In the magazine, I did find this article that I thought was sort of interesting: Cinema Aprodiso, a list of 25 romantic English language films from the thirties until now. I've decided that I have to view through this list, though many I've already seen:
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| Vanity Fair August 2013 |
The Age of Innocence: this movie is more beautiful every time that I see it. The sets are lush and decadent, and I would argue that anything Daniel Day Lewis acts in is something to see. It is so hard to take your eyes off of him in a picture. And when he unbuttons Countess Olenska's (Michelle Pfeiffer) glove to kiss her wrist ... swoon. Martin Scorsese did indeed make a wonderfully romantic movie.
Before Sunrise/Before Sunset/Before Midnight: I have been a fan of these movies starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphie for years, though I haven't seen Before Midnight, the third movie in the continuation of the documented lives of Celine and Jesse. I resisting the first movie, but when I read a review of the second, I realized that I might be missing out on something. And I was. They are 'talky' movies. And they are intimate. And seem so real. In the second film, when Celine and Jesse have run into each other after nine years, she invites him in for a cup of tea and seductively says to him as she dances to Ertha Kitt playing on the record player: you are going to miss your plane. I would say the same thing.
Brokeback Mountain: this movie broke my heart. It, the movie, is because so many have hate in their heart. What is more romantic than crossing the line and breaking through prejudice. Sadly for Jack, he took the hit. How Ennis will live with it is beyond me.
The English Patient: I saw this first in theaters on a big screen, and that was the way to see this sublimely visual story that is in fact one of the most romantic movies that I have ever seen. It is tortured, passionate, painful, and worth crossing a desert to find. This film is as much about the ravages of war as it is love, but a war from the past for some is a romantic notion as it is the end of what has become the good old days. And those never stay forever in real time, but are rose colored settled in the past.
Ghost: Really? Patrick Swayze, for me, is such, as a good friend of mine would say, a cheeseball. And I can't take him seriously. Or Demi Moore for that matter.
Love Affair/ An Affair to Remember: Here's another film(s) that I've seen, but haven't registered. Of course the contemporary remake in my estimation is Sleepless in Seattle with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. It's a cute enough movie. It's a blend of the aforementioned long ago films along with the other films that Nora Ephron wrote like You've Got Mail and When Harry Met Sally. All romantic-ish.
Love Story: ah, just watched this film again in February. I may have even watched it on Valentine's Day. Boy oh boy was Ryan O'Neal good lookin'. I remember watching a movie when I was a kid called Sunshine. The song for the movie, naturally, was John Denver's song of the same name. It starred Cliff de Young who was also real good lookin'. Essentially, it is the same story. Couple meet, fall in love, wife discovers that she has terminal cancer, she dies, he's sad. Pick your setting: preppy northeast or hippy west coast. Ali McGraw ... I don't get it. She was sort of stiff, and I didn't see any chemistry between she and O'Neal. I'll go with John Denver as it's a lovely song that is played with the credits.
The Way We Were: Hello gorgeous. Now this is a romantic movie. I will give you that I am prejudiced as Barbra Streisand is someone that I absolutely adore. And Robert Redford? oooff. What any-girl doesn't secretly want to be with the big man on campus? The beauty of it is that the characters love each other in spite of their differences. Of course the same is what drives them apart, but not until they've found each other for a time. I never tire of watching this movie of Hubbel and Kkkk-Katie.
I had this idea that I would write through all of movies that is on their list. And I've Netflix'd those that I haven't (interestingly, the first two arrived and I had seen them already). But their list is ... well, theirs. Too few of the movies on the list I would even call romantic at all. I suppose to each his own, and perhaps what I should do is write about the list that I would make. I will save that for another time though as a red envelope came in the mail, and I have a movie to watch.
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