Ah Valentine's Day. Known to many as a capitalist construct invented to facilitate the whims of blind consumerism, it's also a time to celebrate every form of love. Love has been showcased in a lot of films and, this Valentine's Day, I want to recommend five movies I love that are about love and that you might love too.
So here goes, 5 romantic movies that you need to watch at some point in your life so why not do it snuggled on your sofa/bed this February 14th?
1 - About Time
It wouldn't be Valentine's Day without Richard Curtis. He can easily be associated with being the master of illustrating love on the big screen. Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually, Bridget Jones, Notting Hill and so many more classic British rom-coms are all of his doing. But for my first pick I've gone for his 2013 film - About Time.
It stars Rachel McAdams, Domnhall Gleeson, Bill Nighy and Margot Robbie and follows Tim Lake as he pursues his lifelong romantic interest... using biologically hereditary time travel. It's funny, feel-good, high concept romance with emotion at its heart with a solid cast all round. It's bloody great. Watch it.
About Time is available on Netflix right now
2 - Call Me By Your Name
Luca Guadagnino's 2017 coming-of-age romance between two young men holidaying in Northern Italy is an intimate and honest portrayal of a fleeting love that completely changes these two central characters forever.
Timothée Chalamet plays 17-year-old Elio Perlman, the son of an archaeology professor who falls for Armie Hammer's Oliver, a 24-year-old assistant to Elio's father. It's a deeply dramatic exploration of sexuality under the warmth of Italy's nostalgic Summer sun. It's also, undoubtedly, one of the greatest romance films of the 21st Century with a penultimate scene that's definitely worth sticking around for.
Call Me By Your Name is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video for £1.99
3 - Titanic
Here's one for those amongst us who want to see the epic, sweeping ups and downs of a good old fashioned romance and those who hate everything about Valentine's Day. Titanic is the best of both worlds, a classic love story and a horrifying disaster movie packed into an ample three and a half hour run time.
For those who don't know, Titanic stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as Jack and Rose in a lower-class-boy meets upper-class-girl kind of love story. They also happen to fall madly in love aboard one of the most infamous disasters known to man - the sinking of the Titanic.
It's romance on a large scale, an emotional rollercoaster and an ending that goes down as perhaps one of the most controversial in movie history. Could they both have fit? Perhaps.
Titanic is available on Sky Cinema now
4 - Wall-E
Wall-E is hands down right up there as one of the best Pixar movies ever made. Why? Because it makes you care so much about two little robots falling in love and they can barely string a sentence together between the two of them. It's important to remember that even robots can find love.
Yes, the obvious springs to mind. It's a fantastic, family friendly love story about a lonely robot that finds love. But not only that, Wall-E serves as a fresh reminder of what could happen if we stop loving our very own planet Earth. It's a good movie because the characters are so pure and likeable. The robots care more about the planet than any of the humans do and for that they deserve to be together.
Wall-E is currently available on Disney+
5 - La La Land
My final pick is a must-see film from one of the best filmmakers working today - Damien Chazelle. He proves that with La La Land, his Academy Award winning musical about Mia and Sebastian, two people living in a nostalgic Los Angeles drawn together by their desire to chase dreams.
Being a musical helps in its quest to get you feeling real emotions. You'll closely join them on their magical love story that explores all the glitz and glam of classic Hollywood, Chazelle's unadulterated love of jazz and an ending that may very well reduce you to tears. It's beautiful filmmaking that effortlessly portrays true love but it's also just really good fun.
There's so much purity in it all and La La Land will be a great watch on Valentine's Day no matter who you're with.
La La Land is available to stream on Netflix now
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