Before Midnight

I enjoyed Before Sunrise when I first saw it, and thought it was a clever, charming movie with an innovative approach. In my opinion though, Before Sunrise was vastly elevated by being paired with Before Sunset 9 years later.

Before Sunset is an exceptional movie, much more melancholic than its predecessor, but understandably so because the characters had grown up and had to let go of childish notions of fairytale happy ever afters. What makes Before Sunset so wonderful though is the notion throughout that even though things went wrong it's never too late to fix them.

Before Midnight is a different film to the previous two. In my opinion it is about two people who, having made the mistake of losing contact the first time, will work to make sure it never happens again. They were never going to have a fairytale life because they are both very complicated, and I liked the realism of how their relationship developed as they got older.

I strongly disagree with other reviewers who say that Before Midnight can be watched without seeing the previous two. I criticised people who did that for Before Sunset and would caution against it even more for this one. Before Midnight relies on the idea that the audience understands how complicated the characters are and therefore continues to like them even when they do things which could seem nasty and shallow.

In summary, while my favourite of the three movies remains Before Sunset, Before Midnight adds richly to the overarching story that has been told, in real time over 18 years, of two characters that fans of the series have grown to love. As a three part series, the Before movies are practically perfect.

First and foremost, this is not your typical mainstream summer movie. However, if you're reading this, then I'm sure you've already seen the two preceding films, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. If you have, then you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. This movie is driven by the characters and their dialog. No fancy special effects, no elaborate sets, no uber-popular actors to stuff in the movie to make people watch it. Just great dialog from two excellent actors.

Now that that's out of the way, I was a little uninterested when hearing about this movie, that it was filmed in Greece. However, after seeing the film tonight, I find that the setting was quite lovely and really had little to do with the movie itself. The movie was more about how these two main characters are dealing with getting older and being parents, and how over time, your opinions about things and about each other can change.

One thing I've always liked about these movies is the gritty realism of the two characters. Being an American myself, and previously having a French girlfriend (and living in France), I can totally relate to the two characters and the idiosyncrasies that are attributed to both of them in this story of their lives.

This movie was, once again, a model example of good dialog and great characters! I was very happy to see this movie, and I'm glad to see the writers haven't lost their touch. This movie was written by not only the director, but also the two main actors, and this series is really their "baby" - you can tell much love and care went into these films, even though they are all shot very quickly and with a small budget. I love how there are very few cuts in most of the scenes, and you can tell that everything about this movie was simple. This is a true breath of fresh air in time full of poorly-written movies and cheap special effects.

This time, I find the film boring and just not charming. Instead of relating to each other, they are just bickering all the time. You can say it is raw and real, but that is not what I want to see.

It's 9 years after 'Before Sunset' in the 3rd movie of the Before series. Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) are unmarried living in Paris with their twin daughters. Jesse has written 2 more books. It's one of the last days of their summer vacation in Greece. Jesse sees his son Hank off after spending the summer with him. Hank's mom is still angry and Jesse wants so much to spend more time with him in Chicago. Celine is thinking about taking a government job with complications.

They are 41. They have kids. It has the naturalistic long takes very much in keeping with the previous movies. I love the sly humor and human scale of their lives. There is also something great about growing old with these characters. This is what comes after happily-ever-after of the second movie. I do like the scenes with Jesse and Celine alone more than the scenes with other people. I don't mind the other characters but I loved the private moments with just those two wandering around bullshitting. Also it's great to have them continue their relationship with their problems.

This is the worst of the 'Before' trilogy.

The movie is preachy to a tea with its dialogue which loses the natural charm of the first two movies. Everything feels scripted now, or at least most of the interactions do now.

The wide-eyed outing of the first movie is progressively turned more dour with each instalment, and this climax puts it to an insufferable degree. I wanted to turn it off at the 45-minute mark, but I stayed to see if there were any redeeming qualities to come - there weren't. The last 30-50 minutes of the film are nails on chalkboard levels of galling.

The unique, somewhat documentary, style of the first film and, to a lesser extent, its sequel, is almost entirely lost in this instalment. There is an impressive one shot of the family driving a car, that lasts for about 20 minutes, but the dialogue in the scene was many notches lesser than its predecessors.

This movie is a stream of negative stimuli - about the climate, about technology, about relationships, about inequality between the sexes; everything is negative. And the dialogue between characters and the inclusion of outlandish stories and statements that are supposed to ring true about the differences between men and women, just come off as incredibly sexist for both parties and incredibly forced. There is a story delivered by a side character that purports that men only care about their penis, while women care about everyone else first. Like seriously? That's not only a horrendous generalisation to attribute to men but also a statement that reinforces the gender roles of the female caregiver. And for a film that tries so hard and in your face with its feminist and 'women are oppressed' themes, that comes off as extremely paradoxical.

The only benefit that comes from finishing this movie is a series of warnings drilled into your head about how toxic generalisation thinking is and how resentful relationships can become if your view of the world is rooted in pessimism. Don't be like that - don't become these characters. And, don't think that getting older forces these negative changes. Watch the first film to be hopeful about the world and spontaneity; watch the second to learn things can seem rooted in place, but change can still happen; and ignore this film.