Before Midnight

The unassuming end (maybe?) to the most low-key trilogy in movie history, Before Midnight reunites Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) 10 years after the last time we saw them. These films are not dazzling, and that’s probably part of director Richard Linklater’s motivation. More than just about any franchise you can think of, the Before films are about those small moments that only two people can share. Before Midnight is a bit more melancholy than the other two, with these characters closing their windows of idealism and taking a few bumps along the way. But that is why this film is so necessary and so resonant. This kind of examination of characters is rare and the way Linklater, Delpy and Hawke have come to know them so well makes Before Midnight an intimate conversation we’re better for having heard.