“Before Sunrise”, “Before Sunset”, and now “Before Midnight”.

Even if you have not seen Richard Linklater’s,  ”Before Sunrise” or “Before Sunset”, you will still be able to understand and enjoy the third film in the series, “Before Midnight”, which is showing at “The Tribeca Film Festival” on April 22nd and, again, on April 24th.  There is still have time to download the two prequels.

It is now eighteen years after the couple, Jesse (Hawke), and Celine (Delpy), met on a train in Europe, and spent an evening meandering around Vienna. The storyline in the third chapter remains fairly basic and  is, for the most part, a long conversation of the two in crisis. Without giving too much away, even though they have spent six weeks on summer vacation at a gorgeous, relaxing farmhouse in Greece, both characters are constantly debating, philosophizing, and purging. 41 year old Jesse, just dropped his 14 year old son, Hank, off at the airport to return to school at his ex-wife’s home in Chicago, but wonders, if he, himself, should move back to the US to be closer to him, to teach him how to throw a baseball, and encourage him to stay in the soccer league. Meanwhile, Celine, has no interest in living in Chicago, has twin girls of her own with Jesse, and fears that they may breakup if he wants to return to the States, and she chooses to remain in Paris. Celine is honest and funny, sharing all her late 30′s or early 40′s hormonal emotions, no holds barred. While Jesse is really just looking to have a rational conversation, Celine is panicking and confrontational.  Seeing as Jesse mentioned that his grandparents were together for 74 years, will this series go on every nine years for 6 more films until 2069?

I once saw Ethan Hawke at a showing of  the 1957, David Lean classic, “The Bridge on the River Kwai” at “Film Forum”, which makes him very cool.  Props for the “Neptune Records” tee shirt he was wearing in “Before Midnight” too. “Neptune Records was a record label founded by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff in 1969. They featured artists such as The O’Jays, The Three Degrees and Billy Paul.”

SCREENING TIMES

Article by Sharon Abella

http://1worldcinema.com