Film 15 (9/4/2005)

Before Sunrise (1995)

Director: Richard Linklater

Recommended by: DrunkenSuperman

Has Fentablar seen this before?: No.

I must say that there was not a single point in this film where I found my interest waxing - in fact, I noticed it continually waned from the very beginning.

Why? Well, first of all, the story seems awfully bland - even for a "chick-flick". Don't get me wrong, there are a few "chick-flicks" which surprised me and that I actually appreciate. Before Sunrise, however, is not one of those. The story is not at all imaginative, it makes pitiful attempts to add layers of depth to its characters and cinematically it seems to rather uncomfortably move from one scene to the next.

Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, to their credit, do at least make a valiant effort to make Jesse and Celine appear as characters with whom we can empathize. It's unfortunate they had to work with a script that is poorly written at best.

After having seen Before Sunrise for what I think it is, I have some doubts that I will be viewing its sequel, Before Sunset.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Plot Effectiveness: 3/5. I think I'm being a bit generous here.

Cinematography/Shot Selection: 2/5. For lack of a better term, it seems to me that Linklater is a 'hack'.

Overall Acting: 3/5. Well you can't do much better than this, given the script and dialogue.

Score/Soundtrack: 3/5. It could have been better, it could have been worse.

OVERALL RATING: 3/5

~Fentablar~