Review of Before Midnight (2013) by Jeffrey M — 25 Oct 2013

The third in a trilogy following the brilliant Before Sunrise and After Sunset, before Midnight finds Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in their married life. Whereas the first two explored themes of love, life, philosophy, free will, and direction, Before Midnight takes a more serious, almost darker tone, devoid of much of the charm that made the first two so enjoyable. The result is almost a two hour argument, with characters that have undeniably changed, with no sense of enchantment. It's not a bad film in the least, yet not necessarily always enjoyable.

My reservations with Before Midnight in large part stem from its dialogue. As is the case with all three films, the scenes in Before Midnight are very long and feature long dialogue exchanges. In this film, the conversations, like the people, seemed overly negative, over-sexualized, and almost whiney. One can rightly say that such is the change in characters, yet the exchanges never seemed to evolve. The film felt like one big drawn out argument, albeit a well written and well acted one.

The actors are all great, with the chemistry between Hawke and Delpy being just as tremendous as it was previously. The difference is that neither character is especially as likeable, especially true of Delpy, who's almost grating in her incessant self-righteous whining. The direction, however, does take a step back. The first two films incorporated the scenery so nicely and kinetically so as to make the film flow seamlessly, with Before Midnight, however, it feels much more stagnate and confined, despite their being plenty of opportunities for amazing cinematography.

An interesting piece, but devoid of the magic of its predecessors.

3/5 Stars.