COLUMN: On 'Before Sunrise'

From Shawn Klein's "Jedi Mind Tricks," Fall '95 From Shawn Klein's "Jedi Mind Tricks," Fall '95Although I have made it a practice throughout my life to ruin good movies for my good friends, this column does not follow suit. First off, go see this movie and see it in a hurry. It's initial release was on relatively few screens and while it did not do bad box office per screen, it's totals were low (a little over four mil) and it's currently leaving theatres. I'm not sure if I thought Before Sunrise was fantastic per se, (I would need to see it once more to tell) but it definitely has its great moments. The movie consists solely of two people talking in various locales around Vienna (You can almost hear Linklater say, "What the hell, just put the camera over there.") yet it never comes close to boring. (My only complaint is that Hawke's character is just a bit too artsy-fartsy. A couple of the things he says are borderline annoying.) Post-movie discussion inevitably centers on whether or not Jesse and Celine will ever see each other again. The movie gives us no answer but it is obvious they won't. Forget the fairy tales, this flick has nothing to do with them. If people, no matter how strong the love felt, no matter how wonderful, do not talk to each other before they go to sleep at night, have phone sex, or graphically describe what they're wearing via e-mail, the feelings will dissipate. Nobody waits forever after knowing someone for just a night. There can't be enough incentive. So we know they won't see each other again even though they spent an amazing night together. And strangely enough, it makes a better ending for the movie. It feels more complete, more satisfying. I know I've been in some situation before which this movie pretty much nails on the head. (That's what is great about the movie. You relive those feelings again.) Some meeting with someone beautiful where we had only a little time to spend together, but all of it was quality. Maybe not so intense and maybe not in Vienna but those feelings, those ecstatic rushes, I know I've definitely felt. People really can fall for each other in so short a while. All it takes is a little good face and a little good talk. It's happened to everyone at some point or another to some degree. And those feelings are the best this life has to offer. Allow me a cliche. Relationships are like driving a car. It's the acceleration which is most exhilarating. Once you level off at sixty on a smooth road you hardly feel the motion. It's getting to sixty when you feel the rush. The very beginnings of any relationship are the most intense, the most exciting. So, it follows that the best "relationships per unit time" are those with only a beginning and no middle or end. That's what Before Sunrise is about. As for the time(s?) when I've had whirlwind romance, I remember little. I might be able to guess the where. Maybe camp. Maybe some random high school party where I met a stranger and we took a step outside to get away from it all. But on the more important side of it, I haven't a clue about the who. After even a little time passes, I start to lose the girl's face. The harder I think about her the more her face just kind of fades away. Particularly, the ones I'd most like to remember. I hate it and I can't stop it. (This happens to a lot of people.) What becomes important to me then is the idea of her. The idea of the situation. The memory that it did in fact happen. This guy and this girl in Vienna, in a short time, will also have only the vaguest of faded memories of what happened. It may take months, but they'll slowly forget each other's faces. They'll forget exactly what they did, what roads they walked on, what bars they stopped at. They'll only remember what the feelings they had felt like. If all is to be forgotten, why then make this movie? The answer is because such moments are what mold us as people. The emotions, the blurry memories, they all get thrown into the mix. It becomes part of who we are. Which is more important: That you are having the experience, or whom you are having the experience with? The movie doesn't tell us. I guess it doesn't have the heart to. But the answer is as obvious as it is, from a romantic point-of-view, disastrous. It shows love in a very selfish light. My memories are there so that I can look back on them. They're there so I know I'm capable. They serve no other purpose. Jesse and Celine anguish over whether or not to exchange addresses and telephone numbers. Should she come to the States to see him? They both secretly recognize the futility. The anxieties, pressures and embarrassments over whether to call or what to write could only blemish what they had. Why touch what has been the most perfect of relationships. they have had the beginning of love without the middle or end.