In Before Midnight, the sequel to the brilliant and still throughly underseen indie gems Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, writer/director Richard Linklater (who penned the script with co-stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) takes two of cinema's best and most realistic characters to the one place we all hoped they'd never go. Whereas the last two movies had lovers Jesse and Celine confined with a romantic bubble, wandering around, flirting and being cute, the passing of time - and the fact that they're now married - meant that this had to be a different movie entirely. So whilst the first half of Midnight feels similar to its predecessors in its free-wheeling ambitions to muse on love and life, Linklater drops a sudden bomb in the last 20 minutes, and has the couple engage in what is perhaps one of the most vivid and emotional arguments in cinema history. This isn't just two people shouting insults at each other: it's spiteful, filled with all the resentment and snipes you'd expect from years of contact - a couple we also happen to have seen from inception to destruction. But it makes sense that Jesse and Celine would get to this point - they're human beings. The best scene of the year, in what is also the year's best movie. Truly unforgettable. Like this article? Let us know in the comments section below.
