Before Sunset is the sequel to the incredibly touching film Before Sunrise and this one is no lesser in either content or execution. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy return as Jessie and Celine, only older and wiser. It is hard to believe that the time spent between the two films(a decade I think) has no impact on the actors as their chemistry is as good(if not better) than in Before Sunrise. Richard Linklater is an auteur and this is a great example of a great movie by a director given full reins.

...Another masterpiece from Richard Linklater.I recently learned that the first movie (before sunrise) was made by him because he wanted to find a girl that he had met and spent a night like that of the movie.He believed that if the girl would have seen the movie she could have tried to contact with him.In before sunset, he parallels his action of doing this film with the action of Jesse to write a book about the night with Celine, in order to find her...In this movie, indeed Jesse and Celine meet again each other, but this time they have continued their lives.Celine realizes that when we are young we believe that we will have the chance ,plenty of times, to connect with people, but in reality it only happens a few times.That in my opinion is the main message of this film.The biggest mistake that we can do, is to say that we will find another one in the future...NOOO, THIS IS THE TIME, THIS IS THE ONE!!! Another and last point that I would like to emphasize is when Celine says that many couples think that after a few years of living together, they would be in the same state of excitement,in the same passion and the consuming desire to be the same than in the beginning.And continues that this is impossible, because they would have ended up doing nothing at all with their lives, because of the constant heartbeat and desire for sex.Young couples must understand that this is natural and not lack of love.But, of course,in Jesse's situation there is also another important factor for his unhappiness, Celine!!And now fits perfectly the first observation that I made,THIS IS THE TIME, THIS IS THE ONE!!

Before Sunset follows Jesse and Celine 9 years after they first met as they meet up once more and hang out for the hour or so before Jesse has to catch a plane. Similar to 'Before Sunrise', this is a movie about the same two people talking. And that's it. No real plot or anything, it's just a reunion. And it still works. These characters haven't lost their flair quite yet, it's still interesting to watch them interact with one another. Once again, the acting is all pretty solid as well, with both Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy pulling off great performances. And as per usual, they play off of each other very well. And yet again, the writing is good. The characters have realistic, yet semi important, conversations that are rarely boring or uninteresting. Still, with a movie like this the pacing does suffer. There are scenes in this movie that dragged more than they should have, and they were noticeable. It was noticeable when they picked up again, and they were noticeable when they started, for no particular reason really. It's just how the movie is structured. This review has been a rehash of the one I wrote for 'Before Sunrise', although I do have one new thing to say. There's a scene towards the 1 hour mark where one of the characters has a sudden outburst and it's kind of out of place. Everything's going well and their conversations are wrapping up and suddenly one of them just gets super mad and starts ranting. While it wasn't totally out of nowhere, it noticeably changed the tone so quickly that it was hard to ignore. Overall Before Sunset is, while good, not as good as it's predecessor. Everything good about the first one is good in the second one, but tonally this sequel has some challenges. In the end I would only recommend this movie if you liked the first one. There's really nothing new here from the first one.

In Before Sunrise they were young twenty somethings who had not yet truly found 'the one', and through one night, experienced something fleeting and magical that almost seemed to fill that missing piece of the puzzle. They were strangers and there was nothing tricky or hidden to be surveyed, and their emotional baggage was light; it was a straightforward meet cute. Initially it seems to be again one of those chance encounters that happens only in movies. We are under the impression that Jesse is over the moon to once again see Celine, and that she also wants the chance to make up for not being there at the train station. They fall into the same conversational rhythms that seem so familiar, and then slowly, Linklater reveals their new lives.9 years ago they were relatively unbroken, and innocent, and unburdened by life. And it was a truly magical moment too, but it was just that; a moment, constricted by time. Here, they are again constricted, but not in the same way, and they know it too; Jesse extends and extends the encounter beyond what they initially agree to, a coffee, and desperately grabs at any chance to rekindle that moment and feeling - he will not again leave her on that platform. In the back of their minds, obstructions linger: a broken marriage, a long distance boyfriend, career aspirations that are miles apart. Jesse has not forgotten. In fact, he reveals, he has thought on it at just about any spare moment, and daringly, right before his wedding (this seems to be a rather careful treading of the waters, testing how receptive Celine will be). It is not immediately evident, but we notice (shots of the last encounter run through Jesse's mind as he dodges reporter's questions). The dialogue is timid and tentative, and hesitant of the topic on the audience's minds; they update each other on their lives, and seem to take an eternity to broach the all important question of relationship status. It is masterful how Linklater sets up their defenses - well Celine's, because Jesse is all but spilling by about halfway through. She acts forgetful; did they have sex, or didn't they? Where exactly did they visit again? Meanwhile Jesse puts on a cynical, jaded mask, and as they muse on the world's affairs, he criticises the modern sense of entitlement, but we and Celine see right through this; he is almost begging for another Vienna. When she jokingly proposes a scenario, he brushes clean a park bench and eagerly throws her onto his lap. That would have worked 9 years ago. They muse that maybe they are only good at the brief encounters, the ones that seem to last a small eternity in the romance novels and movies. Jesse throws his head into his hands in regret, and glances sidewards to see if Celine has the same reaction. She does not betray it easily. He remembers every crystal clear detail of his memory, including thinking of her as he walks into a deli with an umbrella on his wedding day, and she counters that she lived only two streets away, as if she is slowly beginning to feel it too. And then she cracks in the car, and reveals that she too has been dwelling on it endlessly, and that she is just as vulnerable, and we begin to understand how that one night has shaped their romantic expectations ever since. She has written a song about it, performed so tenderly by Delphy, and though she jokes that she inserts different names into it depending on whom she is wooing, we know the truth. Before Sunset asks more questions of Jesse and Celine. It offers the same feeling, and the same love, but now they are older, more cumbersome, and juggling real life obstacles that make a dreamy night in Vienna no longer possible. And yet, there is still something between them. At first, they put on a pretense that they have their lives together, and that they are not bothered by the missed opportunity. Then they confess this is not the case. And then slowly but gradually, in the same space of time as before, they fall for each other again. "Baby, you are gonna miss that plane", she croons, and Jesse responds that he knows. And we all know it too.