The Movie Called 'Before Sunrise'
I heard from Karen and Russell that the movie 'Before Sunrise' by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy is a wonderful movie. I never bothered to let this pass; I got my first genuine DVD from HMV since my new player arrived at my new apartment (lots of new things there, hah).
Along with another Hawke starrer in Reality Bites (I got it to reminisce the days with Lorellee in mid 90s) and Trading Places (the least popular to me, yet as a comedy movie fanatic, I took it) I felt compelled to get one as I had been brainwashed by the creators of the Simpsons; I would claim to have watched at least 100 of their 350 plus episodes spanning about fifteen years.
Now on to the movie. It's a story of a twentysomething girl (Julie) from Hungary on the way to Paris for her studies and meets a guy (Ethan) on the train and in an instant they fall into an interesting conversation that eventually made the girl abandon her trip and stayed with the guy in his travel to Vienna. The story does revolve around their conversation. What I loved in the story is that the sharings between Ethan and Julie have been revolving in my mind all these years; what if there are 100 men and only one woman on Earth? That intimate exchange of ideas don't necessarily mean love or something platonic in feeling; perhaps just a healthy talk.
And even they relate too well, they also argue on things like the way the palm reader predicts their future or the way the drifter/poem maker composed a nice liteary piece just to earn money.
I also have been in travel even before moving out of the Philippines. I used to work in Cagayan de Oro and once every two weekends I planned to go to Davao, preferring to take the evening travel across Bukidnon for a good 6 hours trip. In some daytime trips I get to meet strangers, say students of CMU or one Pharmacy student from SWU in Cebu who happens to live in Bukidnon and took a break from her reviews. Or one boat trip from Manila on one job interview, I met someone who also is from Davao. I was forced to take the cab and join her just to pretend I am her companion so that someone stalking her at the port would not follow her. I later found out that Davao Memorial Park has a little house inside its compound and she lives there.
The movie affirmed that my thoughts are also thoughts of others. What I believed on asking the 'what if..' questions is absolutely not only exclusive to me and my restless mind. How does painting that look like randomly splattered paint become an art or why we do care about someone who doesn't care about us and us never paying attention to someone who cares about us.
While it's purely conversational in a span of less than 24 hours sprinkled with little touches of kissing scenes and showing the beauty of Vienna beyond its captivating scenery. It would easily be called a low budget film because the story circulates on the conversation in the train, in the cab, the bar, on the roadside and on a green field blanketed with the stars in a summer night. But for those who pay attention to the conversation more than the number of scenes, they won't notice the time has passed the movie has to end even before Julie reaches Paris or Ethan takes that flight out of Vienna.
To me this is a classic movie not too fit to be called romantic, not worth calling comedy. It opens up the mind to a more rational thinking that seldom occurs in a motion picture where actors portray the action and gives you the reason why scenes are happening. Some will provoke your thinking but too often they end up answering the mystery just before you rise from your seat.
I am not a movie buff and admit I prefer American Pie, The Simpsons, Mr Bean and other "not so deep" ones over Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and The Matrix. Maybe it's because I never tried and had no plans to try them anytime soon. But the story of this movie made me ask why movies were not made to go beyond entertainment. Something like indoctrination or brain washing? Hmm, that sounds too far and it's definitely scary. But I hope you got what I mean.
A honest to goodness conversation can indeed go a long way.
Along with another Hawke starrer in Reality Bites (I got it to reminisce the days with Lorellee in mid 90s) and Trading Places (the least popular to me, yet as a comedy movie fanatic, I took it) I felt compelled to get one as I had been brainwashed by the creators of the Simpsons; I would claim to have watched at least 100 of their 350 plus episodes spanning about fifteen years.
Now on to the movie. It's a story of a twentysomething girl (Julie) from Hungary on the way to Paris for her studies and meets a guy (Ethan) on the train and in an instant they fall into an interesting conversation that eventually made the girl abandon her trip and stayed with the guy in his travel to Vienna. The story does revolve around their conversation. What I loved in the story is that the sharings between Ethan and Julie have been revolving in my mind all these years; what if there are 100 men and only one woman on Earth? That intimate exchange of ideas don't necessarily mean love or something platonic in feeling; perhaps just a healthy talk.
And even they relate too well, they also argue on things like the way the palm reader predicts their future or the way the drifter/poem maker composed a nice liteary piece just to earn money.
I also have been in travel even before moving out of the Philippines. I used to work in Cagayan de Oro and once every two weekends I planned to go to Davao, preferring to take the evening travel across Bukidnon for a good 6 hours trip. In some daytime trips I get to meet strangers, say students of CMU or one Pharmacy student from SWU in Cebu who happens to live in Bukidnon and took a break from her reviews. Or one boat trip from Manila on one job interview, I met someone who also is from Davao. I was forced to take the cab and join her just to pretend I am her companion so that someone stalking her at the port would not follow her. I later found out that Davao Memorial Park has a little house inside its compound and she lives there.
The movie affirmed that my thoughts are also thoughts of others. What I believed on asking the 'what if..' questions is absolutely not only exclusive to me and my restless mind. How does painting that look like randomly splattered paint become an art or why we do care about someone who doesn't care about us and us never paying attention to someone who cares about us.
While it's purely conversational in a span of less than 24 hours sprinkled with little touches of kissing scenes and showing the beauty of Vienna beyond its captivating scenery. It would easily be called a low budget film because the story circulates on the conversation in the train, in the cab, the bar, on the roadside and on a green field blanketed with the stars in a summer night. But for those who pay attention to the conversation more than the number of scenes, they won't notice the time has passed the movie has to end even before Julie reaches Paris or Ethan takes that flight out of Vienna.
To me this is a classic movie not too fit to be called romantic, not worth calling comedy. It opens up the mind to a more rational thinking that seldom occurs in a motion picture where actors portray the action and gives you the reason why scenes are happening. Some will provoke your thinking but too often they end up answering the mystery just before you rise from your seat.
I am not a movie buff and admit I prefer American Pie, The Simpsons, Mr Bean and other "not so deep" ones over Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and The Matrix. Maybe it's because I never tried and had no plans to try them anytime soon. But the story of this movie made me ask why movies were not made to go beyond entertainment. Something like indoctrination or brain washing? Hmm, that sounds too far and it's definitely scary. But I hope you got what I mean.
A honest to goodness conversation can indeed go a long way.
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12:07 AM
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