Before Midnight

Director Richard Linklater returns to the story he began with 1995's Before Sunrise and continued in 2004's Before Sunset. Another nine years, and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) have 7-year-old twin daughters. In the first movie, the two walked around Vienna talking; in the second, Paris; now, Crete, Greece. As before, their conversation is uneventful but fascinating; they're both intelligent and interesting, and we hang on every word, even as nothing really “happens.” (Well, not nothing, exactly: A crisis brews, but somehow, we sense it'll pass.) It's amazing to think Linklater, Hawke and Delpy (who all co-wrote the script) have sustained this talk-fest for three whole movies, but it's true, and the pleasure of their company is as keen as ever. We can hardly wait nine years to see them again.