, and their conversation seems to have 2 very interesting recurring aspects.
The first is that the flow of the conversation was often very similar to the one they had in Vienna, jumping between random subjects and stories, ranging from deep philosophical questions to menial pet peeves, and
managing to make the entire thing entertaining throughout - certainly no easy fit
And yet where this film tops its predecessor is in the raw conversation, where Jesse and Celine both lay out all of their pain and sorrow, and you can see the contrast between the youthful freedom they had at 23 years old, and the burden of life and reality they've been dealing with since.
And the truth is that right from the opening, this contrast - romanticism vs cynicism, is key - the film itself says so just 3 minutes in.
In its nature, Before Sunrise was all about the romanticism - just 2 people making a connection, completely carefree in the world.
But real life teaches you cynicism, so this cynical view that both of them developed over 9 years feels like the most natural thing in the world - especially considering they didn't meet each other 6 months after Vienna.
And yet despite all of that - by the end, they both chose romance over cynicism, and that journey is what it's all about.
The real time structure of the film - all happening in real time- ends up being exactly why it works so much, both in mirroring this contrast, as well as pulling the viewer inside the conversation and closer to the characters and their dilemma than ever possible otherwise.
And this achieves 2 things - first of all, it pulls the audience into feeling like another party in the conversation, and not just a viewer. and even on a plane, with a terrible screen, and sound, and while having to constantly fiddle with the audio cables just so it would work - it is still one of the most immersive films I've experienced, and felt like I was a part of. And this level of immersion obviously heightens our caring for and interest in the characters.
What this also does is to create real urgency, and allow this film, which really doesn't have much of a plot, to hold real tension throughout - tension that exists by the knowledge that they never have much time left, after all, they don't even have 2 hours to reconcile for 9 years of pain.
And this tension holds for a long time until finally releasing magnificently in the film's final line - the one that chooses romance above all.