I was watching ‘Alien vs Predator’ on HBO last night (disappointing: neither as frightening and clever as the Alien movies nor as funny and explosive as the Predator movies).
In any case, right after ‘AVP’ HBO showed ‘Before Sunset’ and I kept watching. This must be the third time I’ve seen it in the space of a year, and each time I’m enthralled. The quality of the dialogue between Hawke and Delpy is remarkable. Even the mis-steps somehow seem to work, to make it more realistic. When Delpy is lecturing Hawke on all that’s wrong with the world, it shows her lack of confidence yet that she and Hawke will connect as they did before in Vienna. When she uses American colloquialisms she should not know, even having lived in NY, it shows her relaxing around Hawke. And the manner in which the conversation evolves, from the trivial and the humorous, to the heartbreaking revelations they both make about their current relationships near the end, just seems utterly natural. It is also interesting to see Linklater and Hawke give the bulk of the dialogue to Delpy. Hawke plays off her superbly, but it is Delphy who has most of the crucial moments.
The simplicity of the camera work as it just backs away from the couple as they walk around Paris lends just enough structure to the movie without detracting at all from the dialogue. Hawke’s repeated movement to touch Delpy on the shoulder before resisting, and countless tiny gestures, capture the mixture of tentativeness and familiarity. I very much liked ‘Before Sunrise’ and in a lot of ways it is a better movie. But it is easier to craft a movie around discovery, and the first moments of a new relationship, than rediscovery, and the rekindling of an old relationship.
I like this film a lot (it’s smart, awkward and human). I don’t want to sound too maudlin but my response to seeing the film involved uncomfortable recognition mixed with a touch of melancholy. My wife hates Before Sunrise so I was not able to talk her into watching it with me (then again I’m entirely sure that’s a good idea).
Gotta admit: I could never really put up with either of these films. Made it through “Sunrise,” but “Sunset” bored me. In this way it’s reminiscent of Eric Rohmer: I hear how great the films are, but when I watch ’em I feel …
I feel unaffected. By the same token, Alien vs. Predator was equally unaffecting for me. I’d love to see a cross-pollination of the two films, perhaps to amp them both up. Julie Delpy nattering on while mucus drips from the Alien’s russian-doll sets of teeth; Ethan Hawke tries to convince the hunter with the vagina dentata face that he’s not just playing at being cool as a way to hide that he’s a little bit uncool, and thus is cool. After which the Predator shoots him, notches his raygun. And Lance Henriksen dies three-quarters of the way through the film: while serving a latte, his spleen explodes, covering the nearby customers with a thin white paste.
Interesting. I feel the same way about Rohmer, but both Sunrise and Sunset work for me. Of course, if you didn’t have an intense relationship with a young French woman while hitching across Europe, only to lose her and end up in a worthy but empty marriage that you only stay in for the sake of the child you adore, it might not speak to you. I thought we had all been there.
Actually I was overjoyed to see Lance Henriksen in AVP. I miss his deeply lined face and gravelly voice. I hung on every moment of ‘Millennium’ for his performance. Cool is right.