Prima dell'alba

This has to be one of the most sincere and touching boy-meets-girl movies ever made. While "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Say Anything" deliver nice portrayals, this movies strips down useless subplots and Hollywood divergences. This movie focuses purely on watching the budding of a beautiful romance. You never doubt for a second that the film will lead towards the romantic pairing of these two people. You almost immediately sense the synergy and the chemistry between Jesse and Celine, and it is simply pure joy to watch them find it. This movie is mostly all dialogue -based. But, every conversation between these too is greatly intriguing. What makes this pairing so romantic is how real it is. How in all that conversation, while often having no real bearing on anything critical, you can sense the nuances as these two become more fond and trusting of each other. This is exactly they way you would dream that you meet that special someone. And what makes it so true is that it is not even too fantastic to believe. This could be what would happen if you had been confident enough to strike up a conversation with that person you noticed somewhere random. And what puts the icing on this film is the magnificent backdrop of Vienna in which this film takes place. It just adds to the feeling of romantic nirvana that the film suggests. And no matter how many times I watch this film, I don't think I will ever tire of that.

While traveling by train through Europe, the American Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and the French Celine (Julie Delpy) meet each other and decide to spend the night together in Austria. On the next morning, Jesse returns to United States of America, and Celine to Paris.

"Before Sunrise" is one of my favorite romances, indeed one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever seen. It is a low budget movie with a very simple and real storyline, but the chemistry between Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy is perfect, and the dialogs are stunning. The direction is amazing, transmitting the feelings of Celine and Jesse to the viewer. I have just completed my review number 1,000 in IMDb, and I choose "Before Sunrise" for this significant number because it is a very special film for me. I cannot understand why this movie was not nominated to the Oscar, with such a magnificent screenplay, direction and performances. Yesterday I have probably watched this movie for the third or fourth time, and I still love it. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "Antes do Amanhecer" ("Before Sunrise")

'Before Sunrise' is not a film to be scrutinised, nor studied. The absolute beauty of it lies in its perfection as a simple love story - of two lives suddenly thrown together in the midst of reality, and the ensuing night of simple love that follows. Every individual at some time in life dreams of the connection that is portrayed in this film between Jesse and Celine, and few ever find it. 'Before Sunrise' simply and elegantly demonstrates how the most fundamental passions of human emotion can envelope two complete strangers. The beauty of this film is that the story is the most important element. The ending is both provocative and emotional - scenes of the night previously seen in darkness are now portrayed in lonely daylight as the sun rises and the story closes on these two characters.

I saw this film by accident one night late on television. I have never forgotten it. So well is it made that the audience never question if this could ever really happen in life, reality being so absolutely characterised in it.

'Before Sunrise' is simply the story of two strangers bound in Vienna's lonely night splendour - one night of love in all its glory, one superb piece of film making.

Before Sunrise is romance for the slacker generation. Richard Linklater's romantic drama is an offbeat telling of a dream come true for most people. The film depicts romance in all it's glory, but without any of the pitfalls that befall most couples; and in short the film is about two people that have a relationship that's as close to perfection as relationships will ever come to - with just one problem, the problem of time. While most relationships wind down with time, this one keeps going strong throughout and time itself is the only thing that wears out. Before Sunrise is certainly not the typical sentimental 'Hollywood romance', which is another aspect that puts this film leagues ahead of the pretenders. The story follows two people, Jesse; an American and Celine; a French girl that meet on a train into Vienna. They instantly connect, and after telling her his awful idea for a television show and almost getting off the train, Jesse asks Celine to join him for the day in the picturesque city of Vienna...

Before Sunrise works principally for two reasons - realistic acting and an immense script that builds the characters through their thoughts and feelings and thus allows us to get to know them as we do the people in real life. This allows the characters to be free, and it's easy to believe that these are real people and not just actors working from a script. This also allows us to feel for the characters for who they are, and not merely because they're the protagonists. This kind of realism is hard to capture as, at the end of the day, we as the audience know that they're watching a film and not observing real life; but Before Sunrise represents one of the truest to life exhibitions of realism ever to be seen on screen. A truly great script cannot work on it's own, and needs great actors to deliver it to an extent that does it justice, and although I'm not a fan of either Julie Deply or Ethan Hawke; on viewing this film, there is nothing you can do but give them both respect. I don't know whether they were in character or just playing themselves, but when a film is this good; it hardly matters.

In a film like this, it is the writing that's the most important thing, and contained within the script are several observations about life, most of which I personally could relate to. This represents what Richard Linklater has achieved with this script as not only does it create and build the characters, but it also manages to expose what true love is, along with several other aspects of life. The fact that not all the anecdotes are relatable to me personally again represents the brilliance of writing. Everyone is different, and so different parts of the script will appeal to different people. There could be certain aspects about one person that one person loves and another hates; and that's the case with the musings in this script. Adding to the beauty of the film is the city of Vienna. The city itself isn't really important to the film as this is a story that could have taken place just about anywhere - but it makes for some lovely visuals and the upbeat, energetic romance that blossoms throughout the movie is matched by the beauty of the location.

Before Sunrise is simultaneously beautiful and captivating. Richard Linklater has created something that is rare in the world of cinema; a film that captures the beauty of life without ever going over the top or being overly sentimental. Before Sunrise is what it is. And what it is, is pure cinematic brilliance.

What an incredibly brave and honest look at relationships. I've have never seen a film so precisely and brilliantly capture this kind of emotion and transfer it to the screen the way Before Sunrise does. What a crime that neither Ethan Hawke or Julie Delpy was nominated for any major acting awards, actually screw that! What a crime it was that they didn't both sweep every major acting award altogether and that Richard Linklater didn't get any recognition for the screenwriting or brilliant directing of his wonderful actors! Loved the ending (as much as it pained me at the same time), loved how after it all they go back and show every location that the couple shared together. Loved how the dialogue never wavers, never addressing the relationship directly but allows us to indirectly see a geniune bond forming through the body language, facial expressions, and the dialogue, ooooohhh the dialogue. Every bit of it plucked right from those top ten late night conversations we've all had with close friends whether it was serious or in jest. And respect to Linklater for keepin it real, the movie was rated R cause of a couple minor swear words? Could of easily been removed without really desecrating the film but he keeps it in anyways. Screw you hollywood, your 'romantic comedies', your Freddie Prinze Jr.'s, your 'take the glasses off the girl and now she's pretty' movies. This is real romance! This is what I come to the movies for, to think, to be provoked and to be swept away by the magic that only cinema can provide. Before Sunrise has single-handedly reminded me about why I goto the movies......