before sunset is a beautiful film. i feel that most of the time film pales when compared to theater in terms of really convincing character development, but this is one of the few films i've seen that had a real emotional depth to it. if this had been in new york, there's no doubt in my mind it would've been a strong contender for best new play. and just b/c it's expected and the norm, it is no less a travesty that julie delpy, who is breathtaking, wasn't nominated for a best actress oscar. (although apparently the boston society of film critics gave their "2nd best movie" award to before sunset and SF's critics, in a very independent move, gave delpy their best actress award.) i highly recommend you see before sunrise so you can see this movie. a big part of the depth of this movie to me was the power of seeing two people after 9 years has passed in real time. this is a big part of the attraction to the "up" documentary series (7 up, 14 up, 21 up, etc.) which andy and i started recently, which follows 14 or so british children and takes a snapshot every 7 years of their lives. we watched the first two and were immediately captivated and wanted to see the rest (49 up was released a few years ago), although i kind of want to hold off b/c it's a bit painful actually to see the years fly by in such quick succession. it has a richness of real life that, although it may be imitated well in film and literature (and extremely well in before sunset) isn't so deeply true. i highly recommend that series as well. apparently also there's a US version started in 1991. (btw the actors of before sunset have said they thought at one point could continue every 9 years which would be very interesting.)