I just saw this amazing movie at its Sundance premiere. It's wonderful
on so many levels I don't know where to start. The performances are
fantastic. If Julie Delpy doesn't get an Oscar nomination it would be a
shame (the only stupider thing the Academy could do is have 10 best
picture nominations.) Ethan Hawke's performance is brilliant in its own
way, however, it's a less showy part and I'm not certain it'll get the
recognition it deserves.
The writing is astounding. Sharp, intelligent, biting, humorous, with
staggering subtext, but most importantly--it feels real. If the
screenplay doesn't get an Oscar nomination it would be a shame (the
only thing stupider the Academy could do is have 15 best picture
nominations.)
Rick Linklater is now officially the Jedi master of indie filmmaking
(Yoda Soderbergh actually said he's giving up filmmaking.) SLACKERS was
only 22 years ago, and Linklater has matured into one of the most
original filmic storytellers in the history of the medium. 95% of the
movie is two-shots of people talking (the other 5% is people talking at
a dinner table and cut aways to the gorgeous Greek landscape.) I don't
know any other living filmmaker who could pull this off. There's a
one-take during a car drive that lasts probably ten minutes (before a
brief cut away), however, it goes on for probably another ten minutes
(and Linklater said he could have kept the whole take, but needed to
show ruins along the country side and cut away for script purposes, not
performance.) There's a 30 minute scene of the two actors in a hotel
room and I didn't even notice it (by that time I was so invested in the
characters and their actions and emotions I wasn't even aware of time,
it wasn't until the post screening Q&A that Linklater mentioned the
actual time of the scene.)
All three, Linklater, Delpy, and Hawke have matured into their rolls
(writing, directing, acting) so easily that it's all just great fun for
them and the audience. This is a must see for many reasons (including
the history of film--there's only one other modern trilogy where the
final film is the best--LOTR, and their food budget was probably more
than the total cost of BEFORE MIDNIGHT.)
i could go on gushing about this movie ad nauseum, however I'll finish
by saying that BEFORE MIDNIGHT is what indie film making (and the
Sundance Film Festival) is all about--truly original, creative, unique,
interesting characters and their stories, told outside the Hollywood
system, by people passionate about their craft (and in this case at the
top of their craft).
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