Richard Linklater makes conversation worth watching by noticing how people try to impress one another. We value his patience and his ear for awkwardness, though he sometimes lets his characters enjoy their own intelligence for too long.
Fi1m perspective
In Before Sunrise (1995), Jesse and Céline wander through Vienna, trying to sound interesting without seeming to try. Richard Linklater makes their conversation absorbing because every opinion risks changing what one thinks of the other. We found their awkward efforts to impress each other unexpectedly touching. There is enough at stake in being liked to keep us watching, even when the pair have little practical business to attend to.
That willingness to let people talk their way through a film was there in the character-led Austin scenes of Slacker (1990). With Dazed and Confused (1993), he moved into studio filmmaking. Its ensemble story follows a single day of Texas high-school life, keeping his attention on young people spending time together. These films establish his preference for following people without hurrying them towards the next event. The risk is that an evening in this company can seem slight if the people do not interest us.
Before Sunrise shows how much writing is needed to make that freedom work. Linklater and co-writer Kim Krizan give Jesse and Céline opinions that also serve as attempts to make a favourable impression. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy supply the awkwardness that stops the talk becoming a polished display of the screenplay. We listen for the response as much as the speech. The exchanges feel particular to these two people, which matters more than how profound either of them happens to be.
His interest in time also became a way of making films. The Before trilogy, developed with Hawke and Delpy, carried those conversations across nearly two decades, through to Before Midnight (2013). Boyhood (2014) took 12 years to film its story of a boy growing up. Returning to the same people allows changes that a single evening cannot reveal, though the years spent making a film are no guarantee that we will care about its characters.
Our reservation is about how readily he grants a conversation extra time. In Before Sunrise, some exchanges continue after we have understood what each person wants to communicate, and an occasional line sounds pleased with its own intelligence. The freedom from practical worries also gives the night a slightly protected quality. Start with this film if watching two people work out what they think sounds like a promising evening; their occasional self-satisfaction is worth putting up with.
Biography
Richard Linklater is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Born on 30 July 1960 in Houston, Texas, he began his career with the independent feature Slacker (1990).
His subsequent films include Dazed and Confused (1993), the Before trilogy (Before Sunrise, 1995; Before Sunset, 2004; Before Midnight, 2013), The School of Rock (2003), Boyhood (2014) and Hit Man (2024). Several of his projects, including the Before films and Boyhood, were filmed with the same actors over many years.
Linklater has received five Academy Award nominations. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director for Boyhood and the Silver Bear for Best Director for Before Sunrise.
