5. Before Midnight (2013)

Once a decade movie goers are gifted with the nexts chapter in one of cinema’s greatest and most compelling film series. The 2010’s were no different when Before Midnight was released in 2013. It’s always exciting catch up with these characters and see where they are in their lives every nine years. In Before Sunrise Director Richard Linklater introduced us to two young, hopeful, and idealistic young people who meet and fall in love on a train but only are able to spend one night together. The sequel shows them again meeting nine years later and the effect that the events of the first film had on them, but once again forcing them to beat the clock before Jesse again has to leave . Now in Before Midnight we meet Jesse and Celine in Greece, close to two decades have past since they met on the train to Vienna and they have a family together. The set-up is no longer chance encounters with the characters racing against a clock and instead the two of them battling the complexities and mundaneness of everyday life. It’s a brilliant look into the evolution of a relationship and the growth of two people. Linklater has time’s march forward and the affect that it has on people. His film Boyhood was filmed over the course of 12 years, the Before Sunrise trilogy sees a new entry every nine years, and he’s going to again be tackling another decade+ long shoot with his adaption of Merrily, We Roll Along. Before Midnight may not be as optimistic as it’s previous two films, but it’s just as brilliant and grounded. It’s another terrific entry into the series and an utterly beautiful film.