Netflix Instant Pick of the Week: Before Sunrise/Before Sunset

May 3, 2011 by Shelby    14 Comments    Posted under: Chick Flick Picks, Netflix Instant Pick of the Week

One thing I like about Netflix Instant is that it offers a lot of ’80s and ’90s movies in high definition. When you’ve only ever seen a movie on VHS before, it’s like discovering a whole new film when you finally see it in HD. I got that treat last week when I re-watched Austinite Richard Linklater‘s 1995 talk-heavy love story Before Sunrise.

I’ve long loved this movie, which, like Linklater’s more famous Dazed and Confused, all unfolds over the course of one night, and having recently returned from Vienna, I was really excited to spot newly familiar landmarks. But Vienna’s amazing architecture pales in comparison to the love story of Jesse and Celine, played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, who are both insanely gorgeous in this movie (and in HD, no less). After having the ultimate meet-cute on a train, the American guy and the French girl decide to spend one night together walking around the city before they each head home, and they fill it by having those super intense, highly self-obsessed conversations that you can only have when you’re (a) in your late teens or early 20s and (b) totally infatuated with the other person.

Now that I’m a little older, I actually find the follow-up, Before Sunset, way more romantic. Set and filmed nine years after the original movie, this honest but equally lovely story tells how that promise at the end of Before Sunrise turned out and what the ensuing years have meant for Jesse and Celine. This time, the two spend an afternoon in Celine’s native Paris before Jesse has to catch a flight back to New York. Before Sunset is also available in HD on Netflix Instant, making for a wonderful double feature.

I couldn’t find an official trailer for Before Sunrise, but this one for Before Sunset starts with a bit of a flashback to the first film.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Tags: Austin, before sunrise, before sunset, Chick Flick Picks, Chickster, Chickstermag, ethan hawke, julie delpy, netflix, netflix instant, netflix instant pick of the week, Richard Linklater, vienna

14 Comments + Add Comment

• 
  Doug May 3, 2011 at 10:05 pm

  Nicely written.
• 
  kelly May 4, 2011 at 8:30 am

  I can’t believe I’ve never heard of these. They look awesome.
• 
  Shelby May 4, 2011 at 10:34 am

  Thanks, Doug! Have you seen the movies?

  Oh, Kelly, I think you will love them.
• 
  Doug May 4, 2011 at 12:46 pm

  I haven’t seen either one but, in fact, that’s one reason why I was impressed by your article. I would never even think to watch such girly movies (oddly perhaps since I’m on a site named Chickstermag!) but now I’ll look for them. Vienna happens to be the backdrop of an ATF of mine, The Third Man. As an arts and culture maven I presume you’ve already seen it.
• 
  Shelby May 4, 2011 at 5:17 pm

  If you watch them, let me know what you think. Girly movies can be good when they’re as well done as these are.

  I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve never see The Third Man, which is doubly ridiculous since I can see it sitting on the shelf in my house not two feet from me. Now that I know it’s set in Vienna, I’ll have to watch it. Thanks for the tip!
• 
  Doug May 4, 2011 at 6:00 pm

  I will look forward to your review, Shelby! You may have to be in the mood to watch a b&w film but this one is amazingly compelling and original.

  Do you ever watch Anthony Bourdain’s tv show? A recent episode was filmed in Vienna and it began with a discussion of The Third Man. If you have an on demand tv set-up I’ll bet you can find it. And if you love Vienna then I think you’d love that particular episode anyway!

  I agree, girly movies can be good! I hope I didn’t come across as anti-girly movie. I really enjoyed your description of “super intense, highly self-obsessed conversations.” You really hit the nail on the head!
• 
  Shelby May 5, 2011 at 9:20 am

  I love Anthony Bourdain’s show! I’m only in the very early episodes because we watch it via Netflix Insant and started at the beginning, but I’ll have to scroll through and see if I can find the Vienna one. Thanks for the tip!

  So which girly movies have you liked?
• 
  kelly May 5, 2011 at 10:14 am

  Yeah. They were awesome. Both. Sequels are usually crap and this one rocked, especially because of that “real time” element. And it stayed so true to the original in form. It was just amazing. I can’t believe I never heard of these! How nice when a romantic comedy is well-written, witty and realistic. Hardly ever happens anymore.
• 
  Shelby May 5, 2011 at 10:36 am

  Kelly, I’m so glad you liked them! If there were more movies like these two out there, the genre of romantic-comedies wouldn’t have such a bad reputation.
• 
  Doug May 5, 2011 at 11:20 am

  I had to consult a list otherwise I couldn’t have recalled many titles. I’ll start with tv shows though because that’s easy: Gilmore Girls, and Joan of Arcadia. I don’t see a lot of movies but of the girly movies I’ve seen, I’ve enjoyed Clueless, Pretty in Pink, Notting Hill, When Harry Met Sally, Devil Wears Prada, Legally Blonde, Mean Girls, You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless, Romy and Michele, Cruel Intentions, Sweet Home Alabama, Sliding Doors, 16 Candles, Nanny Diaries, Bridget Jones. And if they count as girly movies, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Casablanca. One of these days I will make myself watch Gone With the Wind.

  Looking at it now, it seems a bit of an insubstantial list. It makes me think of an NYT article I read just this morning about gender bias in children’s books. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/new-study-finds-gender-bias-in-childrens-books “The study’s lead author, Janice McCabe, a professor of sociology at Florida State University, examined nearly 6,000 children’s books published from 1900 to 2000. Of those, 57 percent had a central male character compared with only 31 percent with female protagonists.” I’ll bet it’s even lower in the movies!

  Shelby, did you listen to the 3 hours of FF interviews?
• 
  Shelby May 6, 2011 at 12:47 pm

  I LOVED Gilmore Girls and Joan of Arcadia! That’s cool that you watched them. I didn’t know many guys who did. That’s a good list of chick flicks too, but I have to say that Gone With the Wind is so much more than a chick flick. Rhett Butler is a badass that any guy has to love.

  Interesting article from the NYT, especially about how the gender bias extends into the animal kingdom as well. I’ll bet you’re right that it’s lower in the movies and in children’s television as well. I just read something about The Smurfette Syndrome, in which a lot of kids shows have big casts made up of boys and then one token super girly-girl. The Muppets is a good example.

  Haven’t listened to the Foos interviews yet, because I’ve got three long car trips coming up this month, and they are all synced on my phone to make the drives a little more fun. So thanks for the entertainment!
• 
  Doug May 8, 2011 at 9:42 pm

  “I didn’t know many guys who did.” – I suppose reading Nancy Drew mysteries when I was a kid made me like to read things from the perspective of a chick. And then there’s all those great Sue Grafton and Patricia Cornwell novels.
• 
  theoncominghope August 18, 2011 at 5:46 am

  There’s a neat story in one of Roger Ebert’s books about the storyline from the film coming to life. I wrote about it here:

  http://theoncominghope.blogspot.com/2011/08/awesome-thing-of-day-before-sunrise.html
• 
  Shelby August 18, 2011 at 10:47 am

  Thanks for sharing, theoncominghope! That is a really neat story. I wonder if the couple is still together.