Richard Linklater’s film Before Midnight – shot on location in Greece – has topped filmmaker Quentin Tarantino’s list for top films in 2013.
Secretly filmed in Greece, Before Midnight continues where Jesse and Céline left off in Before Sunset. Their conversations about love and life and everything under the sun began seventeen years ago. In Before Sunrise (1995) an American man, Jesse, met Frenchwoman Céline on the train to Vienna. They spent the whole night walking the Viennese streets, philosophising, arguing and flirting. At sunrise they parted on the railway platform, promising to meet again.
Their paths didn’t cross until nine years later, in Before Sunset (2004). This time, the pair spent a day in Paris discussing their unhappy relationships and rediscovering their feelings for each other.
In Before Midnight we discover that Jesse and Céline have stayed together and are now spending a holiday in Greece with their daughters. The world of emotions is still their preferred topic of conversation, but it is now their own relationship which is put to the test. The daily grind has certainly left its mark.
Once again the actors have collaborated on the screenplay; once again, all human life is here in their dialogue and, once more, the end is uncertain.
The movies shares the list with: Afternoon Delight (Jill Soloway); Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen); The Conjuring (James Wan); Drinking Buddies (Joe Swanberg); Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach); Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón); Kick-Ass 2 (Jeff Wadlow); The Lone Ranger (Gore Verbinski); and This Is the End (Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg).