'Before Sunrise (1995)' essentially has no plot and, though that's the point as the intention is to be a romance with all the extraneous 'Hollywood' elements removed, this leads to an experience that feels loose, aimless and meandering. It's experimental and laid-back by design but isn't the most gripping of narrative pieces because of it. It certainly feels less a character-study of its two leads and more a vehicle for Linklater, Krizan, Delpy and Hawke (the latter two of whom contributed heavily to the script uncredited) to express some of their most unique of ideas. These come constantly, seeming like stories they've told to friends or theories they have about life, love and religion, and, while they can be interesting (genuinely thought-provoking in cases), they don't really develop the characters and seem sort of out of place within the story. It's difficult to explain why most of that stuff doesn't seem to work, but it just doesn't feel fully genuine in most cases. It doesn't feel like it comes from the characters or express their budding romance, though this sort of talk certainly forms the basis for most relationships. Still, it isn't all unsuccessful. There is certainly some charm to the picture, once it picks up steam. In the end, the experiment seems to have worked. It was creatively refreshing for all involved and evokes memories of wandering around a holiday desination talking about nothing for hours. There's even some impressive long takes and the 'unscripted' feel is admirable considering it was all scripted down to the letter. This all leads to a sort of inane, carefree and somewhat nostalgic - if limited - enjoyment of a hundred-minute conversation told with cinematic language. 6/10

You know how you've always imagined the love story that would get you off your feet and meeting "the one".. this movie, made it vivid to me. It's not so obvious and big romantic cliche stuff , it's subtle , more intellect oriented, sophisticated and yet so simple you can't help it. Hats off to the dialogue between them, i've never felt connected to a character as much as i did with Celine.

Before Sunrise follows a young man and woman who meet on a train and realize how good their chemistry is, so they decide to hang out for the rest of the night. As per usual, Ethan Hawke kills it. While I wouldn't call this his best performance, he's still fantastic. And same goes for Julie Delpy. She does a great job, and the two play off of each other so well. It's a relationship that was actually authentic. I bought the idea that these two people were this compatible and could form a relationship. The writing is fantastic. Partly the reason why these characters are so authentic and fleshed out is because they are both given personalities portrayed by amazing writing. Their characters are thought out and well developed by the end. Another thing that came as a surprise was the directing. There were a handful of shots that went on for several minutes, during which the characters just talked. They had a huge chunk of lines to memorize and they had to play these particular characters for the entire time, again proving how great the actors are. Sure, there was probably a lot of improvisation, but even then it's still impressive that they managed to stay in character that long. If I have but one problem with the movie it's that it could drag from time to time. Considering the movie is made up completely of conversations between two people over the course of several hours. It's not exactly exciting or riveting in plot, it's relaxed. And sometimes I felt like that too, maybe a little too much. Overall Before Sunrise is a very well-acted, written, and directed film that suffers from being a tad slow. While it isn't a movie I can see myself watching again anytime soon, I absolutely enjoyed it, and in the end I would recommend it.

This was the first of what became the 'Before' trilogy, three rambling and romantic films starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.I think this is a film you'll either love or hate, purely because of the style of film it is. There is very little plot, and is very talky instead. That's fine if you're a fan of big powerful speeches, and poetic language, but if you're waiting for a 'big moment' then you're going to be disappointed.I enjoyed this film, I thought it was without doubt a clever film, but I can't say it enticed me enough to make me watch it again, or to see the subsequent sequels.