Monday, April 18, 2005

And Who Knew Julie Delpy Writes Songs?

Watched Before Sunrise and Before Sunset in succession tonight. It's an impressive achievement. Of course, the films underscore why so many modern romantic films are so comparatively unaffecting. How often does a relationship film create characters complex enough that they could fill a second film? (Or even one film, for that matter.) And how many of them realize that while there's beautiful magic in the beginnnings of a relationship, there's so much largely-unexplored drama in looking beyond the pursuit of love to the way that our choices become the summation of our lives? Yes, I enjoy the well-written and meaningful dialogue, the long takes which intensify the encounters, the round characters and the fantastic use of locations, but what I really value-- because I see it so infrequently-- is a love story that's consequential.

2 comments:

  1. A "love story with consequences." I think you nailed my love for this film, too, even apart from its formal pleasures. There's something almost palpable in the fact that the actors and director were still sufficiently interested in this story and where those characters might be after ten years. It runs much deeper than a "continuing adventures" or sequel synopsis might suggest--the characters' evolutions combine with the actors' physical aging to create a genuine sense of how people live and choose to live in this world.

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  2. Yeah, and watching them consecutively was helpful in noting just how seriously they took the process of continuing the characters. Several comments (even off-the-cuff ones) and personality traits are continued in the second film, and it's clear they gave a lot of thought to how certain traits would mature over nine years time. Some of what's endearing at 23 seems self-destructive at 32.

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