Before Sunrise - A review

So, here goes my first movie review.

During a visit to one of my friend's house in Kolkata, I remember meeting his roomate (I forgot his name) who shared a common passion with me - Movies. We discussed, scrutinized and analyzed all kinds of movies-blockbusters, drama, crime stories, thrillers, independent cinema. There were two movies which he strongly recommended to me - Before Sunrise and its sequel Before Sunset. I had heard a little about it but never was able to find it in the stores at my place. Finally, thanks to Time Warner cable , Utorrent(read 'mu' torrent) and the seeds who shared the movie for me to download, I was able to watch this gem of creativity.

Before Sunrise is a tale of two strangers meeting on a train and deciding to spend a night in Vienna before they go their separate ways. The plot is very thin but the movie is all about a series of conversations they have in the next 14 hours that they spend with each other. The intelligence of the screenplay is in the fact that the conversations have been made so real and honest that you would feel you are the invisible 3rd person with them who isn't speaking but participating in their conversations. They talk about documentaries, childhood memories, reincarnation, role of parents, past relationships etc. You would generally get bored when you are subjected to such long discussions in movies but the boldness of the script is in it that it dares you to get bored.

To make the conversations look really authentic and give the lazy feel, most of the movie has really long shots and credit has to be given to the young lead pair (then)- Ethane Hawke and Julie Delpy who carry it with ease even when the camera is so still and scrutinizes their mannerism to the minutest detail. I bet any other director would have tried to show the exotic locations of Vienna when you have such a beautiful city to shoot. But here the director uses it like a beautiful woman sans the make-up. As you normally find, it is still beautiful without it.

I love each scene of the movie but if a gun is put on my head and I know that it is loaded, I would pick the following scenes from the movie as 'special'
1. The scene where Jesse convinces Celine to go out with him to Vienna and spend the night. You would really feel and wished you could have done the same.
2. The scene in the listening room. No words spoken. But look at the faces.
3. The coneversation on 'feminism'.
4. The scene where they act like talking to their friends on phone.
5. The scene where they define their relationship.
6. The talk about sex in the lawn.
7. The climax scene at the station.
8. The scene at the end where there are images of those empty places where they had been the previous night.

It is an intelligent 'feel good' movie. A movie that serves us hope but does not serve a fantasy to say that love still exists. A must watch and strongly recommended.

I have also seen the sequel to the movie Before Sunset but its review on my next post.