Before Midnight

2013

USA

Director: Richard Linklater 
Writers: Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Kim Krizan
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick 

My Thoughts:

They drive. They talk. They walk. They fight. They say hurtful things to each other. They apologize. They make up. All against a gorgeous Grecian backdrop.

Nine years after we last saw Jesse and Celine, and almost two decades after they first met on that fateful train to Vienna, we catch up with them in Greece. They've been together all this time, although still not married. They have twin daughters, Jesse has a fourteen-year-old son from his first marriage. At one point I think they say something about an older daughter of Celine's too, but I didn't really get that. Actually, a lot of this film went by before it could really register with me. It's a lot like eavesdropping on a conversation at the next table in a restaurant -- some of it is fascinating, some is not so much, and some of it you just don't really grock. But I  believe that's the feeling Linklater and his crew are trying to achieve.

OK, I know it's not fashionable or hip to say this, but I've been mostly bored by this whole series of films, and I think this latest one has the least to offer. I do appreciate what Linklater is doing, and I'm gratified that there's someone out there making films for adults, with real actors and settings, and not just turning out CGI schlock. I just wish there was a little more to the films -- more than just two fairly ordinary people talking and talking and talking. And talking some more. At least in this third film, there are a few other people doing some of the talking.

Also, the two stars seem much less natural in this one, more like actors trying to be natural. Especially Julie Delpy -- she even seems to have lost all that French charm that kept her from being totally unbearable in the earlier films.

But if you've loved the other two "Before" movies, you should love this one too -- it's more of the same.

My IMDb Rating: I'm giving this one 4 stars out of a possible 10, mainly because the scenery was so attractive.