Before Sunrise (1995) — Riley Cross Reviews

About The Night

You’re in sweatpants, the pizza box is empty, and you have no intention of leaving your house for anything other than the bathroom. Look, we all know those nights. The ones where the internet is slow and you just want a movie that feels like a real conversation you’re having with a glass of wine.

I remember when this movie dropped. We never put *Before Sunrise* in the "New Releases" front aisle because the neon banners were always fighting over Hans Zimmer and *Independence Day*, but if you asked the guys in the back office, half of them would have grabbed a copy to put on the "B-Film" shelf.

This is the ultimate "chick flick" for people who hate chick flicks, but don't tell anyone I said that. A young Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy meet on a train and decide to spend one night in Vienna before he flies back to the States. That’s it. They walk around the city, they get coffee, they argue about whether love is a biological imperative or a spiritual one. It’s sexy, it’s funny, and my favorite part is that they actually talk without awkward pauses. Like when Jesse asks Céline that question on the Ferris wheel—you know the one—without giving away that they just became fast friends.

If you’re in the mood for something low-stakes but high-emotion, this is it. It’s perfect for a rainy Sunday when you want to feel smarter than you are, but also just want to be swept up in the idea of connection. You’ll watch this with the lights off and the windows open, pretending you can hear the subway.