Pulse – events & entertainment
Here at Dark Surf Nightly, as you know, we like it dark. So, when a movie has “midnight” in the title, it begs to be checked out.
Before Midnight is the latest installment in the Celine/Jesse love story from Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke. The movie catches up with Jesse and Celine while they’re on holiday in Greece, 9 years after we last saw them. It’s been 18 years since their first meeting on the train bound for Vienna and the intercontinental lovers are feeling the full weight of adulthood upon them. The complications of an ugly divorce. Parenting across an ocean. The compromises and sacrifices that often accompany a long-term relationship. It’s all there and more.
When the sun sets in Greece, darkness also falls upon Jesse and Celine as they dig into their relationship, where it stands and how they feel about each other. The writing is smart and sharp—so sharp it stings and cuts the characters to their core—and the acting is so good it’s easy to forget Delpy and Hawke are playing fictional characters.
If you liked the chemistry and nonstop conversation in Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, don’t miss Before Midnight. It’s intelligent and intricate and alive. While no buildings or cars or planets blow up like in other summer movies, that doesn’t mean there aren’t fireworks, thanks to the quality of the writing and acting.
