Romantic films that we can watch over and over again

Love and sadness on film is the shortest description of the denominator of these films. The longer denominator would be – films that deal with the two emotions that make people human.

Last year produced great films, films that caused controversy, films that broke records at the box office, films that started trends in fashion, popular culture, etc.
Also, in the last year, several films were shown that are in a completely different world from the one inhabited by “Oppenheimer”, “Barbie”, “Killers of the Flower Moon” and other big films that occupied the box office and media space. Last year was also the year of “love and sadness on film”; so here are a few romantic movies that will make you reach for the tissues. Although it sounds a bit corny, yes, it really is.

All of Us Strangers

I first watched “All of Us Strangers” because in the mid-2000s I read an excellent English translation of the novel “Strangers” by the Japanese author Taichi Yamada. The reason I read it is that I accidentally came across an information that, at the end of the 80s, the Japanese original won the Yamamoto Shūgorō award for the best so-called. human-interest novel. “Human-interest” was a term that at the beginning of the twentieth century also characterized a branch of journalism that we could characterize as manipulative, sensationalist, “yellow” journalism. Don’t worry, the award this novel won does not reward such stories.

The novel was a hit and a year or two after its release, the movie “The Discarnates” was shot, directed by Obayashi Nobuhiko. So this story has significance, history, great interest, and I was immediately drawn to it when I saw that Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott will star in the new film. After watching it, I can only point out that it is a deeply personal portrait of newfound love and a traumatic past, and if you like watching an emotional masterpiece, this is the movie you need to see.

Past Lives

The next film on the “watch” list is “Past Lives”. The film is an American romantic drama written and directed by Celine Song. That’s how they describe it, as a romantic drama. I would also add an emotionally devastating drama. Starring Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro. The film follows two childhood friends over the course of twenty-four years as they ponder the nature of their relationship as they drift apart, living different lives. After watching it, I couldn’t believe that this was the director’s feature film debut. Because the movie left me in a flood of emotions. I felt as if I survived five years of emotions in one hour and forty minutes. The emotional ending also reminded me of “In the Mood for Love” by Wong Kar-wai. I looked at him through tears; Tony Leung cried on the screen, I cried in front of the screen, we all (inevitably) cried.

Red, White & Royal Blue

The film “Red, White & Royal Blue” is based on the bestseller of the same name by Casey McQuiston. The book and the film bring an absolutely incredible story about the son of the American president who falls in love with the Prince of Wales. Yes, you read that right. At first I was skeptical, I thought it was a bad kiss (the book and the movie), then I was curious (the movie stars Stephen Fry and Uma Thurman), in the end, after watching it, I was satisfied. The film is not a masterpiece, but it is good fun. And it deals with a topic that really few people would think of.

Shortcomings

“Shortcomings” is a fun film directed by Randall Park. And it is his first feature film. On this list, the average of debutants is quite high. The themes of love and grief seem to be a pretty good choice for a film debut. This was also decided by Park, a successful actor, and made a film based on the novel by Adrian Tomine, who is also responsible for the screenplay. The choice of the topic was a complete hit for him, because he managed it like a “fish in water”. Although it is a romantic drama, unlike many, this one ends much more honestly and truthfully than the vast majority of romantic dramas, and that’s why it deserves to be watched.

Afira

After the very good movie “Undine”, which I watched “on demand” in 2020. at the Zagreb Film Festival, the next film by director Christian Petzold was immediately on my list of films to watch. “Afire” is his next film and I would dare to say that it is even better than the previous one. We follow the young writer Leon, who plans to spend a quiet working summer with his friend Felix in a cottage on the Baltic Sea. From the very beginning, nothing goes according to plan. On the way, their car breaks down, and when they finally arrive, they meet an unexpected guest, the enigmatic Nadja. The duo soon turns into a trio, and then a quartet, which Leon doesn’t like at all. Fires break out in the area and the four of them remain trapped in a Baltic idyll with tense, turbulent and explosive emotions. This slow-burning(!) German drama alternates between sexual tension and outbursts of rage, the two extremes of the spectrum of love and grief. The film won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale, deservedly so.

Fallen Leaves

Aki Kaurismäki’s twentieth film, “Fallen Leaves”, premiered at last year’s Cannes, where it won the jury prize. Aki Kaurismäki came closest to the romantic drama genre with this film. The film tells the story of a woman and a man, lost individuals, in search of love, who accidentally meet in a karaoke bar. The film’s retro color palette seems to indicate emotional states, and even though it’s a story set in present-day Helsinki, I felt like I was watching Helsinki in the mid-twentieth century. But let’s get to know the characters; Ansa worked in a supermarket, but lost her job because she took a package of cheese that had expired. Holappa is a manual laborer who loses his job because of drinking. Their chance encounter at a karaoke bar leads to a kind of tentative courtship. They share very few words, but the silence is palpable, filled with longing. As in Kaurismäki’s other films, happiness and satisfaction are hard to come by, but this film brings an ending that awakens hope in a strange, somewhat twistedly charming way.

Passages

“Passages” is a French drama written and directed by Ira Sachs, starring Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw and Adèle Exarchopoulos. I admit I watched the movie because of Ben Whishaw, but the story is what intrigued me equally. Namely, it is about a love triangle consisting of two gay men and a straight woman. A young filmmaker cheats on his husband with a woman, and after a series of events and their decisions that follow, I realized that I was watching sadness and pain wrapped up in one fascinating adventure. In the sea of ​​comments on the (some) controversial sex scene in the movie, someone wrote on the Internet that the sex here is actually the plot. I would agree. And she added that this is precisely why the film is not romantic, at least not in the classical, traditional sense of the word. Ira Sachs after the disappointing film “Frankie” with Isabelle Huppert from 2021. made a very good film.