More "Before"

So we watched "Before Sunset" again last night ... what an incredibile, incredible film. So simple and straightforward, yet filled with a depth and honesty most films trying to be "romantic" lack.

Of course, anyone who knows anything about my personal history -- and has seen both "Before Sunrise" and "Sunset" --- knows both films hit waaaay too close to home for me. That fact is also a bit annoying for me in a professional way.

After my brief reunion with Genevieve in Chicago back in 1999, I considered writing a two-person stage play about the day (or a screenplay ... though the material seemed more suited to the theater). Now, of course, any effort to the effect would immediately be pegged to Linklater's films.

In fact, this is the 2nd time that prolific bastard has scuttled one of my ideas. Since college I had been mulling over doing a story on the group of stoner friends at Derry Street I spent much of my adolescence with playing games and beating each other up. It would have been set during one of our marathon All-Night D&D sessions in the late '70s and involved this cast of characters cascading through the neighborhood

I ditch any idea of it after seeing "Dazed & Confused."

Damn you Richard Linklater! Damn you and your brilliant dialog and insightful scripts and relentless work ethic! All I want to know is -- when is your next movie coming out?