Ry Russo-Young
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Before Sunrise (1995)
Directed by Richard Linklater
influenced The Sun Is Also a Star (2019)
Dialogue Plot Themes
And although the continuing emphasis on coincidences and fate remains rather silly from start to finish, The Sun Is Also a Star benefits substantially from the almost absurdly charismatic work of its stars and the palpable chemistry between their respective characters (ie the film, when all is said and done, is at its best when focused on Natasha and Daniel’s easygoing, Before Sunrise -like conversations).
Quicker than you can say Before Sunrise , the two of them spend most of the next 24 hours strolling around New York, swapping worldviews, and Natasha is generally very good at somewhat hiding the fact that she hopes Daniel will win their bet.
If Richard Linklater made a junior version of “Before Sunrise,” it might look like “The Sun Is Also a Star,” in which two teens meet and have only one day in which to fall in love before they go their separate ways.
It might seem glib to look at this movie, in which two strangers meet by happenstance and fall in love while spending the day together in a big city, as Before Sunrise for the YA set.
With tinges of both 1995's "Before Sunrise" and 2001's "…
This set-up is awfully similar to Richard Linklater's classic Before Sunrise .
Harold Ramis certainly didn’t invent it, but his Groundhog Day made the narrative loop device a mainstream mainstay, lovingly aped in everything from Source Code to Edge of Tomorrow to 50 First Dates.
It might seem that Before I Fall is simply Groundhog Day for the High School set, but that’s giving it far too much credit.
While it sounds a lot like Groundhog Day meets Mean Girls, Before I Fall follows more in the footsteps of other recent destiny-obsessed young-adult novels-turned-movies such as If I Stay and Beautiful Creatures .
The story of a popular high school senior (Zoey Deutch, from Dirty Grandpa ) caught in a time loop that forces her to relive a crucial day in her life over and over, this neatly written Heathers- meets- Groundhog Day high-concept package delivers both technical polish and a toothsome yet likeable cast.
Like “Groundhog Day” for audiences too young to get the reference, “Before I Fall” suggests that the decisions we make really matter, though it’s not at all clear about why Sam Kingston (“Vampire Academy” star Zoey Deutch) is caught in an infinite loop, or what she needs to do to break it.
Slowly, though, this story of a popular high school senior who finds herself trapped in a Groundhog Day-like time loop begins to establish a more profound emotional plangency and thematic weight.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
Directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui
influenced Before I Fall (2017)
Visuals
Shot in elegant widescreen and set to a soundtrack of empowerment ballads, “Before I Fall” forgoes the overlit Disney Channel look, embracing a cooler, steely-blue aesthetic that’s more in line with such bygone cult faves as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Veronica Mars” — plus, it unfolds in that post-Judy Blume space where it’s OK to broach such touchy issues as teen suicide and contraception.
The striking ideas of this movie are used for something that wants to mix the emotional immediacy of “ The Fault in Our Stars ” with a familiar type of rag-tag group crowd-pleasing.
Based on Lauren Oliver’s 2010 novel, the movie could fit in a triple feature with recent Young Adult (YA) dramas “The Fault In Our Stars” and “Paper Towns.”