FILM: Before Sunset (2004)

Before Sunset, by my observation, was one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2004, alongside Sideways. I took that to mean it was a year of slim pickings. Having seen Before Sunset once in the theater at that time, and again on DVD in 2007, I still hold that the film's existence is unnecessary and that any praise bestowed upon it belongs more rightly to its predecessor, the sublime Before Sunrise (1995). Not only does having a sequel undermine the uncertainty and transiency which ignite the one-night-stand romance of the original movie, but I also just can't believe that Jesse and Celine can still burn that much for each other nine years after having known one another for less than a day. Add to that the ridiculous premise that he wrote a book about their meeting, along with the weird and incomprehensible scene where she denies that they shared physical intimacy, and you have a film that looks pretty (with a beautiful last scene) but doesn't sink into the heart. Like Sunrise, Sunset does draw its strength from a focus on conversation, made realistic with the characters' tenderly drawn flaws, earnest emotions, vulgarities, and pseudo-philosophizing. The pairing of the two films embodies a contrast like the one between William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Although the message is well taken, some poems (and films) are simply better than others.