Review of Before Midnight

The first time I saw Before Sunrise and Before Sunset I didn't think much to them. I thought it was a cute concept to revisit characters, particularly with the irony that Jesse wrote about Before Sunrise but it wasn't until a rewatch when they opened up. I wish more films were two interesting people talking and walking through beautiful cities, especially if they can be as breezy and rewarding as Before Sunset. So now that I'm a fan, I was excited for Before Midnight and felt that it could tie the knot that the first two left loose. It did. Midnight is definitely the funniest and most hard-hitting film I've seen in a long while. In the other films I've found their existential conversations interesting but it's never felt like they've dug their fingers in my brain like this film. It feels like a mirror of my feelings. In a single shot they articulate all the transient anxieties I have about the world and life in a more profound way than I could've achieved in my lifetime. With its real-time gap in time between films with events and moments only left to the imagination of the viewer, that element of reality is fascinating. The mere idea that Jesse and Celine have days like Before Midnight everyday is more overwhelming than an epic drama. But beyond the fiction, there's a scene where Julie Deply is topless through a range of emotional tones which adds an extra strange element of reality that the other films don't have regarding the chemistry between the leads. As Ethan Hawke suckles on Julie Deply's nipple, the idea of an intimate relationship between Hawke and Deply in reality lifts the fiction of Jesse and Celine to a new realm of emotional impact, especially considering the sharpness of their argument scene. Midnight has one of the best endings I've seen and if it left it at the penultimate scene, I would've been far too wrecked. The humour is just so poignant and wonderful and true. On a technical level, the film is terrific considering their choices of where to set conversations and how they're executed in long shots. I loved the way the score for the film was adapted from Celine's "Waltz For A Night" song from the end of Sunset. As always, the acting is genuine and charming and while it struggles to adapt to the barrage of side characters at first, they do have something fascinating to say. Before Midnight is draining but thoroughly enlightening and satisfying. I have no hesitation in calling it the best of everyone's careers and best of the year unless anything else hits me harder. 9/10