Before Sunrise (1995)

Directed by Richard Linklater. Starring Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Dominik Castell, Erni Mangold, Karl Bruckschwaiger, Tex Rubinowitz. [R]

Young American Hawke is traveling through Europe when he meets young Frenchwoman Delpy on a train; they hit it off, disembark in Vienna, and spend a day together, falling in love even as they both know they are unlikely to ever see each other again. Conceptual minimalism given thematic complexity; as much it is “just” two people talking for an hour-and-a-half, what conversations (and credible emotions) they share. Its travelogue aspect has an air of outsider cliché—brief encounters with a gypsy palm reader, riverside “vagabond” poet, and so forth—but that false magic is merely a mood that envelops the enchantment of youthful romance, as if remembered years on through the rose-colored prism of a fistful of tourist brochures and old movies. The actors strike such a natural rapport with each other that they disappear into the roles and all-but-become subjects of an intimate docu-romance; small gestures like repositioning an enveloping arm, demurely avoiding eye contact at a record store, or tortured restraint on his part not to initiate physical contact so soon by brushing aside a lock of her hair, are as important to their connection as the subject of their words. As for those words, the dialogue doesn’t strive for great meaning but achieves a rare sort of depth for its randomized matter-of-fact manner that makes it all feel like studied improvisation instead of the painstaking precision it actually is. Their story picks up again almost a decade later with Before Sunset.

81/100