Saw a couple worthy additions to this tired yet never waning genre: My Summer of Love and Thumbsucker. Both are definitely worth the effort. My Summer of Love hovers somewhere between the work of Ken Loach and Eric Rohmer–an atmospheric love story suffused with dejection and desire about two adolescent girls whose sexual relationship is shaped by class division. Thumbsucker is that rare bird–a funny yet poignant, American coming-of-age film that actually feels deftly original (I didn’t read Kirn’s novel). Strong performances (in particular, Tilda Swinton, Lou Pucci and Kelli Garner) and a serio-comic script that captures the awkwardness of adolescence while also showing great respect for those adults (teachers, parents, dentists) whose commitment to working with young people often leave them confused and floundering in that liminal space between these two worlds (Vincent D’Onofrio and Vince Vaughn should not go unnoticed). I did not imagine I would like this film as much as I did.

Just saw ‘Serenity’ with the kids. Too gory for my eight year-old, but otherwise a good old-fashioned adventure movie. Part Star Trek, part Indiana Jones, part Matrix and lots of Buffy. Witty, great special effects, and even a plot, though the “secret” is a bit of a letdown. Still, to see Summer Glau in the Buffy role, whirling and slicing in her two fight scenes, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as the polite but deadly assassin is a lot of fun.

I was watching ‘Alien vs Predator’ on HBO last night (disappointing: neither as frightening and clever as the Alien movies nor as funny and explosive as the Predator movies).

In any case, right after ‘AVP’ HBO showed ‘Before Sunset’ and I kept watching. This must be the third time I’ve seen it in the space of a year, and each time I’m enthralled. The quality of the dialogue between Hawke and Delpy is remarkable. Even the mis-steps somehow seem to work, to make it more realistic. When Delpy is lecturing Hawke on all that’s wrong with the world, it shows her lack of confidence yet that she and Hawke will connect as they did before in Vienna. When she uses American colloquialisms she should not know, even having lived in NY, it shows her relaxing around Hawke. And the manner in which the conversation evolves, from the trivial and the humorous, to the heartbreaking revelations they both make about their current relationships near the end, just seems utterly natural. It is also interesting to see Linklater and Hawke give the bulk of the dialogue to Delpy. Hawke plays off her superbly, but it is Delphy who has most of the crucial moments.

The simplicity of the camera work as it just backs away from the couple as they walk around Paris lends just enough structure to the movie without detracting at all from the dialogue. Hawke’s repeated movement to touch Delpy on the shoulder before resisting, and countless tiny gestures, capture the mixture of tentativeness and familiarity. I very much liked ‘Before Sunrise’ and in a lot of ways it is a better movie. But it is easier to craft a movie around discovery, and the first moments of a new relationship, than rediscovery, and the rekindling of an old relationship.