This film has my vote: Before Sunset

This was one of the most enjoyable movies I caught in the past year. It's so outstanding because of its unconventional approach, which is totally unseen in mainstream movies churned out by the Hollywood and HK big screen machines.

Anyone who mistakes this for just another rose-tinted love story is sadly misinformed (in spite of what the posters look like). I'd never been so intrigued by continuous small talk in a movie than I'd been in Before Sunset. It's more about the synergy of minds and what it's like to totally hit off with someone simply because you had the right chemistry and complementary characters, and you can rattle off about just about anything under the sun (and beyond) just 2 minutes after meeting each other.

This movie has far more interesting elements to it than its prequel, Before Sunrise. While Before Sunrise had been about new beginnings and discoveries, youth and hope, Before Sunset has more undertones. It has a lot more to work with, especially the kind of undercurrents and tension that stem from the experiences of both characters, both in terms of their individual paths and their link to each other. There is also a greater sense of immediacy and reality.

It's interesting to watch the characters' exchanges while being at the age I am. While I'm not in my thirties (...yet – patience, my pet), I'm already some way down that road of experience-borne cynicism, emotional baggage and growing worldliness from having been through heartbreak, disappointment, disillusionment, and just generally knowing more than you want to know about the world...yet holding on to sparks of hope, yet despairing that they are mostly just sparks of hope, not of possibility.

The question they ultimately ask themselves is one many people my generation are surely asking – are they with the person they should be with? Have they chosen the right vocations? What should they do about their regretful choices?

The ending is excellent. I frankly don't feel that it could have ended any other way. The ambiguity at the end is starkly different from the first movie. The first movie ends with hope in a more distant future, though to those two young minds, it is not so distant and is brimming with expectant hope. Before Sunset's ending has that feeling of immediacy, leaving us feeling that if only we could linger another 2 minutes, we would see the choices they would have made. This ending is not about hope – there's no time for hope. They are already late, as it is. You know that whatever decision they make, it would have to be now. They're no longer as young and will not play with as much time as they did before, now fully aware of the folly of missed opportunities. They've come this far in 90 minutes and there's no time to simmer – once this is over, it's over. Moreover, there's no win-win situation. There would be repercussions, whatever they choose.

The camera work is really interesting, if you stop to notice. It is subtle, but works fully to convey unspokens. For example, a sequence of them walking up a long flight of stairs in silence is captured in a single, unbroken shot, fully capturing that minute of quiet tension and subtle hints of what's running through their heads as they trudge towards Celine's apartment. Another example I love is the scene where she languidly describes Nina Simone in concert. The camera moves out and has Celine in the middle of a wide shot while she mimicks Nina Simone. It gives the impression of Celine being in a stage performance herself. It is in that moment that she actually is on a metaphorical stage, still somewhat personal and yet distant from her audience, Jesse. It is not said or shown, but we know they are taking that moment to think and decide where to place their fates. Why else do people make slow, trivial talk at crucial moments?

I love this movie because it's much more real than most other movies. We can all find a part of ourselves and a part of our lives in the way this story is told, and we identify with it because it happens they way real life does. Yet, it maintains more than enough emotional intensity and romanticism to capture our hearts. Its tender moments tug at our hearts and remind us to be afraid of love and yet desire it.