A Second Sunrise

It's become par for the course that box-office-conquering blockbusters should spawn sequels but it's rather refreshing when a low-budget, hardly commercially successful film is given a second go just for the sake of picking up the story. Richard Linklater's 1995 film Before Sunrise made just $5.5 million during its US run but the director has (eight years later) penned an as yet untitled sequel and aims to begin shooting this Autumn. The original took the spectacularly unspectacular premise of 'boy meets girl on train' and turned it into a surprisingly romantic and intelligent drama. American Jesse (Ethan Hawke) meets French graduate student Celine (Julie Delpy) on a train from Budapest, where they both decide to alight in Vienna and while away the night until Jesse's flight home. That's it. There's no brush with the law, no torrid and censor-baiting sex romps and no blistering action. What Linklater provided was a touching and never boring tale of two people getting to know each other through discussions of life, philosophy, society and all manner of other subjects that, while possibly uninspiring on paper, are brought to life by the two magnetic leads. The film ends with both promising to reunite but the sequel will pick up nine years later where (presumably having missed their appointment) fate throws them together once more during the French leg of Jesse's book tour. A refreshing change from the usual by-the-numbers fare, if you haven't seen the original then we insist you rent it over the weekend and keep an eye out for the sequel when it arrives next year.