Before Midnight

Before Midnight, the latest film from director Richard Linklater is the third film and hopefully the finale in the series Before series. Before Sunrise, Before Sunset were the two previous films and this film again follows Celine and Jessie, this time around Greece. I feel this movie completely destroyed the magic that was the first two and because of that, Before Midnight gets one bucket of Killer Korn.





Either Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, or Julie Delpy can't get other jobs or they just have way too much time on their hands between projects. When I discovered they made a third film that followed the two previous and magical installments I was dubious. I wondered if this was just a cash grab. The first movie became a cult hit which prompted the second film, which was adored. I felt the ambiguous ending was the perfect way to leave the two characters. It let us the viewers choose their fates, does he stay, does he leave, does he stay, does he leave? I thought it was perfection and why would anyone mess with perfection unless it's for money? Then I admonished myself, chastised myself even for being such a skeptic. I suddenly thought maybe there was more magic to capture, that maybe the director and writers, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy had more to say, maybe they could create a new chapter, improve on the last two, which I felt was impossible to do but I have been wrong before, not often but it has happened.

I wasn't wrong. Before Midnight not only should NOT have been made but it completely destroys the magic of the first two films. This is a sad look at the couple that in the first film you could relate to. How many times have you seen someone on the street and locked eyes, smiled at, and kept on walking only to wish a minute later you had said something to them? The second movie enhanced the first chapter brilliantly. The two people reunite after Jesse, played by Ethan Hawke writes a novel based on the encounter the first movie was about and Celine, played by Julie Delpy tracks him down at a book signing in Paris. He obviously never forgot her and at the end of that film she reveals that she never forgot him in a really vulnerable and intimate way. Move onto Before Midnight and all the beauty that was Before Sunrise and Before Sunset crumbles and falls to dust.

In Before Midnight, we catch up with Jessie and Celine on vacation in Greece with their twin daughters. So the ambiguity that made Before Sunset so good is now gone, you now know what Jesse decided to do. He says goodbye to his son who lives with his mother in Chicago, he spent the summer with Jessie and Celine and the twins and it eats Jessie up that he can't be there for his son which sets the couple off down the insecure rabbit hole. Celine somehow gets it in her head that Jesse wants her to uproot her life and their twin daughters lives and move to Chicago so he can be closer to his son. He spends most of the movie defending himself from her and constantly declaring how much he loves her. The last thing I wanted to pay for was to see a couple sounding like my ex and I. I went through that for free, I shouldn't have had to pay for it to see others go through it.

The music by Graham Reynolds was lovely as was the scenery of Greece but nothing could save this movie from itself. I don't really know what they were thinking as they penned this thing and hopefully they had second thoughts about it while writing it. Sadly though, they went through with the production and created this lovely slice of brutal reality. They tried to show you happy couples in the film and they even tried to end it on a good note but it was too far gone to be rescued by that time. Do NOT see this cash grab because if you are a fan of the previous two films, this chapter will truly only depress you.