Before sunrise

This romantic comedy, set in Vienna, is essentially a two-hander with a simple but effective set-up. Jesse (Ethan Hawke) is an American tourist who, travelling on the Budapest to Vienna train, meets French grad student, Celine. When Jesse reveals he plans to roam Vienna, awaiting his morning flight back to the US, Celine spontaneously decides to spend the night with him walking and talking, discovering the city and each other. Linklater’s romantic comedy works exceptionally well - his camera sits intimately and comfortably with his protagonists as they converse about family, ambition, death, life, love and sex. The deft and funny script explores the possibilities of two people forming an attraction over the course of a fortuitous day, without stooping to typical rom-com tropes that tend to mar the genre. Linklater (Dazed and confused, Slacker, SubUrbia, Waking life, Tape), who for a time specialised in films that addressed the concerns of Generation X, presents a brief encounter that is talky, urbane, wistful, understated, reflective, poignant and romantic.