Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise

It appears that Richard Linklater's Before Sunset has finally made it's way to Saskatoon, courtesy of the folks at the Broadway Theatre. I've been looking forward to this one for quite a while due to the non-stop good reviews I've heard as well as the fact that Linklater is one of the best director's working today (Dazed and Confused, Slacker, Waking Life and School of Rock). However, before diving into his latest, I figured that I had better check out the first film, Before Surise, to which Sunset is a sequel.

I can basically sum up the film by saying that I'm sad I hadn't encountered it earlier. It's great. Possibly Linklater's finest work I've seen. It combines the briliant setting and character realism of Dazed and Confused with the ideas of Waking Life, but better than either. The basic story is that Jesse (Ethan Hawke) meets Celine (Julie Delpy, a beautiful French girl that every guy dreams of meeting) on a train, while travelling around Europe on a Europass. Jesse then convinces Celine to spend one night in Vienna with him, his last night in Europe. The connection they form, and the wonderful conversations they have form the bulk of the film, that ends ever so ambiguously. The characters of Jesse and Celine are so well realized, they feel real. As a young person in my early 20s, I can totally identify with both of them. This is just a wondeful, wonderful little film. I can't wait to see Sunset.