Before Sunrise: Richard Linklater’s romantic comedy about the intoxicating power of talk is also the first in the series of films featuring Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) tentatively but volubly making their way towards love. Linklater began his collaboration with fellow Texan Hawke on Sunrise—a relationship that would yield two additional installments in the Before trilogy, not to mention a cameo by Jesse and Céline in the animated feature Waking Life, and other Linklater features starring Hawk, such as The Newton Boys and Tape. Working with co-writer Kim Krizan—who turned up in the director’s epochal 1991 film Slacker and had a small part in his equally potent Dazed and Confused—Linklater brings the swagger of verbal confidence to the story of this pair of young people who meet as they’re traveling by train from Budapest en route to their final destinations: back to the States for Jesse, Paris for Céline.  The ability to express a thought, whether philosophical or primal, minor or evanescent, is what draws the Texan and the Parisienne towards each other. 

Before Sunset: In this 2004 sequel to Before Sunrise, Céline (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) reunite. Spoiler alert—though they didn’t end up together, their first encounter impacted both of their lives, and both are stil recovering from (and savoring) that impact. Jesse (Ethan Hawke) is now a successful writer, touring in support of his bestselling novel, This Time, inspired by his tryst with Céline.  As he sits being interviewed by a group of journalists in Paris—who debate the origin of the novel before him—Jesse looks up and sees Céline (Julie Delpy). Sunset is about opportunities—and love—lost. Céline and Jesse are now older, wiser, and a little sadder. Linklater plays the film for rueful laughs, and as he slowly turns up the heat, the glamour of onscreen romance returns, as does the light in the star-crossed lovers’ eyes.