Before Sunrise/ Before Sunset

   Richard Linklater remains to be one of the most thought provoking and fascinating directors out there. His masterpiece Waking Life, and his other brilliant films, particularly Slacker, are all reminiscent of his mind blowingly well scripted Before... series. Though the topics raised in both films are horrendously dated only 9 and 18 years on, they still have some relevance nowadays, mainly due to the brilliant performances and dialogue.
   The proposition is that through a sheer coincidence, the French student Celine (Julie Delpy), and the American student Jesse (Ethan Hawke), both meet on a train in Vienna. Both speak English and both are of the same intelligence. Jesse is headed for Vienna to go back home, while Celine is headed back to Paris. They strike a connection. Suddenly, at Vienna, in an act of impulse, Jesse convinces Celine to get off at Paris, and spend the day talking. She wildly agrees, and for the next hour and a half we are treated to some of the best dialogue in modern cinema, just pure conversation on existentialism, sex, eternity and life. There's really little I can say on it because it already talks itself.
   The performances are brilliant; Ethan Hawke stays on the right side of douche bag and Julie Delpy is charming and bouncy as Celine. And while the painful nineties disaffected youth quarter life crisis stereotypes can be annoying, they are very toned down, much more than the awful other quarter life crisis fable Reality Bites.
   Fast-forward 9 years and Celine has a chance encounter with Jesse in Shakespeare and Company in Paris. Again, they do the same thing; walk around Paris and talk, this one being much more about relationships. Both have shed the pretense and become much more honest with each other: Jesse has a kid but is stuck in an unfulfilling  relationship, and Celine cannot latch onto a man, having used up all her romance on that perfect night. It is interesting to see how Jesse, the hardened cynic in the previous film has traded personalities with Celine in the last film. Now Celine, bitter at not having had a proper relationship because of Jesse, is now the hardened cynic. The film ends on an infuriatingly blunt, rushed ambiguous note but considering there is the final film coming out this year, make of it what you will.
   These are some of the greatest romance films of all time, as well as some of the best writing in film, period. Please watch them.

Before Sunrise 10/10
Before Sunset 9/10

Hard Candy

   Paedophilia is a difficult trait to transpose into film, mainly beacuse very few people actually want to pay attention or sympathise with a paedophile. For me, its more of a sadness. They clearly didn't choose to live this lifestyle, it is simply a sexual preference that is morally wrong depending on who you are. I do not however believe it to be a mental psychosis like many, however. Many paedophiles are bad people, taking advantage of children, and they are wrong for doing that. But those who simply express their sexual opinion, but do not act upon it shouldn't be targeted because of their preference. And this is where Hard Candy fits in.
   Hard Candy tells the story of a thirty something photographer (played brilliantly by Patrick Wilson) who explored teen web chat sites, and forms a friendship with one of the girls (played breathtakingly well by Ellen Page, from whom I cannot unsee this role). They start talking. They arrange to meet up. Is he taking advantage? She is only 14. She almost seduces him. They go back to his place. There are photos of under-age models on his walls. He offers her a drink. She declines and makes Screwdrivers. She drugs his. He falls unconscious and wakes up tied to a chair. She has done this.
   She declares he is a paedophile, and she has good reason to suspect. He is the one who raced her to a next drink, he is the one who was trolling the teen chat website. He is shocked and terrified. She lets him suffer.
   That is the plot to the film, and it is terrifying. Ellen Page is stunning as Hayley, who can turn from chillingly calm to horrifyingly angry. There is a real uncomfortable turn of events. Is he a paedophile? Is Hayley just as bad as him? Who are we supposed to feel sorry for-the possible paedophile, or the definite psychopath? The direction really accentuates this, with cool static shots quickly escalating to shaky handheld shots.
   This is a very smart thriller. It ends on a note you will have to decipher for yourself but trust me, this one is worth a watch.

9/10