Before Midnight

[Omerta]

Does anyone have any information regarding release dates for this film? Have in watched Before Sunrise many many years ago and then Before Sunset some years ago, I've anticipated this film for a while and am now growing a little impatient.

[Noodle Lizard]

I think it's coming out in May or June depending on where you are.  It got great reviews at Sundance.

[Dark Poet]

12 weeks tomorrow.

Can't wait.

[Noodle Lizard]

Anyone seen this yet?  It got a ridiculously limited release in the states, only on at a few cinemas in Los Angeles[nb]Noodle Lizard mentions living in America[/nb].

I just saw it today.  I'll be honest, up until the first hour I had my head in my hands.  It was a very, very disappointing first half and I was really worried that they were going to continue down that route.  Just when I'd given up hope, though, it suddenly changed and got much, much better - as if it was bending to my will.  Lovely.

I can't be bothered to go too into detail right now, but I probably will when more of you have seen it.  Overall, I'd say it's good - definitely worth watching if you're a fan of the first two - but that first half is really dreary and could/should have been significantly cut down.

[vrailaine]

Rotten tomatoes rating is crazy high.


Looking forward to it, but I still have to see sunset.

[Noodle Lizard]

Rotten tomatoes rating is crazy high.

Looking forward to it, but I still have to see sunset.

The last half does win you over, and I came out feeling good about it, but that first half really is painful and something should be done about it.  If the film had more or less started from an hour in, I'd rate it better overall.

There's one sequence which lasts about 20 minutes which is just horrible.  I'm sure you'll notice it when it appears.  As soon as that bit's done, it gets better almost instantly.

[Sam]

Which do you rate better: Sunrise or Sunset?

I thought Sunrise was better. Didn't Delpy and Hawker come up with most of their dialogue but get no writing credit?

[Noodle Lizard]

Which do you rate better: Sunrise or Sunset?

I thought Sunrise was better. Didn't Delpy and Hawker come up with most of their dialogue but get no writing credit?

I probably prefer 'Sunrise', but there's not much in it.  I think the two films co-exist perfectly.

I don't think Delpy/Hawke came up with much of the dialogue for 'Sunrise' - a pretty definitive script penned by Linklater and some woman whose name I forget is floating around out there - but they certainly did for 'Sunset' and 'Midnight', and are credited with doing so.

[zomgmouse]

I think it's coming out in May or June depending on where you are.  It got great reviews at Sundance.

Or July, if you're in Australia.

Aaargh!

[Sam]

I rewatched the first two the other week.

With Sunrise, I'm not quite sure if it's a case of a late twenty something with a bit of wisdom writing inenrionally naive dialogue for early twenty somethings to say, and doing it rather cannily, or whether the characters are proxies for his own ideas at that time, and the dialogue is less clever than it thinks it is.

In other words, I find all the initial dialogue when they first meet and get off the train a little cringing. But then it's exactly the way younger people on that stage of their life talk.

I think the film goes from strength to strength so that by the end their desperate embrace back at the station has real power, and the montage of daylight shots of the places they were in are sweetly poignant. Also, there's enough cynicism in Jesse's character (his reactions to the fortune teller and street poet) and enough charm from the characters and the actors to carry them through. Their 'mental snapshot' they take of each near the end would be awfully cheesy in another film, but it's been deserved.

I also have a lot of time for it, because it really does consist of two characters just mooching around and chatting, which is a fairly radical and structurally audacious thing to do.

I hadn't watched Sunset for a long time, and in my mind it was slightly weaker.

But actually I now think it's definitely the stronger of the two. I think it's because I first saw Sunrise at the age of the characters and I'm a similar age and stage to them in Sunset. This is testament to why the film works conceptually, because the whole point of this film is to grow with these characters.

Like Sunrise, Sunset gets better and better. There's one long take scene in the taxi after the boat ride which seamlessly goes through mood shifts, from the archness and withholding, to the emotional intensity and soul-baring. You're totally invested in it which shows such strength in the script, film making and acting.

I also adored the ending, which just sort of peters out, with a warm and bittersweet tone. Low key and understated in a way so many films aren't.

Both films have a lot of integrity about them; they feel like the products of a small, tight-knit team, with all the story elements feeling organic and fluid. It's so far away from Hollywood film making by commitee. The concept could be so badly squandered in the wrong hands.

I'm very interested to see the new one, which has been getting great reviews. I'd like to hear what anyone here thinks of it.

[Noodle Lizard]

I already wrote my little review of it up there ^

Basically, the first half sets you up for a massive "oh no, what the fuck have they done?" but wins you over in its second half.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Haven't seen any of them before, but caught the last half of the first one when it was on telly last night. Pretty good. Gets that feeling of one of those "special nights" that come along once in a blue moon very well. Think I'll watch the second one tonight.

[Noodle Lizard]

Haven't seen any of them before, but caught the last half of the first one when it was on telly last night. Pretty good. Gets that feeling of one of those "special nights" that come along once in a blue moon very well. Think I'll watch the second one tonight.

I'd suggest watching the first half of the first one first (or preferably just watching both in full in one sitting).  'Sunset' is a bit subtler than 'Sunrise', partly because it takes place in real-time, and I can't imagine it being satisfying to anyone who isn't familiar with the first film.

I imagine the best thing to do would be to watch 'Sunrise' and then wait until it's no longer fresh in your mind before watching 'Sunset', so that you'll be more on the characters' level as they try to recall specific moments from that night.  Not that I'd know, I knocked them both out in the same night.

[Sam]

Watched Before Midnight, and it's the best of the three.

I thought the first half was fine, not sure what the big problem was that Noodle was referring to. Do you mean the dinner party scene? This was the lightest and the most contrived part, but no different in tone and content than large sections of the first two films.

I also think the writers' conversations about their ideas for novels was pretty cheesy, but later Celine rips him apart for all that stuff and so I think this kind of dialogue is very knowing.

Anyway, the triumph of the film is obviously the massive ever evolving row which rang painfully true and was loaded with insight, pathos and humour. Outstanding stuff.

A word about direction, in light of my hyperbolic 'style/substance' thread.

As I've banged on about, I object to people slaying stylised films for having little story, but watching this I realised that it works both ways. As much as I love stylisation, I wouldn't dream of saying a film like this should have fancy cinematography and self-concious camera moves. The parameter that's been 'pushed' is dialogue and performance and this is enough to make the film. Strange that for some people the same concessions don't apply in other parameters.

One absolutely masterful piece of direction was the final shot of the film, the camera pulling away subtly as the music came in. A characteristic of these films is that the long take static scenes are so immersive your sense of time is suspended and you forget where the scene started, how long it's going on for. The camera movement is deployed so skilfully to gently move you out of those moments.

Mark of a true technician: knowing when not to use 'technique'. Linklater is a seasoned director and not having a lot of camerawork is basically as much a creative choice as having it. Takes a lot of restraint and maturity to direct like this, and the film breathes all the better for it.

[Noodle Lizard]

I thought the first half was fine, not sure what the big problem was that Noodle was referring to. Do you mean the dinner party scene? This was the lightest and the most contrived part, but no different in tone and content than large sections of the first two films.

I also think the writers' conversations about their ideas for novels was pretty cheesy, but later Celine rips him apart for all that stuff and so I think this kind of dialogue is very knowing.

Yeah, it was painfully knowing, but that didn't excuse it for me, it actually made it more tedious.  I've since watched it again and those scenes at the villa are just as unbearable as before.  Fortunately it really redeems itself in the second half.

[Sam]

But you like the first two films? They're full of conversations like the ones in the villa!

[El Unicornio, mang]

Just watched this. Brilliant film. Probably my favourite of the three (although I think I related more to the 2nd one generally due to the similar ages). I agree that the first hour isn't so promising, the dinner scene with the talk about cybersex and the old lady piping up at the end with her buzzkill story didn't work that well for me. I found the young couple a bit amdram and the old guy seemed like he was acting in a completely different film. The Greek couple were good though. But, none of it was bad.

The hotel room scene though, wow. Reminded me so much of late night arguments with exes, painfully accurate down to the subtlest mannerisms. These films tap into the human condition, relationships and aging in a way that I don't think any other films get close to. The film should get Oscar noms (Delpy in particular), but I think these films connect on such a personal level with people that I don't think it matters

Looking forward to, hopefully, another one in 2022 (After Midnight?) already.

[vrailaine]

Meh, I'll bump this. Interested in hearing what people think about it a few months removed too.


Watched the first two again before watching the third one there last night.

Sunrise is still super charming, I forgot all about how they didn't lay out the plans and all until around the halfway point in the film, it does a really good job from there on of not fixating on the fact but letting it slowly creep into the viewers thoughts so that the tension's pretty high by the time they're at the train. The dialogue certainly seemed to me, for Hawke's character at least, to be overplaying the intellectual card, a mixture of being very open but also lotsa posturing if that makes any sense?
Julie Delpy in Sunrise is pretty much the most beautiful thing ever too, so there's that.

Sunset, man, I know I saw it before Sunrise but it felt like watching an entirely new film, only remembered the boat bit was it it. Probably the better film, lovely ending and a really gripping film throughout, I felt.

but yeah, Midnight, that first hour was turgid for me. There were some nicely set up pieces and the second half was a lot better, some of the funnier moments of the series. Had some weird balance issues, I felt like Celine in the movie came across a lot worse than she really should have, although I think that might be somewhat realistic for that type of character... her reasoning for arguing seemed pretty valid for the most part, exacerbated by Jesse's passive whining.
The interactions felt very real but I'd say it was the first time in the series that I was alienated by the fact that they're from such a different place in society to me, I think the setting may have had more of an influence on this than the characters' lives though.
Anyways, it might be due a rewatch after I've been in a longer relationship.

[Custard]

Thought it were quite a lovely little film, me. Deffo one of my toppest of the films of last year.

However, for some reason its not getting a blu ray release in the UK, just DVD. Seems daft.

Though apparently the German blu ray works fine on British region players.

Bit of trivia for ya, there

[Noodle Lizard]

Why is this Oscar nominated for "Best ADAPTED Screenplay"?  Just because it's a sequel?  Fuck that, it's one of the very few strong contenders for Best Original Screenplay.

Conversely, 'Dallas Buyers Club' is nominated for Best Original Screenplay despite it being based on a true story and, presumably, various articles about yer man's life.  Makes absolutely fuckall sense.

[zomgmouse]

Just watched this. Knocked my socks off. I'd love to watch all three in a row. I would also love for them to make another one in another nine years.

I found it quite interesting that this film featured the least amount of them together alone. It sort of hints at the direction their lives have taken. It's interesting also that the first film has them meet as strangers having never met before, the second film has them meet as people who have met once before but not seen each other since, and the third one has them together for the past nine years. Really sort of creates the atmosphere for the film before it's even begun. But again, setting it over what is basically a 12-hour period made everything work so well.

I wasn't sure what to think of the ending, though. It almost felt like a betrayal of the set-up. I honestly thought that the natural conclusion to the whole film was to have them break up. And I mean of course you can't really tell. Maybe we'll find out in the next film (if there is one, which there probably will be) that they broke up after that night and then they meet nine years later and reminisce and fall in love again. But on the other hand it kept in with the hopeful romantic sentiment of the previous two, that love conquers all, even if it gets harder for it to. All three films end with them being in love after not being in love, I think.

Also, mentioning that that young couple stayed in touch via Skype (also saying that his son would probably stay in touch with someone via Facebook) highlighted the fact that that's totally what could have happened if Before Sunrise happened ten years after it did.