BEFORE MIDNIGHT

Director Richard LInklater is a very talented filmmaker and also a very patient and determined man if the trilogy of films featuring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy is to go on as this has lasted (so far) for some 18 years.

 The first film ‘Before Sunrise’ in 1995 saw the couple meet on holiday, more specifically on a train in Europe, and wind up spending one romantic evening together in Vienna. The second film ‘Before Sunset in 2004 (some nine years after Jesse and Celine first met), sees them meet again on the French leg of Jesse's book tour. The third part of the trilogy, well that would be telling – except to say that it is set again nine years on, this time in Greece.

They are both 41 and much wiser, mature and also world weary, but the film is as fresh and exciting as ever – it uses very long single camera takes, employs the gorgeous settings to full effect and, as in the first two films, uses the brilliant dialogue to allow the audience the also reflect on our own lives as we have grown up with the couple.

In the previous films they talked about the future, their ambitions, fears and dreams; now they are at that place and reflect on the time passed. As the third film in a trilogy it makes the previous films even better because of what unfolds here, it is also, as a stand-alone film a fantastic and perceptive portrait of chemistry and magnetism.