nine years later

I watched 「Before Sunrise」 first, then 「Before Sunset」. I loved 「before sunset」, the sequel made nine years later, better. It’s probably because of my age, I found more relevance to the second movie. 「Before sunrise」 is story of 20 somethings. You have luxury of time, and believing, as the second movie puts it: you stupidly think there would be a lot of opportunities like this, but, the truth is, there are not many.

「Before Sunrise」 was about a long night Jesse and Celine spent in Vienna. I felt the setting, the background, Vienna was very important. As these two young people wonder around the streets, backgrounded by magnificent buildings, sculptures, all of those made their story more romantic. It was like our first love, the smell, the river, the music and all those details are part of our first kiss memories. They talked, they walked, and they were interrupted by some interesting characters in this European city: German actors, one of them would play a walking cow; a old woman/palm reader; a starving poet who offered to write a poem for them with any word they pick, they picked 「milkshake」, and exchanged most beautiful poem for the money; a belly dancer; a nice bar tender who loaned Jesse a bottle of red wine while Celine stole two glasses from the bar…

「Before Sunset」 was 80 minutes talking between Jesse and Celine. Even though the story took place in Paris, I felt the city, the background was of much less importance any more. They now in their 30s, nine years after their one-night journey, this time they only have less than two hours before Jesse’s flight back home. Jessa wanted to spend every minute with her, there was no more interventions from the city (maybe nine years later there are no more on-street poets any more too …). The conversation carried the show, and it did so wonderfully. It was fun for audience to observe how age changed them, and unchanged them at the same time. Celine was radiant, she was more doing what she wanted to do; Jesse was more eaten by life, more scared by the loss of love. I loved the sense of no time left, the sense of rushing between Jesse and Celine, also, the pretending, the anger, and revelations along the way. They may not remain together if they did meet at their promised time and place in 「before sunrise」, but they did not. They aged separately, but carried the one-night memory with them. In that, they shaped each other’s lives during the nine years even though they were not together. Maybe that, the sense of loss, transcended everything. So, it was only nature now, nine years later, for them to revisit the other possibility if they stayed together…

I realized 30 something might and is one of most beautiful years in ones life. Spend them wisely.

P.S. this is not a good movie for everyone, some might hate it or find it boring.