Before Sunrise Review Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy. Nine years after a chance meeting and a romantic one-night rendezvous in Vienna, the paths of two virtual strangers cross again in Paris for a second look at what might be love. 2004/color/80 min/R/widescreen. | ||||||||||
| Before Sunset Review In 1994, director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Waking Life) made Before Sunrise, a gorgeous poem of a movie about two strangers (played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) wandering around Vienna, talking, and falling in love. Ten years later, Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy have returned with Before Sunset, which reunites the same characters after Hawke has written a book about that night. Delpy appears at the final book reading of his European tour; they have less than two hours before Hawke has to catch a flight to New York...and in that time, they walk around Paris, talk, and fall in love all over again. It sounds simple, perhaps dull, but it's written with such skill and care and acted with such richness that it's a miracle of filmmaking. On its own, Before Sunset is moving and wonderful; seen right after Before Sunrise, it will break your heart. --Bret Fetzer | ||||||||||
| 2 Days in Paris Review Adam Goldberg delivers "an uproarious study in transatlantic culture panic" (MTV) as Jack, an anxious, hypochondriac-prone New Yorker vacationing throughout Europe with his breezy, free-spirited Parisian girlfriend, Marion (Delpy). But when they make a two-day stop in Marion's hometown, the couple's romantic trip takes a turn as Jack is exposed to Marion's sexually perverse and emotionally unstable family, her coarse temperament with cab drivers and her ex-lovers... her many ex-lovers. Culture-shocked and ego-bruised, Jack finds himself hoping that their relationship can survive as their love is revealed in surprising ways. | ||||||||||
| The Hours Review Julie Delpy, having spent the entirety of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise and Before Sunset walking around European cities and talking, decides to take hold of the reins herself in Two Days in Paris. For this somewhat similar gabfest, Delpy writes, directs, and casts herself as one half of a neurotically fun couple, who stop over to visit her parents for a couple of days in (duh) Paris. Adam Goldberg brings his shaggy worrywart persona as Delpy's better half--and why shouldn't he worry? Her parents seem happy to play pranks on him, and Delpy's ex-boyfriends materialize in every arrondissement. Despite their differences in style, these two have enjoyable chemistry together, and Goldberg is gifted with razor-sharp timing. Good to see Delpy, who has often been tapped for ethereal types, playing a feistier character than usual. It doesn't hurt anything at all that they are walking and talking through Paris, a city with an inexhaustible number of attractive angles. At some point you may begin to realize that the movie doesn't seem to be about very much, and without Linklater's ingenious fixed-time structure, there's little urgency to the ongoing conversation. If you haven't seen the Linklater films, absolutely check those out first, and consider this a photogenic side dish. --Robert Horton Beyond Two Days in Paris on DVD
Stills from Two Days in Paris (Click for larger image)
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| Maron Season 1 [HD] Review Hip talk-radio host and journalist Mingus (Chris Rock) and his French photographer girlfriend, Marion (Julie Delpy), live cozily in a New York apartment with their cat and two young children from previous relationships. But when Marion's jolly father, her oversexed sister, and her sister's outrageous boyfriend unceremoniously descend upon them for an overseas visit, it initiates two unforgettable days of family mayhem. | ||||||||||
| This Is 40 Review Julie Delpy directed and starred in 2 Days in Paris, a 2007 film about romance, culture shock, and family. So is 2 Days in New York, also directed by and starring Delpy, a direct sequel? Well--sort of. Her character has the same name, Marion, but she's moved on from her previous relationship and settled in NYC with a public-radio host named Mingus (Chris Rock). A sense of déjà vu is understandable, because here comes family again, in the form of her fragrant, boisterous father (Albert Delpy, Julie's real-life dad) and a sister towing her latest loser boyfriend (they're played by co-screenwriters Alexia Landeau and Alex Nahon). All of this trouble is happening while Marion is launching a gallery show, where the centerpiece of her collection is her soul, put up for the highest bidder. The makings of a likable enough comedy are here, but the film feels so slack, and the jokes so familiar, that 2 Days in New York never manages to ignite. Delpy clearly loves Woody Allen movies, and that vibe creeps in from time to time, but it only underscores how far this movie falls from Woody's best. Kudos, however, to Chris Rock, who slips into the skin of a downtown intellectual and pulls off nice straight-man duty--even when he's conversing with a life-size cardboard cutout of Barack Obama. --Robert Horton | ||||||||||
| Before Sunset Review A French grad student named Celine (Julie Delpy) meets an American boy named Jesse (Ethan Hawke) on the Budapest-Vienna train. They get off the train in Vienna and hang out for a while. | ||||||||||
| Before Sunrise Review This romantic, witty, and ultimately poignant glimpse at two strangers (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) who share thoughts, affections, and past experiences during one 14-hour tryst in Vienna somehow remains writer/director Richard Linklater's (Dazed and Confused, Slacker) most overlooked gem. Delpy, a stunning, low-key Parisian, meets the stammering American Hawke, as the two share a Eurorail seat--she's starting school in Paris, he's finishing a vacation. Their mutual attraction leads to an awkward meeting (beautifully played by each performer), and Hawke suggests that Delpy spend his remaining 14 hours in Vienna with him. Typically, this skeleton is as much plot as Linklater provides; as usual, he's more interested in concentrating his talents on observing the casual, playful conversations between his leads. His tight time frame allows the characters to say anything to one another, and topics ranging from politics to past romances to fears of the future flow with subtle finesse. The short time frame is also cruel, however, because beneath this love affair lies the painful reality that the two most likely will never see each other again and will be left only with memories--an idea Linklater drives home with an effective snapshot conclusion. Hardly the trite Gen-X bitch session that many '90s films using this approach become, the film feels more like a Bresson or Rohmer piece, containing sharp perceptions--and flawed humans rather than stereotypes. The protagonists' frank revelations and heated exchanges flow in a stream-of-consciousness style, and its no accident that Linklater set the film in Vienna, where Freud invented and practiced psychotherapy. --Dave McCoy | ||||||||||
| 2 Days in Paris Review VILLA DES ROSES - DVD Movie | ||||||||||
| Silver Linings Playbook Review Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy. Nine years after a chance meeting and a romantic one-night rendezvous in Vienna, the paths of two virtual strangers cross again in Paris for a second look at what might be love. 2004/color/80 min/R/widescreen. | ||||||||||
| Missed Connections Review In 1994, director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Waking Life) made Before Sunrise, a gorgeous poem of a movie about two strangers (played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) wandering around Vienna, talking, and falling in love. Ten years later, Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy have returned with Before Sunset, which reunites the same characters after Hawke has written a book about that night. Delpy appears at the final book reading of his European tour; they have less than two hours before Hawke has to catch a flight to New York...and in that time, they walk around Paris, talk, and fall in love all over again. It sounds simple, perhaps dull, but it's written with such skill and care and acted with such richness that it's a miracle of filmmaking. On its own, Before Sunset is moving and wonderful; seen right after Before Sunrise, it will break your heart. --Bret Fetzer | ||||||||||
| Reality Bites Review Adam Goldberg delivers "an uproarious study in transatlantic culture panic" (MTV) as Jack, an anxious, hypochondriac-prone New Yorker vacationing throughout Europe with his breezy, free-spirited Parisian girlfriend, Marion (Delpy). But when they make a two-day stop in Marion's hometown, the couple's romantic trip takes a turn as Jack is exposed to Marion's sexually perverse and emotionally unstable family, her coarse temperament with cab drivers and her ex-lovers... her many ex-lovers. Culture-shocked and ego-bruised, Jack finds himself hoping that their relationship can survive as their love is revealed in surprising ways. | ||||||||||
| 2 Days in New York Review Julie Delpy, having spent the entirety of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise and Before Sunset walking around European cities and talking, decides to take hold of the reins herself in Two Days in Paris. For this somewhat similar gabfest, Delpy writes, directs, and casts herself as one half of a neurotically fun couple, who stop over to visit her parents for a couple of days in (duh) Paris. Adam Goldberg brings his shaggy worrywart persona as Delpy's better half--and why shouldn't he worry? Her parents seem happy to play pranks on him, and Delpy's ex-boyfriends materialize in every arrondissement. Despite their differences in style, these two have enjoyable chemistry together, and Goldberg is gifted with razor-sharp timing. Good to see Delpy, who has often been tapped for ethereal types, playing a feistier character than usual. It doesn't hurt anything at all that they are walking and talking through Paris, a city with an inexhaustible number of attractive angles. At some point you may begin to realize that the movie doesn't seem to be about very much, and without Linklater's ingenious fixed-time structure, there's little urgency to the ongoing conversation. If you haven't seen the Linklater films, absolutely check those out first, and consider this a photogenic side dish. --Robert Horton Beyond Two Days in Paris on DVD
Stills from Two Days in Paris (Click for larger image)
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| 2 Days in Paris Review Hip talk-radio host and journalist Mingus (Chris Rock) and his French photographer girlfriend, Marion (Julie Delpy), live cozily in a New York apartment with their cat and two young children from previous relationships. But when Marion's jolly father, her oversexed sister, and her sister's outrageous boyfriend unceremoniously descend upon them for an overseas visit, it initiates two unforgettable days of family mayhem. | ||||||||||
| Your Sister's Sister Review Julie Delpy directed and starred in 2 Days in Paris, a 2007 film about romance, culture shock, and family. So is 2 Days in New York, also directed by and starring Delpy, a direct sequel? Well--sort of. Her character has the same name, Marion, but she's moved on from her previous relationship and settled in NYC with a public-radio host named Mingus (Chris Rock). A sense of déjà vu is understandable, because here comes family again, in the form of her fragrant, boisterous father (Albert Delpy, Julie's real-life dad) and a sister towing her latest loser boyfriend (they're played by co-screenwriters Alexia Landeau and Alex Nahon). All of this trouble is happening while Marion is launching a gallery show, where the centerpiece of her collection is her soul, put up for the highest bidder. The makings of a likable enough comedy are here, but the film feels so slack, and the jokes so familiar, that 2 Days in New York never manages to ignite. Delpy clearly loves Woody Allen movies, and that vibe creeps in from time to time, but it only underscores how far this movie falls from Woody's best. Kudos, however, to Chris Rock, who slips into the skin of a downtown intellectual and pulls off nice straight-man duty--even when he's conversing with a life-size cardboard cutout of Barack Obama. --Robert Horton | ||||||||||
| To Rome With Love Review A French grad student named Celine (Julie Delpy) meets an American boy named Jesse (Ethan Hawke) on the Budapest-Vienna train. They get off the train in Vienna and hang out for a while. | ||||||||||
| Celeste And Jesse Forever Review This romantic, witty, and ultimately poignant glimpse at two strangers (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) who share thoughts, affections, and past experiences during one 14-hour tryst in Vienna somehow remains writer/director Richard Linklater's (Dazed and Confused, Slacker) most overlooked gem. Delpy, a stunning, low-key Parisian, meets the stammering American Hawke, as the two share a Eurorail seat--she's starting school in Paris, he's finishing a vacation. Their mutual attraction leads to an awkward meeting (beautifully played by each performer), and Hawke suggests that Delpy spend his remaining 14 hours in Vienna with him. Typically, this skeleton is as much plot as Linklater provides; as usual, he's more interested in concentrating his talents on observing the casual, playful conversations between his leads. His tight time frame allows the characters to say anything to one another, and topics ranging from politics to past romances to fears of the future flow with subtle finesse. The short time frame is also cruel, however, because beneath this love affair lies the painful reality that the two most likely will never see each other again and will be left only with memories--an idea Linklater drives home with an effective snapshot conclusion. Hardly the trite Gen-X bitch session that many '90s films using this approach become, the film feels more like a Bresson or Rohmer piece, containing sharp perceptions--and flawed humans rather than stereotypes. The protagonists' frank revelations and heated exchanges flow in a stream-of-consciousness style, and its no accident that Linklater set the film in Vienna, where Freud invented and practiced psychotherapy. --Dave McCoy | ||||||||||
| Liberal Arts Review VILLA DES ROSES - DVD Movie | ||||||||||
