I loved Before Sunrise so much I was nervous about seeing the sequel. What if they stuffed it up? For one thing, Ethan Hawke was now credited as one of the co-writers and he’s become such a wanker. Well, this is an entirely worthy sequel. It has its flaws but it fully respects the original and has many lovely moments. It even dares to be a bit different in that it is done in real time, whereas the original took a bit longer.
Questions from the original are satisfactorily answered, and Julie Delpy is as captivating as ever. Ethan is a bit irritating (“I spent some time in a trappist monastery”, “I was in a band”) and has that skinny look that looks like a holdover from Assault on Precinct 13 but still works. Main debit for the film – Ethan’s crapping on about how his marriage is basically dead. I wanted to believe him but couldn’t shake the feeling that if his marriage was fine and he just wanted a holiday root he’d say exactly the same thing (and Ethan’s breakdown in the limo is the only really jarring “actor”-y bit out of it).
I didn’t like the ending that much when I saw it but it’s stuck with me ever since and now I love it, if that makes sense.
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