Before Midnight

"3.75 out of 4"

I don't know if they hand out degrees in mastery of procrastination but I am definitely one of the front runners for it! I saw this movie like weeks ago and as much as I was excited to write about it I cannot believe that I waited this long. I even wrote one or two other posts before getting to this one.

But I have found the explanation! I don't know if I have talked about this before in this blog so I apologize if I have done so.

I was deep into watching the TED talks on YouTube as my pass time after the exams ended and one of the most interesting ones that I watched was this young 20-year-old-ish guy who was also an entrepreneur who was talking about why we procrastinate. Apparently, this case is more common among perfectionists or idealists. If you do everything on time and fail, that means that you are not good at what you do or you haven't given it all. But if you procrastinate and do everything in a small window of time, if you fail, it doesn't necessarily mean that you weren't good at what you were doing...it just means that you didn't have enough time to perfect it!

This made complete sense to me, especially as my psychologist friend calls me a neurotic-perfectionist. No wonder why I procrastinate as much as I do. So, for example, if I don't "nail" this blog entry, it doesn't mean that I am a bad writer...it just means that I waited too long that I forgot most of the things I wanted to say initially. And I think it gets worse with the movies I love. As for my last entry "Under the Tuscan Sun", I hated the movie so I didn't care how bad the review turned out, only giving the idea of how disastrous it was, would've sufficed.

But this one...ohhh this one! I hope you have already seen it or are planning to see it some time soon. I feel confident that you would really enjoy this last movie of the Hawke-Delpy-Linklater trio, if you are a fan.

My friends were torn actually! See, my favorite of the previous two was Before Sunset. And how I justified it was that they were older in the second movie and I could relate more to it than the first one. Although the idea of the first one was thrilling and it was the first "brick" (Persian expression!), but it seemed to me implausible. How many people would jump off a train with a total stranger? Again, I like the idea, but that's not what I would do. But the second movie, it seemed more realistic...to look up an old flame and try to revive the taste of the love you have been savoring for the past 10 years or so. Also, in the second movie, the actors seemed to be more comfortable and less awkward compared to the first one.

One of my friends who had liked the first one better, didn't like this one (Before Midnight) as much and still thought that the masterpiece of the trilogy (yet!) was Before Sunrise and believe that bringing Delpi and Hawke into the circle of writers was a bad idea. Whereas I had the complete opposite opinion. I think it was brilliant to include them in the story telling so that they can bring their experiences in their lives to the table. In this case, more was definitely better!

I try to avoid reviews and ratings before watching movies I intend on writing about but unfortunately before going to the theater to watch it, my friend who might be the biggest fan of the "Befores" checked it to show our other friend above mentioned, who was skeptical about this movie, that it will be great because it had a rating of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. Fortunately for me, I am not a fan of RT and think that their ratings are not as accurate as IMDb's so...my skepticism was saved!

But it was only after seeing the movie that I said to myself that OK, in this case, I take my hat off to the "raters" of RT.

What can I say about this movie? I didn't feel one bit tired or bored watching it. I am saying this because you would expect such feelings, watching movies that are essentially based on dialogue. But not this one. Especially this one actually, because unlike the previous two (especially the first one where they were having adventures at the same time) this one wanted to show what happens when you are with a person for a long time. When the magic goes away and everything loses their luster. Except for a couple of scenes at the beginning of the movie, which seemed out of place, the rest was meticulously done. I think the director had put the seen where the guys are talking outside by themselves to show the different views men have compared to women and kind of ease into the rest of the story, but the movie would've been better off without it.

One of the things about these movies that has always kept me in awe is how flawlessly and with a smooth flow they carry their dialogues in one shot scenes. I think it was Julie Delpy who said in one of her interviews for this movie that one of the surprises for the older actors in the movie was the amount of practice and rehearsal they had to go through before the actual filming...they would play the scenes over and over again so that it would feel effortlessly done, as we see in the movie. And apparently there is no improvise! So...yeah...I know!

To give you a gist of the story, it is nine years past their last encounter. Jesse and Celine have twin daughters who are about 6 and they are on vacation in Greece. As a gift to this couple, their friends give them a room in a hotel for a night and they offer to babysit for their kids so they can have their last days in Greece for themselves. They start taking a stroll towards their getaway and begin to reflect on life and how being together has changed things for them and what true love would feel like. But this doesn't mean that life hasn't taken its toll on them and life never turns up as perfect as you would expect it to be. But love conquers it all...with a few bumps and sacrifices on the way!

* A day after writing this post I just remembered that I had actually written down a note on my phone after watching this movie, so I checked it and this is what it said:
'A few days back there was this corny quote posted on Facebook by one of my friends that said "When you see a beautiful flower, don't pick it up or it will wither". I know this sounds lame but the same goes to love...when you love someone, don't try to possess, just appreciate them as they are so that your love can last.'

(By the way, I would be really happy if I am anywhere near the place they were in their lives, in 15-20 years!)

Sorry if the review was all over the place. I tried to make out my notes that I had scribbled in the dark theater on a pack of gums! Because the idiot that I am, I had forgotten to bring a notepad with me. But it was impossible so I had to trust my memory on this one. I am actually posting a picture of the notes I was talking about here so just let me know if you have any idea what I have written down!