Having a good conversation is one of my favorite feelings. That moment when you feel almost buzzed with the excitement of how much you want to respond to and absorb what the other person is saying. These conversations happen both with the people I love most and oddly, the people I know least. With the latter category, the buzz comes from the fact that neither one has any expectations for what the other will contribute. I live for these chats.

Peace,

Sources: weheartit, imdb

Blog title from “The New Year” by Death Cab for Cutie

Essa cena diz tudo:

É… vai uma valsa aí?

Antes do Amanhecer já foi indicado a Melhor Diálogo e a continuação poderia ganhar também:

- Memory is a wonderful thing if you don’t have to deal with the past. (…) You can never replace anyone because everyone is made up of such beautiful specific details.

Não?

Before Sunrise

Our first romantic comedy pick!!  The look on Ryan’s face was hard to describe – a mixture of “I’m about to be tortured for 2 hours” and “Good, the sooner we get these over with, the better”.  I happily informed him this was the first movie, as there was a sequel made later that is also on my movie list, so we have something to look forward to!!  (Imagine his eyes roll)  The movie was pretty good, I enjoyed the romance and felt connected with the characters.  Ryan and I both remarked that we actually didn’t mind that the whole movie was basically the two of them having several conversations, because they were conversations most couples would have.  I remember having those same question and answer sessions with Ryan in our dating past, so it helped me to feel like this was a real blossoming romance, instead of the usual romantic comedies with the typical boy meets girl, fall in love, boy and girl have something break them apart, boy gets back together with girl after some kind of grand gesture to win her back.  This was not that kind of romantic comedy, which I found refreshing.  The Vienna backdrop only increased my desire to go to Europe, and I look forward to the sequel when the time comes to pull it out of our hat.

“Oh great,” I think to myself as the small piece of paper is unwrapped, “a romantic comedy.”  Great.  On the upside I want to get a few of these out of the way so that we don’t end up watching 20 of these in a row, on the downside I don’t really want to watch ANY of them.  Romantic comedies are a genre that I just don’t like.  There are exceptions and I TRY to keep my mind open as we walk out of Blockbuster with it in our hands, my head hanging low so as to avoid eye contact with any male in the vicinity.  It turns out it’s not a comedy at all, more of a romantic drama and I’m surprised to say I rather enjoyed it.  Now mind you, it is NOT a very exciting movie.  In fact all it contains is two people talking as they wander around Venice over the course of a day.  Sounds pretty boring and at times it certainly is, but I enjoyed the fact that the conversations they were having sounded completely believable.  When reading a book bad dialogue is one of the first things that stands out to me and it is no different in movies and in a movie where the only thing going on IS the dialgoue, they better have it right.  I think I would have liked it even more if I even remotely identified with either of the characters.  One part I did like which Candice did not was when the director decided to show each spot where the couple had spent time in the morning daylight.  I think it kind of made the point to me that it was the people that mattered and not the place.  Places aren’t that important if there are no people to enjoy them.  I have to admit that I’m deathly afraid that the romantic movies of Candice’s 15 might have already been chosen.

Before Sunrise: 7/10

So fellas, I’ve been Missing In Action (MIA) for a good 4 months? I’m not sure, who’s counting anyway.

You probably don’t want me to bore you with mundane little details of my life explaining for the absolute thorough neglect of this little blog of mine.

So I was away…to the opposite side of the world and took 2 months off and I am now back to my sunny island city-state, where I am not only jobless and broke, but also sad that I have to leave a part of me there. But we all know that all good things come to an end.

Now, I’ve just watched 2 movies: Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. And really liked that little waltz that Julie Delpy sang in Before Sunset. For those who know me personally, would probably already have guessed that I bawled my eyes out.

After some sort of media monitoring online about the movies, most people prefer Before Sunset because it resonates the haplessness that we feel in life sometimes. And most are undecided about Before Sunrise. But I liked it, I loved both movies but Before Sunrise provided the perfect setting to Before Sunset. It was almost amateur, and almost unreal and idealistic to depict two persons falling in love and meant what they promised and said to each other after a mere one night. Before Sunset is proof that it does happen and exists. It’s a flawed story line simply because it’s not perfect. And I liked that it’s not perfect.

This song performed by Julie Delpy deserves a post, I think she has a really nice, unassuming voice and it was a very heartfelt “performance” – I only put performance because I didn’t know what else to call it.

Simple, unpretentious lyrics. That’s how all songs should be, don’t you think?

Because of all the people that I’ve met on my trip, I’ll never be the same again. And someone once said, we all are the sum of our moments in life. So make every moment count.

….and it starts tomorrow look out for my next post! Enjoy the little waltz.

Movies are some of the sincerest imitations of life.  Ever since I met Nino, the movie that makes me feel like he is near, that I like to watch and reflect on the most, is Before Sunrise.  It makes me feel happy, sad, familiar, and warm.  Very odd, considering the movie as a whole.  I didn’t meet Nin in Europe, didn’t spend the night in Vienna, didn’t split and live on our own for six months (only to miss the meet up and see each other again ten years later after some failed or stagnant decisions ala Before Sunset), no, none of that.  We have been together over five years, and admittingly, life has not been rosy and things have changed somewhat.  But oh, that movie.

It makes me believe that if you have that kind of connection, that is truly all you need.  It is that, and so much more.  Nin and I have had that connection from the very start.  I don’t often reflect much on it, and I don’t think he does much anymore either.  Life gets so busy and you do get lost.  I do know it is there…  the night we met, in our own world.  Drifting away, the conversations.  It just got so much better from there.  The days and nights of lying awake in our bed.  Sanctuary from the world.  I do long for that so much.  I know we will have it again.

There is something truly magical about Before Sunrise.  I think maybe I am singly inclined to agree with myself, but even the oddities strike a nerve.  The constant fear of death, the fact that we are all just star dust, the scene on the grass, the passion.  How I do love it.

How would you describe a city like Paris? Do you automatically think of a Robert Doisneau image of two lover kissing in front of the Hotel de Ville or is the Eiffel Tower lit up at night inscribed in your memory?  Paris is undoubtedly magical, but the beyond the confines of the tourist trails is one of the most multi-cultural, artistic and unconventional capitals in Europe.

The Paris Ile-de-France Comite Regionale du Tourisme has just launched a short viral film to promote the young and vibrant side of the city that many visitors end up missing.

The three and a half minute film entitled Kisses From Paris is directed by French actor/director Yvan Attal (who is also Charlotte Gainsbourg’s partner) and is sound tracked by Rufus Wainwright’s atmospheric Leaving For Paris.   The Paris tourist board loved his sketch in New York, I Love You so much that they commissioned Yvan to express his own creative vision of the “New Paris Ile-de-France”.

The film features two young lovers, played by Zoé Schellenberg and Pierre Perrier snogging their way through Paris, stopping only to marvel at the amazing sights around them.  In between declaring how much they adore each other, the couple study the art at the Beaubourg and the Palais de Tokyo, stroll along the Canal Saint-Martin, go to a gig at the Chateau de Vincenne and hunt for vintage treasures at the Saint Ouen flea market.

The film is intense, stylish and dreamy but in a more realistic than whimsical way. It reminds me of Before Sunrise and its sequel Before Sunset (shot in Paris), where Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy meet on a train and get to know each other in a day before going their separate ways, then meeting up in Paris nine years on.

Kisses From Paris does nothing to dispel the myth of Paris as a city for lovers and not all of us have a Louis Garrel look-a-like to kiss all over town, but it offers a new, alternative Paris to fall in love with.

To find out more about ‘le nouveau Paris’ and to win a trip to Paris, visit the website.

I love when movies get stuck in my head. I seem to have a very selective memory for movies – I can usually judge how much I enjoyed a film by how much I can remember of it. I have been known on some occasions to completely forget I’ve even watched a film, later re-watching it and discovering why. I guess that’s a problem.

The opposite of that though is that when I love a film, really love it, I can’t stop thinking about it. It happens rarely, and often for completely different reasons. However three recent occurrences of this spring to mind…

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Taken

I resisted watching Taken for so long; such a familiar synopsis:  A former spy relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who has been kidnapped while travelling in Europe. Guns, bad guys, revenge. The type of film you could easily predict, and easily forget.

When I eventually succumbed to watching it one pizza night, I was proven wrong. The whole film was an edge-of-the-seat thriller and I’m pretty sure my heart was racing from the moment the kidnap happened, right until the “end boss”. I loved it.

I’m not very good at constructing long and clever sentences to describe films, but all you really need to know it that it was frantic, brutal, and Neeson Kicks Ass. Two weeks after watching it the first time I caught myself replaying the kidnap scene in my head, remembering Neeson’s message to the bad guys;

I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career; skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you…

…and I will kill you.

Chilling!

I watched it again that night. It was so nice to see a film like this that didn’t muck about, wasn’t filled with gimmicks and clichés, got the adrenaline pumping and just – well – kicked bottom. Like good thrillers ought to.

Human Humdrum recommends Taken for any Pizza Movie night. Give it the full home cinema treatment.

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The Lake House

The idea of The Lake House is total crap:  Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock live in the same house, but two years apart, and they fall in love whilst sending each other letters through a postbox that apparently can bend space-time to deliver them. Even as a Sci-Fi geek I don’t buy it. Yet the makers of this movie managed to pull it off somehow. There was something really nice about these simple letters, about every day observations, going backwards and forwards between two people who had never actually met, and in our modern world of emails and Internet that is something which is believable.

There’s a really nice part of the film where they take a walk through the city together. Of course they aren’t really together; Reeves, in the past, has made notes about his favourite places on a map, and Bullock takes his tour of the city physically alone, but reading his comments on things along the way. I realise that sounds pretty lame here on your screen, but I think they did it very well in the movie.

There are plenty of questionable bits of plot – for example Reeves at one point plants a tree in his time, and then it magically appears right next to Bullock in her time. But once you manage to put all the stuff you ever read/watched/learned about paradoxes and alternate time lines out of your mind, these little things are just nice touches in a movie which is just really… nice.

In any case, this movie was one that I was still thinking about the day after, rewatched the week after, and still thought about the week after that. I consider it a bit of a guilty pleasure: a movie which I know isn’t going to win many awards and my friends will probably think is lame, but I enjoyed it all the same. And after all, that’s all that matters.

Sunday afternoon viewing and – while it’s a romantic film – it’s not your cheesy chick flick so boys, don’t be too scared!

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Before Sunrise

I have a memory of being a young teenager, up late watching TV in my room, seeing a movie in which a man and a woman were spending a night walking around some European city. They had just met, but had fallen in love, and would have to go their separate ways in the morning. I wasn’t really at an age where I appreciated ‘grown-up’ films, or had even seen many, yet this film made a real lasting impression on me.

While I forgot completely what the characters looked like and what they did in the movie, I never forgot the emotions and the way the film made me feel. Years after I would tell people about this film I’d seen where two people meet, spend one night together, and then go their separate ways. But no one else ever knew what I was talking about.

Earlier this year when I was talking to a colleague of mine about movies, he asked if I had ever seen Before Sunrise. The second I said “No” something clicked in my brain. It turned out that the movie that I was starting to think I had only seen in a dream, was this ‘Before Sunrise’ and other people had actually seen it! Finally knowing its title I got myself a copy and when off work recently with a dodgy tummy, I sat down to watch it.

It was like watching it for the first time – I remembered none of the conversations and situations, yet everything was so familiar. It was the movie that I remembered from all the way back in, like, 1996.

The plot isn’t clever, there are no twists, no surprises. Mostly the film is just showing a conversation between two people who have just met. It isn’t glamorous or controversial, but instead there’s awkwardness, shyness, and the nonsensical babble that you get in real life when meeting someone for the first time. Movie critics know how to put this a lot better than me, but it just feels very ‘real life’.

About half way through they have an encounter with a gypsy palm reader. I’ve no idea why, but this character fascinated me, and I replayed the sequence a couple of extra times. There’s one thing she says that I love:

“You need to resign yourself to the awkwardness of life. Only if you find peace within yourself will you find true connection with others.”

Crazy old lady aside, this really is one of my favourite films. Yeah I know, it’s another romance and I’m a girl so you’re not surprised. But I’m not a fan of sickly-sweet romantic movies, and I usually hate films where nothing really happens. But I love Before Sunrise and I’m going to watch it again in a few months.

Watch it. Watch it when you have 105 minutes to yourself and you know you won’t be disturbed. There was a sequel made 9 years later, called Before Sunset, and you will probably be temped to watch it straight after. But leave it a couple of weeks. If you can.

“I believe if there’s any kind of God it wouldn’t be in any of us, not you or me but just this little space in between. If there’s any kind of magic in this world it must be in the attempt of understanding someone sharing something. I know, it’s almost impossible to succeed but who cares really? The answer must be in the attempt.”

Before Sunrise was written and filmed in Vienna in 1995. Nine years later, both characters (and the original director) return and film the sequel Before Sunset in Paris. Two of my favorite films.

For a person who writes for a living, I can’t think of a thing to write in my blog. A lot has been going on in a turbo fashion that I hardly have the time to write about it. I remember when I was still in college, I had the time to tell the world how I felt, how I hated it, how I loved it, even how I felt nothing for it. But now, I seem to have all these nice stories but don’t really get to tell them. I believe it’s self-preservation now. I’ve learned that my talking too much will eventually lead to trouble. So I’m keeping quiet this time, unless someone asks. But since I’ve always had this idea that nobody is really interested in my stories, then maybe I could spare a few details.

About a Boy

Yep, there is a boy—a really fantastic one at that. But we started in the strangest of ways that I don’t even know how to go about it anymore. And losing control of situations like this one freaks me out bigtime. I was watching Before Sunrise again this evening and realized how similar the situations were. So can somebody remind me how they ended up in Before Sunset? Haha. I don’t know where this is going but I believe it will all be worth it.

All in a Day’s Work

I have decided that I’m going to finally stop procrastinating and pursue my dream of becoming a chef. But it’s not as easy as asking my parents for money and enrolling myself in an institution. What will happen is this: I have to quit the job that I have right now then my parents will lend me money so I can go abroad to find a job and once I find one, I pay them back. And my parents are not like other parents who tell their children that they have to be paid back but actually refuse to take the money in the end. Mine will really take the money you owe them. I guess they believe this is part of teaching me responsibility but imagine that all this is all happening while I save up for my culinary education. It sucks really but I’m ready to do it because I have a goal. I remember a song of The Smiths that has a line that says “Please, please let me get what I want this time” and that’s all I’m asking from Universe. Make it happen this time.

Afterhours

It’s two in the morning and I’m still up, trying to summarize my life in one measly blog entry. Well, maybe I just want to give Universe an idea of how I see things that are happening to me lately. I know I have a lot to be thankful for like having a steady job in times of recession and having a roof over my head in moments of hurricanes and earthquakes. But is it such a sin to want so much more from life? A friend jokingly said to me the other day after I updated him of my life plans, “So, where’s the part where you get married and have kids?” I guess I forgot about that part. Maybe I could squeeze that somewhere between being a chef and living happily ever after—that is if Universe allows it.

Antes mesmo de Before Sunrise acabar eu já queria parar pra poder escrever todas as minhas impressões. Como esse tipo de filme tão normal, apenas com diálogos, com histórias aleatórias – sem nada daquela pentelhice toda de efeitos especiais que os geeks hoje em dia prezam tanto – pode ser bom e convencer? É preciso ter mais de um ângulo, pensar em outras pessoas além de si mesmo pra poder se deixar levar pelos diálogos.

Viena pareceu tão original, tão sozinha. Justamente o que era preciso: esvaziar a cidade pra que o foco iluminasse os atores. As vezes a tomada era feita de um lugar somente e ficava ali, com a camera parada durante minutos e a gente nem percebe, não era preciso fazer mais nada além de deixar a fita rolar. É algo assim tão 90’s, que me faz lembrar a todo instante de minha infância. Meu lugar vazio, sem parafernalhas e fogos de artifícios, apenas umas boas idéias pra gente conversar

Os atores são incríveis: espontâneos, passam sinceridade em seus olhos a todo momento, falam sem o medo de serem julgados. Não são superstars e não vi esfroço nenhum neles pra ganhar dinheiro – como o cara do poema Milkshake. Isso os aproximam ainda mais de nós, espectadores, nos jogando no colo a oprtunidade de fazermos um filme cada vez que vamos ao cinema, quando passeamos com nosso cachorro ou quando estamos na fila do correio. Jesse (Ethan Hawke) tem um carisma surpreendente. Sinto saudades da época que eu era assim

Tava vagando ainda enquanto tentava recuperar a consciência quando via uma comunidade: “Pena das crianças de hoje: Coitadas! Tão sem infância…”

Fico pensando nas pessoas que já não tem capacidade de se deixar levar pela simplicidade e que não conseguem fazer uma só noite como a melhor de suas vidas. Levam tantos anos pra perceber o que foi deixado pra trás, entram no trem e olham pela janela durante toda a viagem. Hoje pode ser o seu dia e, relaxe, não precisa ser pra sempre.

For the adventure of my day, today I went to Beans ‘n Cream, a cute little cafe about a block from my aunt and uncle’s house, where I’ve been staying over this week, near Madison.  And I left the house around 11 am, and have just returned.  it’s 4:30.

I spent the day reading Ulysses.  What else.  And drinking too much coffee and eating an autumnly pumpkin spiced scone.  With cream cheese frosting.  Delicious.  But I ended up jittery and anxious.  Ulysses is holding on strong.  How can Joyce write so newly each chapter? Seriously.  The New Bloomsday Book on the two chapters I just read (Nausicaa and Oxen of the Sun) summed up but did not convey the realness of the chapters.   I mean, that’s what summaries lack ususally, I guess… but still when I typically read the real book after the Bloomsday book, I feel like I understand what is going on because Blamires sufficiently prepared me.  For Oxen of the Sun, especially,  I was NOT prepared.  It took me about 4 paragraphs (page long) to realize that what was being described was just what had been described before in Joyce language… now it was in Beowulf language… and it was just Bloom.  Just old Poldy… and bunch of carousing men… in a noncontagious hospital.

So, halfway through Oxen of the Sun, I had to take a break, pick up O magazine and page through… I pretty much felt like my brain matter was vibrating from the caffeine and exertion Ulysses requires.

And halfway through the O magazine, I was sobbing.

What was it?  I don’t know.  consumerism… but that’s too cliche… perfume… perhaps… the autumn leaves on every page… the autumn leaves in the windows of the autumnly decorated cafe… too many autumn flavors and drinks and pumpkins…. too much Joyce and strain and pain… and too much juxtaposition of strong, autumn-aged women and makeup and clothing brands in their autumn of life… what was I reading recently about poets and autumn… why do they obsess about it? Is it the squashing of summer? the green turning yellow, the blue turning grey… grey voiced men, greying men, graying women… youngest person in the coffee shop… except for the workers. and me just sobbing in the corner over hair products and window clings and recipes for one.

So in other news….. except not.. because this is also about Ulysses… The movie Before Sunrise takes place on Bloomsday… June 16th 1993 or 94?  don’t remember which one… but at the end of the movie when the two characters are about to separate… they name the date… and it’s Bloomsday!  I was excited to discover this.

My Dinner with Andre (1981)
★★★ / ★★★★

Written by and starring real-life friends Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory essentially star as themselves in “My Dinner with Andre.” Wallace/Wally agreed to meet up with his old friend for dinner and admitted to the audiences that he had not seen his friend in years. The whole film took place in a real-time conversation over dinner between the two actors as they discussed practical and philosophical questions. While both of them were able to offer very insightful questions and commentaries throughout, I had a big problem during the picture’s first thirty minutes. Andre pretty much talked non-stop for several minutes without Wally uttering more than two sentences. I thought that the premise of the film was about two friends who were at an equal intellectual level but very different outlook on life. However, the first thirty minutes did not reflect that. Instead, I intially felt as though Andre was the wiser of the two and Wally was a child getting an education from an elder who has been all over the world. Eventually, however, Wally was given the chance to speak and it was refreshing because even though he did not sound as formal or worldly (or pretentious?) as Andre, I found myself agreeing with a lot of the points he brought up because he expressed his thoughts in simple and frank manner. I thought the film reached its peak when the two stopped agreeing with each other and began expressing how differently they viewed the world. In a nutshell, Wally did not believe in fate and that things were simply an accumulation of random coincidences. Andre, on the other hand, believed in fate and that having a purpose was not always necessary because purpose almost always equated to habit and habit was the lack of awareness and therefore a lack of “real” living. They were able to tell each other a plethora of stories that covered the two basic themes and it was fascinating to sit through. This movie made me think of how many friends I could converse with in a similar level and even I have to admit that there are not a lot of them. Younger viewers and people who are not that into plays may not understand the references that the characters have made (it would probably help for a deeper understanding) but it was still an enjoyable rumination about the beauty and ugliness of life. I could certainly connect with both of the characters so I did not at all find it difficult to keep paying attention with the words and the little nuances in their voices. This is an art-house film, which may mean it is not for everyone, because it “only” consists of two people talking to each other like in “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset” (which was definitely influenced by this picture). That said, “My Dinner with Andre” is highly rewarding.

Waking Life (2001)
★★★ / ★★★★

Written and directed by Richard Linklater (“Before Sunrise,” “Before Sunset”), “Waking Life” is an animated film that tackles deep questions about what life is and how it is like to live one’s life. Although it is essentially an animated film, it is very adult in its approach to tell a story of a guy (Wiley Wiggins) who “wakes up” in his dream and into other dreams without knowing whether he’s conscious or awake in “real life.” I admired that this film actively does not confine itself into the kind of Hollywood filmmaking where there is a distinct beginning, middle, and end. Just like the look of the picture, the story flows and moves like water, which enhances the film’s overall craft because the issues that it tackles are very abstract. And it also helped because the main character is in a dream. I particularly liked the scene when Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy reprise their characters from “Before Sunrise” and had a deeper conversation about what was said in that movie. It really made me think about why, when we dream, time feels endless but in actuality we’ve slept for a very limited amount of time. That constant theme of there having to be something more to life than rules and meaning is explored in such a deep and intellectual way to the point where I found myself struggling to keep up because I wanted to savor the conversations. While I admit that I did not fully understand some of the concepts that they discussed and the names they dropped, it made me want to read up on such topics and people that are unfamiliar. This is a thinking man’s movie and definitely not for people who constantly have to have action scenes thrown at them. The power of this unique-looking film lies in the words and the exaggerated, almost expressionistic, images to highlight the transient meanings of the implications. My only main problem with it is that I felt as though part of the last third somewhat felt apart because it did not fully integrate some of the biggest themes that pervaded the rest of the movie. Still, I’m going to give “Waking Life” a recommendation because it was able to incite various insights on how to communicate and see (or feel?) the world in unfamiliar and not fully explained perspectives.

trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvFosXeqmDg

If you haven’t seen Before Sunrise, please do. I am not saying this sequel won’t make sense if you haven’t, but trust me it will be so much more meaning ful. You see, Before Sunset is the follow-up to Before Sunrise- a great emotional movie that took place in 1995. I previously wrote about the first movie. I have seen it a lot of times and after watching Before Sunset again,I felt I had to write about it.

I will feel free to give spoilers, because what might seem like a spoiler for the first movie, is actually the obligatory introduction to the second.

In Before Sunrise, we met Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy). These 20 somethings met on a train while French Celine was going back to her hometown and American Jesse was on his way to Vienna where he was supposed to catch a flight the next day to the States.
Soon after they started talking, they actually bonded. Yeah, they were having fun being around each other and obviously there was attraction but the bond was also obvious. Two stranger, making a perfect connection through a chance encounter. Jesse didn’t want to let go of this and asked Celine to get off the train with him. She did. And they had an amazing day, and its night in Vienna. The bond got deeper, attraction grew and they just didn’t want to let go. To see how genuine the movie,the characters and the story go, to feel the passion and the magic of their relationship, you have to see the movie. And feel free to check imdb. It has been rated by more than 34.000 people, and it has been rated as an 8/1o. My point is if so many people agreed on this, it means both men and women liked it. It means a lot of people with different movie tastes loved it. It can’t be labeled as a mainstream movie nor it exactly fits the independent spirit where a minority seems to get the message of. It means the viwevers felt the connection as well and this does not happen very often.

So when I heard director Richard Linklater had made a sequel, I rushed to see it. You see Before Sunrise leaves you wondering whether Celine and Jesse will meet again. Whether they will have the same connection or not. The second movie answers these questions for the two characters we loved so much.

Celine and Jesse had agreed to meet 6 months later as Before Sunrise came to an end. We sadly find out that they weren’t able to.Somehow life had gotten in the way. In those 9 years, Jesse has written a book that is about their encounter. He is now at the last stop of his book tour, in Paris. As he hopes that she would, she comes to his book signing.
When she does show-up, they decided to spend Jesse’s last hours in the city together. They are both happy to see each other. So much has happened and they are more than eager to catch up. But since they are older, they seem weary of life, the heart-breaks and disapponitments they have gone through. They realize the connection is still there 9 years later. But now, things seem harder than ever. Jesse is i unhappily married with a 4-year-old kid. Celine’s hear doesn’t seem to be in the relationship she is having. Both have to face their feelings and they realize that the best time, and the best romance they had was 9 years ago,with each other,in Vienna…

It is fun,romantic,sad,heart-breaking,emotional,hopeful…It just leaves you feeling with a combination of a variety of feelings. You feel alive. Once again, it is just so easy to find yourself in Jesse and Celine. And you just cross fingers that this time they will stay together.

Is it as magical as the second movie? It depends. They were younger ,more romantic and more hopeful. They mention this in the second movie. They have grown up.We, the audience,have grown up. We have had more disappointments,heart-breaks,more journeys…We might have become more realistic and/or cynical. But the true spirit of the movie-that genuine honesty-is still the core here. Of course the romantic fool in me wished that they had met after six months. I wish that they had gotten together,stayed together,remained in love…But they didn’t. Life happened and they let life take its toll on them; on their beliefs,way of thinking. But at the same time, they didn’t change all that much. As Celine mentions in the movie, we don’t really change that much. No matter what self-defense mechanisms we develop, our hopes and dreams stay the same. So being together again just feels so right for them. It seems together that 9 years have passed.

The movie has been written by Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Hence the actors have co-written the screenplay, it is even easier for them to become to be Jesse and Celine. As I said, if you have seen the first one, you owe it yourself to see this. If you haven’t seen it, than go and just find Before Sunrise. I am still looking for a movie that will make me feel the same way these two did.

I don’t remember when I first saw this movie, it was quite some years ago but I have seen it many times after that- yet it never gets old. It never ceases to be magical. It is sweet,romantic,fun and so real. Oh sure, it seems like the perfect fantasy: to meet this attractive,down-to-earth,fun and sincere stranger in a different country and get to spend some really great,uncomplicated fun with them. I do have some stories like that. I had some wonderful hours with a British guy ( a really cool 13-hour-date, only a couple of hours after the 4 hour non-stop chat the night before…Or I really had a blast with this Dutch guy I met in Norway. Nope- I am no way claiming that we had the connection of Jesse and Celine here. We weren’t really emotionally involved. Yet it was romantic,sexy and very enjoyable. So the idea of clicking with a stranger does not seem impossible. But I haven’t yet had that magical encounter depicted here…

Jesse is on a train to go to Vienna. He is a young American, played by Ethan Hawke. He meets this pretty and lovely French girl Celine ( Julie Delpy). They talk for hours and really enjoy each other’s company. So when it is time for Jesse to get off the train, he suggests that Celine goes off with him. He has one day to spend in the city before his flight to the States the next day. He cutely persuades Celine. After that Vienna serves as the background to one of my favorite love stories ever.

the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rN6D3PcYB4

The two young people talk about anything and everything. They get to know each other. They instinctively travel through Vienna. They are impulsive, natural and they don’t play games. There is no pretending. They only have one day together and they don’t mess it up. They kiss at sunset. They enjoy the city and each other. They laugh and fool around. They walk hand in hand. They observe the magnificent city…There is a bond forming slowly but powerfully between these two former strangers and you just wish- like them- that this was not supposed to be their only night together.

You have one city, two leading actors-three and flowing dialogs. It was written by Richard Linklater -who also directed the movie- and Kim Krizan. Hawke and Delpy have made one genuinely great couple. It is just one romantic film that doesn’t need funny events, misunderstandings,ridiculous characters. The time limit is the only obstacle. It really makes you want to get on a train and travel through Europe-with the hopes that something even remotely similar will happen to you. The thing that feels so real about the movie is that how Linklater and Karizan have expressed so many true fears, expectations,dreams and doubts we have in our daily lives. It feels like we know both Jesse and Celine. In fact, we could easily be those characters.

If you haven’t seen it, trust me you are missing a great journey. The journey is so amazing that we- the viewers- fell in love with Linklater as the sequel of the movie Before Sunset was made years later. Oh trust me, Before Sunsrise will be your first love. But it will leave you wanting so much more that you will be grateful for the second piece of magic, set in Paris…

The Messenger: opening in theaters Nov. 23, 2009.
Directed by: Oren Moverman
Starring: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton and Jena Malone

I am so glad that Ben Foster is honing his acting chops. After seeing him on the TV show and my personal favorite, Flash Forward, in 1996 I knew it would be not be the last I saw of him. Slowly he’s climbed that Hollywood ladder with X-Men: The Last Stand and 3:10 to Yuma. Now this dramatic film, written and directed by Oren Moverman, should be another stepping stone for Foster. Woody Harrelson also seems to pull out his inner thespian in this film.

Me and Orson Welles: opening in theaters Nov. 25, 2009.
Directed by: Richard Linklater
Starring: Christian McKay, Ben Chaplin, Claire Danes and Zac Efron

Curiosity made me pick this film. Not only am I curious as to how Christian McKay will portray one of my cinematic idols, Orson Welles, but I’m also intrigued by Zac Efron in this film. It should be fascinating to see him in a more grown-up film. Also, director Richard Linklater wrote and directed my two favorites, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. If anything, it should be cinematically compelling because Linklater is a great director.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus: opening in theaters in limited release Dec. 25, 2009.
Directed by: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Johnny Depp, Heath Ledger, Jude Law, Colin Farrell and Christopher Plummer

This is Heath Ledger’s last film. And he didn’t even finish it. Not only is the film’s premise slightly confusing, therefore intriguing, but how exactly will director Terry Gilliam (you may know him from a little group called Monty Python) explain four different actors playing the same role? That shall be a sight to see.

‘i think he’s crazy about you…’

maneaters!

Americans always think Europe is perfect. But such beauty and history can be really oppressive. It reduces the individual to nothing. [...] I think people go to places like Venice on their honeymoon to make sure they are not going to fight for the first two weeks of their marriage because they’ll be too busy looking around at all the beautiful things. That’s what people call a romantic place — somewhere where the prettiness will contain your primary violent instinct.

Celine, Before Sunrise (screenplay)

Not at all like, say, Los Angeles, says Celine, which to her is like ‘looking at a blank canvas.’ A good place to have a honeymoon, she continues, would be somewhere in New Jersey — a place so blank and/or repulsive that a couple would be forced to turn away from the world and confront only each other.

Try Singapore: a city that magnifies the individual perhaps because it tries so hard to erase individuality in its attempts to engineer life into perfection. This place was only ever beautiful because you were here; here, you would gesture at things, show me how beautiful they could be; but when you were here, all i could ever look at was you.