Sun. Believable.

It's true.  You're not hallucinating.  A semi-normal story is being posted on this blog for review, and nowhere in it does it involve blood, creepy scenes with possessed kids, or even a blaring Psycho-like string orchestra.

This blogger isn't heartless and in need of a strait-jacket.  Sometimes the orderlies let him out of his cell and he surprises everybody with a review of something that (gasp) might be enjoyable for a wider audience.

First, it must be pointed out that romantic comedies are not a favorite here at FUMoR.  Usually the dialogue is ridiculous, the buildup of the sexual tension becomes inane, and even when the outcome of love is finally revealed, it's posed with more syrup and sweets than Willy Wonka's chocolate factory coated in Mrs. Butter-Worths.

While this seems most certainly unrealistic, so are movies about killers with machetes that won't ever die, or the absurdity of Jack Bauer jumping off of rooftops or pushing an aluminum shed over with a bulldozer, so non-realism can't be held against any romantic comedy on the silver screen, as long as it's enjoyed by its audience.  It's just not high on the list of genres to watch here on this blog.

Which brings this review to Richard Linklater's wonderful combination of two films that basically could be viewed as one, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset.  Two people meet on a train, they talk and walk around Vienna, and fall in love.  The story then continues nine years later for the audience to discover what new chapters have unfolded in the lives of these two characters.  It's a simple setup, exquisitely performed.

 

The film's dialogue-driven parlance is different from most romantic comedies, inasmuch we CARE about what these people are talking about.  And most importantly, it's not overdone.  It's simplistic.  It's not like a big-budget romance where there's a set-up, the actor stands in front of the actress with sadness and remorse, and we all know...."Ohhh, look...he's about to make some ridiculous speech that will contain a line that will become one of the movie's annoying catchphrase!"

Example:



This doesn't happen in Before Sunrise.  Look in particular at this scene and notice that all feelings and emotions between Celine and Jesse are played out without either one saying a single word, just the melodic voice of Kath Bloom echoing within the sound booth.  It's a very powerful moment that sets the mood for the film and contains so much more development than a whiny Tom and Renee.



This is why the movie works.  It's not trying to be anything else but a simple love story.  It also helps to have the wonderful acting talents of its two leads, played so perfectly by Ethan Hawke and July Delpy.  These are just two people who just want to know each other better, and are willing to take the chance at falling in love.  And that's quite simply, all that is needed.

Before Sunset takes place nine years after Sunrise, and while both characters have grown older and more mature, their spark is still there.  It's difficult to describe what happens in each film considering that each one is really just one big long conversation, but the fascination with the topics of conversation are what make the stories entertaining for the audience.

Here's an amazing scene from Before Sunset.  Notice the pain and sadness in Celine's face as Jesse describes his dream, and the nuance of what she does to try and communicate, but realizes that she can't:

Now watch this ridiculous conversation from Notting Hill where Julia Roberts wants to make sure that Hugh Grant knows that her sappy feelings for him are so evident, and tries way too hard to make the audience believe her saccharine-soaked diatribe.  And while in the beginning Roberts does to a good job conveying her feelings with her facial expressions, the scene is ruined by the build-up to that "let's make sure we have a catchphrase" that so many romances seem to want to include.

While this blogger is certainly not a cynic, and knows that romance is about feelings and saying what you want to say with honesty, it's just the way that it can presented that can make or break a movie.  You don't need huge set-ups and dialogue sounding like it was taken out of a cheesy romance novel and then stated breathtakingly with crying eyes and sobs in-between.  Before Sunrise and Before Sunset are one continuous love story that makes the audience BELIEVE in the characters, and they're not just something out of a fairy tale.

It's difficult to make a point when love stories in the movies are made for all audiences who enjoy different aspects of storytelling, it's just that here at FUMoR we strive to keep the sugar to a minimum.

Here's another of FUMoR's favorite romances. While it may seem like a contradiction in terms (because really.....it's NOT the norm to stand outside your beloved's window with a boombox to win her back), if the film has believable characters who portray a TRUE sense of love for each other, then certain nuances like this can make the movie have a certain uniqueness that only adds more charm to the characters.  It's the creativeness of the scene, and most of the time, if it's simple and does not need dialogue, it can have a powerful effect.



Now, if the scene  instead had Cusack running up to the window, and reciting the Gabriel opus in iambic pentameter while heaving deep breaths and his eyes welling up with more salt water than you'd see on episode of Deadliest Catch, the DVD would be immediately ejected from the player and a nice, cold can of Vanilla Coke Zero would be placed on top of it.  In the words of Damon Wayans: "Homey don't play dat!"

Before Sunrise  /  Before Sunset - (1995)/(2004)
- Directed by Richard Linklater
Collective Grade: A