The Alphabet Project Part 2: Aviator (The), Before Sunrise, Before Sunset

The Aviator, 2004.
Director: Martin Scorsese.



I have a friend who has sworn personal vow against Leonardo DiCaprio. Apparently, some time ago, she saw an episode of "Growing Pains" on TV, saw Leo act (way back when he was a kid) and thought he was so awful that she refused to watch anything else with him in it. It's a shame because watching Leo (as Howard Hughes) descend into a bottomless pit of compulsion, madness and despair is quite entertaining.



Also Cate Blanchette as Katharine Hepburn is divine!



Before Sunrise, 1995.
Before Sunset, 2004.
Director: Richard Linklater.



We all are familiar with the saying "Love at first sight". It's a common romantic pastiche, but I don't really hold to it. In my experience the truest test of love is the conversation. People I know tend to fall in love during those rambling 3-hour long, late night talks you have with your significant other at some early point in the relationship. It's at that point you start thinking: "Hey, I could spent my life with this person." And why not, 'cause when you get down to it, a long-term relationship is basically one long, never-ending conversation. Divorce is just another way of realizing you have nothing else of value to say to one another.



Before Sunrise and Before Sunset is about two people falling in love during a conversation lasting two nights over nine years.



What I really like is how that conversation evolves. In the first movie, the two characters Jesse (played by Ethan Hawke) and Celine (played by hot-ass Julie Delpy) meet on a train travelling towards Vienna. As they initially engage in their conversation, the dialogue subtly off-key, as if they are waiting to speak instead of listening to each other. But the point where they connect is when Jesse speaks of having a vision of his recently deceased grandmother. Later on in the movie, Celine cites that monologue as the point she really begins to fall for Jesse.

It's interesting how in Before Sunset, a situation with Cecile's grandmother eventually has significant consequences later on in the relationship. The one thing that 'causes her to connect with Jesse is the same thing that causes a major disconnect six months later. And it's also interesting how much chemistry the two characters seem to have, and how their connection survives a 9-year gap in between both movies.



I have three favorite scenes in the sequel. 1) The scene on the boat where Jesse drops the polite, trite facade and asks the question that we, the audience, have been waiting so long to ask; 2) The scene in the limo where Celine loses it; and 3) the very last scene in Celine's apartment (especially Jesse's last line). For some reason, my wife, Teresa, thought that the movie ended on an ambiguous note. For me, the movie couldn't be more "biguous". I think most guys would agree choice between catching a flight to Newark or watching the bouncing joys of Julie Delpy's Parisian butt, ain't no choice at all.

...Except for me, 'cause I like Teresa's butt better.