Valentine's Day, or for many of us, Singles Awareness Day (S.A.D) is upon us. There are so many movies that perfectly reflect cinematic love. We all know that one movie that made us believe in love in the purest form. For example:
There are so many movies that focus on this form of sweet and carefree romance. It won't be hard to find such a movie for your significant other. Therefore, I do not need to write any recommendations. Being the cynical film writer I am, I wanted to focus on films that focus on messy, toxic, and problematic love. This article is meant to remind us singles that we should be grateful for our perpetual state of solitude. Here are my recommendations for the movies to kill your pheromones this V-Day.
1. Gone With the Wind (1939)
Starting this list off this list right with a 4-hour Civil War epic is brilliant. There has never been a fictional heroine played on the screen as perfectly as Vivien Leigh plays Scarlett O'Hara. Leigh captures the brash, determined, and foolish nature of O'Hara perfectly. Scarlett roams from suitor to suitor, all to impress her first love, the married man Ashley Wilkes. Even when she has love thrust into her face, she cannot seems to grasp what that truly means for her. If you ever dated that one person that cheated on you multiple times, enjoy this film as a just dessert for those partners who never knew what they wanted until it got away.
2. Casablanca (1942)
It is my humble opinion that Casablanca is the greatest feature film to ever be produced. The film covers every genre, there are laughs, suspense, and action throughout this masterful film. However, what really drives the film is the performance of Humphrey Bogart as the drunken cafe owner Rick Blaine. Rick owns a cafe in Casablanca during the war. He runs the bar and his life with an incredibly bitter attitude. That is until the former love his life, Isla Lund, (Ingrid Bergman) enters his cafe one night. The story is filled with love, betrayal and a sense that even if someone is meant for you, they may still have to get away.
3. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
Jacques Demy's vibrant French musical is one for the ages. Following a young couple, as they try and find their place in the world, this film is devastating behind the music of Michel Legrand, who just passed away this year. The film had me weeping by the end, which is a vast difference from most American musicals Serving as the inspiration for La La Land, it is easy to see why The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is one of the most important love stories of all time.
4. Love Story (1970)
Sure the millennial generation has The Notebook, but Love Story was the great romance film of the Baby Boomer era. Following a very Shakespearean plotline, two people from different backgrounds fall in love, only to find their differences cause great tension in their relationship. Between the sappy lines and discolored cinematography is a truly great film. Love Story continues to be timeless, even after creating the worst line of dialogue in cinematic history.
(Oh Brother!)
5. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Seemingly caught in a never-ending web of controversy and below average contemporary projects, it might be hard for this generation to believe Woody Allen was a truly great filmmaker. No auteur has ever had a run like Allen in did in the late 70s to the late 80s. In the midst of this great era is one of his most forgotten, yet amazing films. The Purple Rose of Cairo follows Cecilia, (Mia Farrow) who is a great lover of movies. She uses movies to escape her abusive husband and the Great Depression. One of the characters from her favorite movie (Jeff Daniels) comes off the screen to join her, with hilarious consequences. Allen has said in recent years that he has always second-guessed the nature of the ending, but I assure you it is perfectly gut-wrenching in his homage to cinema.
6. Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Those of us who have ever loved an addict know there is no greater pain than to watch them suffer while accepting our own powerlessness. Leaving Las Vegas follows alcoholic screenwriter Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage) as he attempts to drink himself to death after losing everything. Along for his bender is prostitute Sera, (Elisabeth Shue) who tries to convince him life is worth living after falling in love with him. The film won Nicolas Cage an Oscar for Best Actor. that sentence may not have made sense to a lot of people, so let me reiterate that. Nicolas Cage does, in fact, have an Oscar. The film understands the plight of the addict, and those who love them tirelessly.
7. Closer (2004)
Closer is one of those movies that really gets to the sleazy, repulsive side of romance. Cheating, backstabbing, and betrayal are at the heart of this painful drama. The film stars Clive Owen, Natalie Portman, Jude Law, and Julia Roberts as four connected individuals who show the worst sides of themselves to each other. Under the direction of cinema legend Mike Nichols, Closer will make you ever want to date again. Even if you don't want to watch for the plot, Natalie Portman fulfills that Lazytown fantasy you never knew you had until now.
8. 500 Days of Summer (2009)
500 Days of Summer is a film I have seen a couple of times. Every time, my opinion on which side of the couple is right changes drastically. On some viewings, I find Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt) to be overbearing and controlling to which Summer (Zooey Deschanel) responds appropriately. On other viewings, I find Summer's nonchalant way of ruining Tom's to be utterly repulsive. To make such a deep film on so many levels requires as master director, which Marc Webb is not. He proves this with his failed Amazing Spider-Man movies that lost Sony the rights to the live action series FOREVER! However, Webb does his a home run on this bittersweet tale of love and loss.
9. Up in the Air (2009)
George Clooney gives one of the most poignant performances of his career as Ryan Bingham in Up in the Air. Bingham is a character who flies around the country alone firing people for a living. Just when Bingham truly starts to understand what intimacy with other humans means, that sense is ripped from underneath him. The film takes the viewer through a great period of turbulence and it is never clear if it will end.
10. Blue Valentine (2010)
Blue Valentine is probably one of the most ironically titled movies ever made. The story has moments where the romance is absolute bliss. In contrast, most of the film is just a gutless reminder of pain in a real relationship. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams play a couple trying to make their relationship work over two very different periods in their lives. The film understands what it is like to be in a relationship that has those sparingly few good moments that make it seem worthwhile. My friends and I used to watch this movie in college to literally make ourselves as miserable as we could be on Valentine's Day. After all, I've always been an emotional masochist.
11. Blue is the Warmest Color (2013)
Making a completely heteronormative list would be completely irresponsible for me as a movie critic. Winner of the Palme d'Or in 2013 at the Cannes Film Festival, Blue is the Warmest Color is a truly epic masterpiece of a film. The movie follows a young, French, lesbian couple as they work with their individual issues in a passionate relationship. The film is rated NC-17 for its nearly pornographic depictions of intimacy. The film is a tedious sitting but it is all the worthwhile to those who are patient. If you have ever been in that one relationship this is painful but never boring, this is the movie for you on this day.
12. Her (2013)
Leave it to director Spike Jonze to create one of the most brilliant movies about love made about about a man who is in love with his...computer? Theodore Twombley (Joaquin Phoenix) is a completely isolative individual searching the modern world for some form of human contact. It isn't till he meets Samantha, (Scarlett Johannson) a Siri-like operating system that he feels comfortable opening up. Jonze uses his screenwriting debut to portray an uncomfortable yet necessary love story that is an easily relatable viewing for people of all types.
13. Gone Girl (2014)
I could have easily put Fatal Attraction (1987) on this list, but instead filled the psycho-bitch movie quota with Gone Girl. Gone Girl follows a husband (Ben Affleck) whose famed wife (Rosamund Pike) goes missing. As the story unfolds, it is made very clear that both sides of this couple have their foul misgivings in one of the most toxic on-screen relationships in the history of film. Many were critical of director David Fincher for taking a seemingly misogynistic reimagining of Gillian Flynn's acclaimed novel. What I found is a true character study on how relationships are pure evil. This movie will never make you want to be in a relationship again. Seriously. Some of us (cough...cough...Greg) need a reminder to stop dating psychotic people.
14. La La Land (2016)
This is probably the movie with the most brimming optimism that will appear on this list. The brilliant musical from director Damien Chazelle follows a young couple as they both try to navigate their individual paths to stardom in Los Angeles. The film begs the question of, "How much do we need to sacrifice for our passions?" Using movies like Singin in the Rain and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg as influences, Chazelle's musical has the oxymoronic combination of classicism and modernity as he tackles the musical. Fueled with pessimism, but glued with tragedy, La La Land is the perfect viewing for Valentine's Day.
15. Cold War (2018)
Single people, I hope you enjoy this list as a reminder to never pursue your romantic passions or dreams ever again. For those of you in relationships, go watch these movies, then see how you feel about your significant other. This Scrooge says, "Bah Humbug!" to Valentine's Day.
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