Richard Linklater, of Slacker and Dazed and Confused, has unmistakably entered the mainstream: a "date movie" (according to Rolling Stone magazine) about a young Frenchwoman and American man who meet on a train, get off in Vienna, and pass one sleepless night together before the man catches a plane back to the States. The filmmaker continues, however, to paddle against the current, to hug the reedy edges of the stream. The thing that sets this romantic comedy a little apart is that the budding lovers really talk to one another. Boy, do they talk! -- in long static dialogues in front of an unfidgety camera. They philosophize, they tell stories, they remark on their surroundings, they're never at a loss for words. It's not much like real talk (for all the sprinklings of "It's weird" and "It's cool" and "It's fantastic" and so on), but it's not much like screen talk either. Linklater talk, simply. You may not be as fascinated in the talkers as they themselves are, especially because one of them is Ethan Hawke, but you can be happy they've got each other. With Julie Delpy. (1995) — Duncan Shepherd