Sunrise, Sunset

Before I get into the Linklater films, a few things:

- Jeff: I loved that featurette that you posted! It made me want to run out and see The Tree of Life before all of you. Let me know about Midnight in Paris, I'm jazzed to see it so hopefully I'll be free whenever you plan to go.
-Jeff/Brandon: I really want to see Stalag 17 now. I love Network but I always wanted something more from it. Maybe this is what I was looking for.
- John: I might be home for some of those films - if I am I'll come with you guys. My birthday is July 10th!
- Jason: I'm hoping to see a bunch of blockbusters this summer too. We can compare notes.
- Ben: Yes, see you soon! :)

Ok the moment of truth... Linklater.

- Tape: I really liked this. I don't know how I forgot that the movie was called "Tape" while I was watching it, but I was so into the scene he created and the performances of Hawke and Leonard and lost in their world that I actually audibly gasped when he pulled out the tape recorder. I was not expecting it. I think this is what I really liked about all of Linklater's films - you are THERE with these people living and feeling the situations they are in, it's like you forget you are watching a movie, you feel like you are in a motel room, or Vienna, or Paris. Tape is not written by Linklater, it's based on a play, and I have to say (don't hate me) this was my favorite of the three I watched. I was experiencing the situation with the characters, and I was just as confused as the guys were at Thurman's reaction to the rape story. And like the guys, I also really thought she called the cops. I thought it was so well done and I really liked the handheld camerawork. It was great. I loved that everything was so scaled down, it really made the ambiance perfect.

- Caveat: Before talking about Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, I have to say that part of my problem with watching movies in general is that I seriously differentiate between "best" and "favorite." The best movies aren't necessarily the ones I like to watch again and again. I see value in both categories, and they are not the same to me (except on those rare occasions when they awesomely overlap). Also, I went into this aware that I may not like these movies, since they were basically the reason Ben decided you needed a girl in this club. But I wanted to prove Ben wrong about girls not liking them.

- Before Sunrise & Before Sunset: And here we are again at the distinction between appreciating something and really enjoying it. I feel very conflicted about these movies. I really appreciate them, and I like Linklater's style a lot. The shots at the end of Before Sunrise of all the beautiful places they had been together, with them no longer in the shots? Genius. It was lovely and powerful. And like I said when describing Tape, I felt like I was with them in Vienna. The scenes he created were magical and wistful and so perfect for young love. STARDUST! I loved that whole speech by the palm reader lady. It was just perfect. There was so much I loved about the movie, everything was beautiful. And the scene at the end of Before Sunset? It was perfect. It perfectly wrapped up both of the movies, in that moment I felt like it ended the way it HAD to end. It was fantastic. Everything was so perfect, it's the only word I can think of.

And yet, I mean, I hated watching them. Both of the movies were SO sad to me. My heart was breaking, I could feel it in my chest. They were exactly what I feared Blue Valentine would be (thankfully it wasn't). This was NSFL. Ben I remember you saying in your post about how the quality of these movies isn't really about Linklater's style, it's about the emotion. That was the problem. I wish I had watched Before Sunrise 10 years ago, I think I would have loved it. But now I really identified with Celine as she was in the second film. The girl who used to be the person in the first film, but now is the person in the second film, whose exes are all married, who had something great once that got ruined and now keeps getting screwed over and is scared to try to be in a real relationship ever again. It's really depressing to watch that play out on screen. I was crying and crying through these movies, I was so sad. It was showing me something about myself that I didn't want to see, I guess.

I know 10 years ago I would have loved the first movie and thought it was totally dreamy and would be convinced they would come back 6 months later and be together forever. But watching it now, all I could think was, this relationship would never work out anyway. He's kind of a dick in some parts of that first movie. And the things he criticizes and argues with her about in the first movie are the things that if they spent more time together, would be irreconcilable. I mean I guess I'm that person who is too much of a cynic to think the 'book' has a happy ending. But I think what was so sad for me was recognizing how much differently I would have felt about the movie when I was younger.

I was glad to see them meet again in Before Sunset. It was sad that they were so unhappy. But I liked that he was softer than he was in the first movie, and that she was harder. I think that was truthful. I was also glad for the ending, because I do think he stayed. And me thinking he stayed gives me hope that maybe I'm not a total cynic. But it was still so sad. The waltz she wrote? Heartbreaking. I couldn't bear it.

I did want to mention the dialogue. I thought it was kind of annoying... I'm sure that's a sacrilege, but everyone hates me by now I'm sure, so I might as well keep going. People don't talk like that. Even if they did, not on a first date. If they do, I want to learn how. I hate when they show this kind of stuff in movies. I'm always amazed at how the female characters are written to seem so charming and perfect and easy to fall in love with when they've just met a person, like obviously the main guy is going to fall in love with them, because they're so strong and vulnerable at the same time, and just complicated enough but not THAT complicated, and totally confident and smart and interesting and passionate and all this, and somehow they say all the perfect things that reveal just enough hopes and dreams and insecurities about themselves to somehow seem so obviously and perfectly loveable, but not neurotic. I really need to go to a class or something to learn how to do this on a date. I am incapable of this. I never know what to say on a date, but what I do end up saying doesn't show what people who've known me forever like about me, I don't think. Have any of you ever tried saying the kind of stuff these people come out with on a first date? I'll tell you how it ends: awkwardly and early. Ben I remember you said something about how you want to find someone like Celine, who can talk with equal passion about mundane and important things. I'm sure all guys watching this would think that. But I would say to you that any girl would probably be exactly like Celine if they had an accent and a scriptwriter who was focused on making a movie with stream-of-consciousness dialogue that's supposed to sound intellectual and passionate. I'm being glib obviously, but I don't think people really come across this way when you meet them, and it really really irks me that female characters are always written to be this way during meet-cutes in indie romances. Obviously. :)

Anyway, I hate writing about these two movies because I feel like I'm talking about myself the whole time. But I don't think it's possible to really talk about them without talking about yourself? And I don't really want to talk about myself, and not about relationships. So it's hard that Linklater's style is not what the movies are about. I really wanted to like these movies. And I thought they were fantastic. But I did not like them. I'm really not usually this bitter, writing about these movies makes me feel like totally messed up or something. But I think it's clear that my problems with the movies are actually my own. My own cynicism and my fear of my cynicism and also my overidentification with characters, yet again. I do think though that all of these feelings I'm having are a great credit to Linklater.

- Hands down my "favorite" Linklater movie so far is... School of Rock. ::ducks while film club throws fruit at my head::

- Sorry for writing a book, I guess I didn't really know how to organize my thoughts on this. The New World is the next movie in my queue after the one I have here... I hope to god I love it. I'm aware that I might be pending removal from the club at this point, and I'm sure that would truly be the last straw. ;)