The Daily Postscript

Greenbucks wants to know my favorite romantic movie. Hands down it's Before Sunrise (1995) and after almost a decade they met again, Before Sunset (2004). I love the caption of the sequel, "What if you had a second chance with the one that got away?" Mushy? Not. Watch, understand and feel the movie.

I watch love stories, romantic films but not all of them linger on my mind. These two Ethan Hawke movies are exceptions. Can I stand a movie with only two characters just talking for an hour and a half? Yes - beautiful people talking about whatever comes to mind, exploring possibilities. Excruciatingly honest. Intelligent scriptwriting, effortless acting. And its setting, Vienna, is one of the most romantic places for me - walking on cobblestone pavements and beautiful landscapes.

Existential ennui, don't we experience that once in a while no matter how old or young we are. The movie could be a documentary of anyone's life, a life that comes across one's thought but maybe has no chance to explore, to dissect and to experience because of being too afraid of going down the train and wander and face the what ifs.

A transcript from one of my favorite moments in Before Sunrise.

Jesse: Alright, I have an admittedly insane idea, but if I don't ask you this it's just, uh, you know, it's gonna haunt me the rest of my life

Celine: What?

Jesse: Um... I want to keep talking to you, y'know. I have no idea what your situation is, but, uh, but I feel like we have some kind of, uh, connection. Right?

Celine: Yeah, me too.

Jesse: Yeah, right, well, great. So listen, so here's the deal. This is what we should do. You should get off the train with me here in Vienna, and come check out the capital.

Celine: What?

Jesse: Come on. It'll be fun. Come on.

Celine: What would we do?

Jesse: Umm, I don't know. All I know is I have to catch an Austrian Airlines flight tomorrow morning at 9:30 and I don't really have enough money for a hotel, so I was just going to walk around, and it would be a lot more fun if you came with me. And if I turn out to be some kind of psycho, you know, you just get on the next train.

Jesse: Alright, alright. Think of it like this: jump ahead, ten, twenty years, okay, and you're married. Only your marriage doesn't have that same energy that it used to have, y'know. You start to blame your husband. You start to think about all those guys you've met in your life and what might have happened if you'd picked up with one of them, right? Well, I'm one of those guys. That's me y'know, so think of this as time travel, from then, to now, to find out what you're missing out on. See, what this really could be is a gigantic favor to both you and your future husband to find out that you're not missing out on anything. I'm just as big a loser as he is, totally unmotivated, totally boring, and, uh, you made the right choice, and you're really happy.

Celine: Let me get my bag.

And from Before Sunset.

Jesse: Oh, God, why didn't we exchange phone numbers and stuff? Why didn't we do that?

Celine: Because we were young and stupid.

Jesse: Do you think we still are?

Celine: I guess when you're young, you just believe there'll be many people with whom you'll connect with. Later in life, you realize it only happens a few times.

Jesse: And you can screw it up, you know, misconnect.

To be young and stupid. To be older and be less stupid. It could have been "the one that got away" for both of them but time is on their side now so it seems. The ending of Before Sunset tells us Jesse stays. Obviously he did. I would have wanted it that way. Seriously.