Before Midnight

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⭐ 8.5/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

This was MY choice for Valentine's weekend. I really love this movie series and we have been putting off seeing each one to help make them last. The first one was one of my all time favorite love stories, and the second was perhaps a little messier but still almost as compelling. This last one is hardly a romance at all, but is more a drama that explores the philosophy of romantic love. I thought it had a lot of interesting things to say and I appreciate that it exists, though I'm not sure this is the one you should be going for on Valentine's.

This is kinda the love story of Prince Charming and Cinderella long after they are married and the magic has worn off. The circumstances around these two being together are pretty special, but it doesn't really matter once you have kids and careers and family stuff pulling you in different directions. I love that these movies are able to take these big time concepts and contextualize them within mostly normal people having normal conversations. Again, I don't always agree with the views the characters have, but I can at least understand them.

With that said, I didn't always love everything about this movie. I don't think that this is how spouses who have been together a long time really talk. How can you be together for ten years and be so petty in the way you argue? I would think you just learn how to have more productive fights by then, and watching them be so childish frustrated me. Maybe I'm just being naive, and I also acknowledge these characters have always kinda been like this, but even when they made good points I was just surprised by how they talked to each other. Real jerks!

But the way these movies are made still really connect with me. It's essentially a series of mostly natural conversations, filmed in super long cuts in a few different places. It's so simple, but quite unique and just so grounded and real. It's a great formula that has worked for three movies, and I wouldn't doubt that we get another entry in this series as I think there is more this couple can offer as they age. So yeah, watch this movie, but only after you've seen the others. I've been very happy to be on this journey with Jesse and Celine, but just know this isn't the nice warm romance that the series begins with.

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