"Before Sunset" Warner Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Sandrew Metronome - Region 2

(aka "Before Sunrise 2" or "If Not Now" or "Untitled Before Sunrise Sequel")

directed by Richard Linklater
USA 2004

Richard Linklater’s gorgeous follow up to his equally brilliant 1995 film Before Sunrise, finds us catching up with the characters nine years later. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy play Jesse and Celine, two free spirits who met and possibly fell in love in Vienna nine years earlier, and planned a youthfully romantic follow-up love tryst, doomed to failure. Fate reunites the two as the film unfolds in real time, taking the form of an 80-minute walk around Paris. The dialogue, written by the two principle leads and based on a scenario by Linklater and co-writer Kim Krizan, perfectly captures the starts and stops, uneasy transitions and circumlocutions of real life conversation. Comparisons to Eric Rohmer are inevitable, however given Linklater’s previous output and experiments with cinematic time, it’s clear that he is an original. This is a carefully calculated, subtly executed piece of filmmaking. The camera fluidly tracks these two vibrant souls, keeping its distance, often framing in medium to long shot, trusting in the dialogue and the audiences ability to listen to what these people are saying. The result, an unforgettable and strikingly rich experience that’s likely to prove inspirational to the lost love in anyone’s heart. This is easily the best American film of the year and possibly the most romantic ever made. Julie Delpy contributed to the lovely soundtrack.

Adam Lemke

Posters

Theatrical Release: February 10, 2004 (Berlin International Film Festival)

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DVD Comparison:

Warner Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Sandrew Metronome - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Gary Tooze and Henrik Sylow for the Screen Caps!

(Warner Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Sandrew Metronome - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
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Distribution	Warner Home Video Region 1 - NTSC	Sandrew Metronome Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	1:20:12	1:17:00 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.80 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.70 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Warner Home Video
Bitrate: Sandrew Metronome
Audio	5.1 Dolby Digital English, 5.1 Dolby Digital French	5.1 Dolby Digital English
Subtitles	English, French, Spanish, None	English, Danish, Greek, Dutch, Arabic, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1 Edition Details: • On the Set of 'Before Sunset' 4:3 widescreen (9:40) • Theatrical Trailer DVD Release Date: November 9th, 2004 Keep case Chapters 16	Release Information: Studio: Sandrew Metronome Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1 Edition Details: • On the Set of 'Before Sunset' 4:3 widescreen (9:50) • Theatrical Trailer DVD Release Date: January 24, 2005 Keep Case Chapters 16

Comments

On the Region 1- A softer palette than "Before Sunrise", and skin tones look a little red to me. Sharpness is there, decent contrast levels, no significant edge enhancement. Again the DVD image is dark and I expect it is a Linklater touch. It's nice that an extra of the short featurette is included. A Commentary would have been better and probably appropriate for it being a sequel with the same cast. Good 16X9 subtitles and fine dialogue-heavy untested 5.1 track(s). Funny note the DVD (maybe mine is Canadian) says 'Quebec DUB' for the French track. I suppose Quebecois were getting miffed at the Parisian style dubs on R1 disc and complained.

Gary Tooze

Released by Sandrew Metronome for Warner, this is a direct port. While the image basically is identical, the R1 has marginally more detail (watch forehead in capture #3).

Henrik Sylow

DVD Menus

(Warner Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Sandrew Metronome - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

Screen Captures

(Warner Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Sandrew Metronome - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
subtitle sample (English only) - captures resized to 700px width from 1016px original