the list of 9 for february 8, 2005:
THE NINE MOST ROMANTIC MOVIES I'VE EVER SEEN
Most so-called "love stories" are crap. Sleepless in Seattle? Titanic? Pretty Woman? Ghost?No wonder we're so screwed up, if this sentimental junk is what passes for romance today. Sohere's a little Valentine's treat for you lovebirds - or, perhaps, for you lovelorn - who wantsomething different. If these films have anything in common, it's a tendency towards bittersweetendings. In fact, in some of these films a physical relationship is never even embarked upon. Theimage of two people wanting each other but being unable to say or do anything about it is, to me,far more romantic than any fairy-tale ending could ever be. Though a few of these films dohave upbeat, if truncated, conclusions.
- IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (Wong Kar Wai, 2000). A totalmust-see from Hong Kong's most famous auteur, this sumptuous mood piece about two neighborswho fall in love as they discover that their spouses are having an affair is so sleek, so elegant,and so gorgeous that you'll be convinced all lovers must walk only in slow motion, and in therain.
- THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (James Ivory, 1993). AnthonyHopkins delivers one of his strongest performances as a repressed butler in 1950's England whoseappalling sense of self-discipline keeps him from ever expressing his feelings for maid Emma Thompson.
- BRIEF ENCOUNTER (David Lean, 1945). This oldie from postwar Britian about two marrieds who meet at a train station and fall in love is rendered imperfect only by the woman's ceaseless voiceover (the script was written by Noel Coward). But the feelings are both real and timeless. It also has one of the saddest farewell scenes ever put on film.
- FAR FROM HEAVEN (Todd Haynes, 2002). Haynes mines themelodramatic 50's of Douglas Sirk, but does so with far more grace than Sirk could ever achievewith his hammy "women's pictures." As the would-be lovers whose race keeps them apart, JulianneMoore and Dennis Haysbert are wonderful.
- CHUNGKING EXPRESS (Wong Kar Wai, 1994). Back to Wong wego for more liaisons between good-looking Hong Kongers. Far less tragic than In the Mood forLove, and nearly ruined at one point by a Cantonese cover of The Cranberries' "Dreams", thisfilm nevertheless soars by finding heartbreak and longing in everyday things.
- BUFFALO 66 (Vincent Gallo, 1998). Love him or hate him,the egotistical Gallo manages, within maybe the last two minutes of this funny, beautiful,annoying comedy, to squeeze in one of the sweetest homages to love in American cinema.
- PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002). Equallyfunny, beautiful, and annoying is this underrated oddity by Anderson (whom I usually hate), whocreates at least three or four truly touching scenes between Adam Sandler - yes, really - and the ever-luminous Emily Watson.
- BEFORE SUNRISE (Richard Linklater, 1995.) Who hasn't hador at least dreamed of a Eurail romance? Being young, single and poor, wandering around Europe,coming across a fascinating individual from another country who somehow immediately connects withyou - Before Sunrise feels so real that it will bring out waves of nostalgia in anyonewho's ever had a weekend affair with a foreign stranger, and waves of regret in anyone whohasn't. (The sequel, which came out nine years later, both diffuses and enhances the poignancy ofthis film's rendezvous, and is worth seeing as well.)
- CASABLANCA (1942, Michael Curtiz.) This one's obvious, buthave you seen this film? All the famous quotations aside, Humphrey Bogart puts in thefinest performance of his life as an emotionally torn loner who has to decide between keeping thewoman he loves or saving her - and her husband's - life. When that woman is Ingrid Bergman, youcan see why it's a tough call. Forget the fact that you're supposed to like this film just becauseit's a classic, and enjoy it as if you'd never heard of it before. It's truly a great romance.
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