Jan 05, 2014
"Drums beating, cold English blood runs hot, lady of the house wondrin' where it's gonna stop; house boy knows that he's doin' alright; you should a heard him just [u]before[/u] midnight!" Actually, let me retract that reference, because I don't think Mick Jagger would spend this much time talking to a French chick before he got what he needed and bailed, and he doesn't even look like Ethan Hawke. Right quick, I like these films and all, but seriously, how did they end up making a trilogy out of this? It's not like the day-long misadventures that Hawke has been through in this series are as intensely eventful as the one day Hawke shared with Denzel Washington. It's amazing how it's been eighteen years, and someone is just now getting around to associating these films that star Ethan Hawke and span about a day, at the longest, to "Training Day", probably because all of the black people who play a big role in the cult following behind "Training Day" aren't seeing these films, and the white people who play... the only role in the cult following behind the "Before" trilogy forgot that Hawke was in "Training Day" when they gave Washington all of his praise for being black. You can call racism all you want, you brainwashed drones of liberal media (Hey, Washington is awesome in "Training Day", but Russell Crowe raised quite the standard in "A Beautiful Mind", the Oscar bait of 2001), but an independent drama about people just talking for a little over an hour-and-a-half sounds like it would be right up the alley of the super-white, super-liberal art snobs. I've been joking about how pretentious-sounding these films' titles have been since (Insert a broad-chested, nasally breathy dialect, with a hint of a guffaw, here) "Before Sunrise", and they're still about as entertaining as they can be with their natural shortcomings, as well as common consequential shortcomings that can even be found here.
Well, "Before Sunset" only got uneven, and even then, it only hit inconsistencies when the film got so carried away with realistic dialogue that conversations swiftly shifted topics, whereas with this film, plot, while still thin, has several distinct segments that storytelling jars between, due to its sticking with each segment for way too long. This series has always been draggy, and it always should have been a little bit, as it has always just about walking and talking, yet every one of these installments, including this one, still gets a little too repetitious for its own good, even in the context of an intentionally limp plot. Richard Linklater's, Julie Delpy's and Ethan Hawke's script is as well-done as any of these films' screenplays, and such sharpness compensates for questionable structuring enough to bring this particular effort deepest into the brink of rewarding, yet whether it be because of the focal unevenness or simply because dragging is, in fact, worse than ever, this film feels like the most overdrawn "Before" installment yet, and that makes it even easier to detect natural shortcomings that, to be fair, were always going to be just about impossible to deny. There's a little bit more going on in this plot concept, and the additional meat, however limited, challenges the emphases on natural shortcomings enough for the final product to reach the border of rewarding that the predecessors couldn't quite see, but at the end of the day, this story concept is still generally not much more than people simply interacting, so if there is a narrative, then it's minimalist something fierce, with only so much dynamicity and conflict, no matter how much Linklater tries to throw a little meat onto this drama's bones. A hint of charming ambition has been prominent throughout every one of these installments, and with more ambition comes more inspiration to drive this effort a little bit further than either of its predecessors, but at the same time, the sheer sense of passion that Linklater pumps into most every scene in this film results in some particularly questionable ideas for unconventional storytelling that thin out a potentially particularly meaty story concept. If nothing else, Linklater's palpable heart makes it even easier to feel out the places in which this film does not meet Linklater's expectations, and while this film is a little bit better than I expected, given that its predecessors have been decent, but underwhelming, particularly uneven focus and pacing behind a still relatively thin story concept result in yet another relatively underwhelming drama. That being said, for every near-great shortcoming, there is a strength that, while maybe not great, endears considerably, at least aesthetically.
Graham Reynolds' score is underused, just as the soundtracks of both predecessors have been underused, but musicality is utilized more than ever this time around, with a tastefully tender, modern classical heart that captures the tasteful tone of this film about as much as Christos Voudouris' cinematography, which is not as gorgeously emphatic on sparse lighting as Lee Daniel's cinematography was in "Before Sunset", but is still well-defined in its beautifully capturing scenery that is beautiful enough on its own. This particular European adventure with Jesse and Céline is as celebratory as ever of its environment, which is as beautiful as ever, with a vibrant Greek landscape that is richly diverse, but consistent in its gorgeousness. Stylistic tastefulness and immersive scenery played pretty big roles in making the predecessors so endearing, so it makes sense that this film is partly so much better than its predecessors because it is even more stylistically tasteful and even more immersive with its focus on a gorgeous setting, offering the aesthetic some worthy treats to help win you over, and not without the help of a solid cast. yet I was also impressed with how much more they play up the supporting cast, albeit for only a little while, but enough to expand on the onslaught of startlingly charming charisma and chemistry that Hawke and Delpy establish pretty firmly on their own, and even get a greater feel for the dynamic human depths of this dramatic saga. Whether it be the humblingly elder Xenia Kalogeropoulou and Walter Lassally, or the charmingly middle-aged Panos Koronis and the Athina Rachel Tsangari, or the beautiful and young Yiannis Papadopoulos and Ariane Labed (Hotter Marion Cotillard is all that needs to be said about Labed, who I am most certainly hoping to see more of), most everyone in the supporting cast, for the limited time they're present, mark reflections in the maturing process of a relationship and the changes in the interpretation of a relationship throughout the generations that have made up the primary thematic core of this entire saga, so the supporting cast adds a good deal to this drama's depth, on top of being thoroughly charismatic, with dynamite chemistry, and is therefore instrumental in making this film even more endearing than its predecessors. Written by Hawke and Delpy, as well as Richard Linklater, this film's script seems more draggy and is decidedly more uneven than the predecessors' scripts, with some forced exposition and even the occasional convention, but it's still one of the better scripts of 2013, and possibly the best script in the "Before" trilogy, offering intelligent subject matter and sharper humor within dialogue to sustain entertainment value through the dragging, sometimes broken by drops of compellingly genuine conflict that Linklater enriches with thoughtful directorial storytelling. Finding glimpses of the rewarding film that I've wanted out of this series since it began makes me really wish that this film could have been more consistent in its focus, pacing and overall impact, but those glimpses are still plentiful enough to bring the final product to the brink of rewarding, and while that's not close enough to make a strong drama, fine style, wit and charm, as well as some emotional bite, make the final product the relative best in the "Before" saga.
Overall, inconsistencies in focus are greater than ever, and inconsistencies in pacing are as great as they've even been in this series, while natural shortcomings to a thin, talkative narrative concept, backed by a sense of overambition, secure the final product as underwhelming, but tasteful score work and cinematography, stunningly immersive settings, strong performances and chemistry, and a sharp, relatively well-layered script prove to be enough to make "Before Midnight" a worthy, borderline rewarding return to a classic modern love story, in spite of the limitations that have always been there.
2.75/5 - Decent
Verified