Summer of Inspiration: Artist Date Week 1

This summer, I'm committing to taking my inner artist on a date in the hopes of inspiring, exploring, and creating. Being intentional has been at the front of my mind a lot this year because I don't want life to pass me by. I want to remember the big moments as much as the small ones. During my artist dates, I want to be fully present in the experience and savor the moment.

I was so excited when I saw that the IFC Center was showing the Before trilogy by Richard Linklater throughout June.

When I first watched this film, I was 18 and didn't know what it meant to be in love. It felt fitting to rewatch Before Sunrise in a city where I fell in love and recently got married.

In Before Sunrise, Celine and Jesse meet on a train, where they engage in a deep conversation all the way to Jesse's stop. Before getting off the train, he convinces her to spend the day with him in Vienna until his flight at 9:30 a.m. the next morning. They spend their time together exploring parts of Vienna as they slowly fall in love with each passing minute.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I felt the same butterflies I did when I was 18.

The way Jesse almost tucks Celine's hair while she's talking on the tram. The way he looks at her when she isn't looking while they listen to a vinyl at a record store. The way Celine notices his glances. The way they can speak so freely to one another, sharing personal anecdotes and philosophies on life.

This film captures the thrill of falling in love when you're young and the world is yours for the taking.

Love in your 20s is fun, exciting, and full of hope. It's a little reckless and naive, but the risk feels worth it. You lead with your heart instead of your head, which can open up possibilities you would never have expected.

The chemistry between Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke is palpable, unlike any rom-com I've seen, to be honest. Upon rewatching, I can't help but notice how natural they are with one another. It's rare to see that in films nowadays, when so many actors barely seem to vibe with one another. I also love how dialogue-driven Before Sunrise is. Perhaps this is a product of the time, set in the 90s, they didn't have their phones to distract them or to use as a buffer. Their introduction to one another is through revealing the covers of their books, which was endearing. They spend their entire time together talking about past relationships, grief, their passions, and religion. There was no small talk, they delved deep into the essence of themselves.

Why this film has remained on my Letterboxd Top 4 is because it captures a universal truth and human essence that is timeless. No matter what life stage you're in, you'll take away something from it. You'll feel something in your innermost self that may not be describable, but you can acknowledge it when you see it.

If you have never watched this trilogy before, you're in for a treat.

I do recommend watching the trilogy in its entirety because it's set and filmed in nine-year intervals, which is such a huge undertaking by Linklater, much like his other film, Boyhood. We bear witness to the different life stages of Celine and Jesse, thus I'm curious to see how I feel about the latter two films as I'm older than I was when I first watched them, and hopefully, wiser.

An aspect I truly enjoy about artist dates is that you have to go at it alone. There are two things I love to do solo: going to the cinema and visiting museums.

Being able to take my time and linger if I want to, that's what drives me to do these things solo. The freedom to explore at my own pace with no distractions or obligation to accommodate someone else's time or thoughts. It's a privilege to be able to do these things alone. Watching Before Sunrise solo also gave me time to ponder and digest.

After feeling all my feels, I realized that I would be so lucky to achieve even a fraction of what this trilogy was able to capture.

As a writer, all I want to do is capture a universal truth that allows us to reflect on ourselves and our existence, essentially our time here on earth. It's so easy to get bogged down by the irrelevant things in life and forget the bigger picture. This is by design, so it's not a problem to be faulted individually.

Works of art like this are so crucial to remind us that there's more to life than shopping the latest trends, being upset over not getting the concert tickets I waited in line for, or having to walk 20+ minutes to the PATH station. We are always looking to optimize our lives through technology, but what are we using the additional time for? This was also a thought that they explored in the film, which speaks to the timelessness of it.

I would like to use my free time to create more. By writing this blog, I hope to retrain my creative writing muscles to eventually create the art I want to see more of in this world.

This week's artist date took me down memory lane, and I'm grateful for it.