Before Midnight (Linklater, 2013)
Another “on this day” post, I was hoping that between spotting it and posting it, there would be more options for actually finding it.
Sorry.
The whole series is a personal favourite, though. Considerate and wise.
Of all the movies I’ve seen so far this year, Linklater, Delpy and Hawke’s Before Midnight (after three movies I think it’s fair to credit authorship severally) is the one that has stuck in my brain the longest. In it, we catch up with the lovers from Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004) as they reach the end of an idyllic vacation in Greece. Hawke’s Jesse is wondering whether he should try and spend more time with his teenage son who lives with his mother in the States. Delpy’s Celine is about to start a dream job back in Paris where they currently reside with their two adorable daughters.
They are at a crossroads but, as the film makes clear, when are we ever not? Delpy is magnificent, creating a wondrous, beautiful, insecure, infuriating and righteous woman who is simultaneously proud and frustrated at the role she has found herself playing.
Also reviewed in that column, the underrated The Lone Ranger (now all-but cancelled thanks to its two stars, Depp and Hammer), Vince Vaughan and Owen Wilson go to work at Google in The Internship, French body-swap comedy Camille Rewinds, star-studded comedy This Is The End, Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper in the mixed bag, The Place Beyond the Pines, and Audrey Tautou in melodrama Thérèse Desqueyroux.
Where to watch xxxx
Aotearoa, Australia, Ireland, USA and UK: Digital rental
Canada: Streaming on Prime Video and AMC+
Further listening
I’m sitting in for Simon Morris on At the Movies tonight on RNZ National. On air after the news at 7.00pm tonight, streaming online at the same time, and also available for download for listening at your convenience.
This week I’m reviewing The Bikeriders, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F and the competing animated sequels for the school holidays.
