Review of Before Midnight (2013) by Maksim B — 24 Jan 2014

A delightful, yet extremely demanding piece of art house cinematography, Before Midnight could hardly be called a movie. More a sort of smooth, horrifyingly realistic, never-ending conversation, this is a challenging delivery seems boring from the first sight, but later grows into a philosophic take on modern love and couple relationships.

Before Midnight is definitely not a movie for the broad audience. Extremely slow, it challenges with probably the longest car conversation, the longest lunch scene and the longest late afternoon-evening walk that you would ever watch. There is no particular direction of the story; it seems as if director Richard Lindklater has let his leading actors Julie Delpi and Ethan Hawke be themselves in their roles of a modern couple. It is true that in terms of pacing and a story build-up, Before Midnight is almost unbearable movie for those unfamiliar with Richard Lindklater's previous installments: Before Sunset and Before Sunrise. However, for the rest, this movie is a fascinating example how a movie could be made out of stunningly natural dialogues between two brilliant actors and a topic that is so close to many of us.

The way Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpi talk, the natural flow of conversation between them leads to an elegant and strikingly authentic e exchange of thoughts and believes about love in a long-term relationship, lifetime commitment, divorce, unfulfilled career ambitions, compromises and infidelity. All of this is not served in an easy to absorb way and in fact the longer time passes after the final credits, the more similarities one would find between this story and his/her life.

In conclusion, Before Midnight will not be enjoyed by regular movie-goers, but by those looking for a challenge. A challenge which despite all difficulties is completely rewarding.