Film Recommendations for a Day of Romance
Crash (1996)
David Cronenberg’s Crash, which is based on J.G. Ballard’s novel, Crash. This is fun for all. 30-something and femme-y James Spader exploring dark sex play while attempting to satisfy his wife in bed finds an unexpected turn-on in literal car crashes. Crash victim, Holly Hunter means business as she delivers mournful monologues in leather gloves with 90’s newscaster hair. The fetish grows to unrecognizable heights as crash-test dummy videos become porn, and eventually, Rosanna Arquette shows up in leg braces. You can’t look away from the sexual tension between her leg-braces and the leather car seats they’re ripping, “Sorry, so sorry” she keeps whispering as the metal of her leg braces slices through leather like butter. Bonus: freaky-deeky carwash scene. Extra Bonus: is this all commentary on how married people need to suck sex/violence through a straw to feel alive? —Suzanne Richardson
Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)
If the title, Wristcutters: A Love Story intrigues you rather than repulses you, then you’re the kind of messed-up person this film was made for. A young man commits suicide and finds that the afterlife is not all that different from the world of the living; everything, “is just a little worse.” It’s a punk Dante’s, Purgatory starring early 2000’s alternative girl, Shannyn Sossamon, (who I still sorely miss) as the wandering love interest. There’s a wormhole, everyone reveals how they offed themselves with morbid glee, and there is a surprisingly touching journey of finding yourself at the center of it all. And with a soundtrack made up primarily of Tom Waits and Gogol Bordello, this film will transport you back to smoking in line at your local music venue waiting for “Alternative Night” to begin. —Michael Aurelio
Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991)
My favorite review of this movie is: “Like Ghost, only British and better.” There’s melancholy cello music, dead hipsters watching videos, and actual snot streaming from weeping faces. What’s not to like about these early, defining roles for Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman? And it was the big break for writer/director Anthony Minghella. Truly, Madly, Deeply predates the more famous string of Richard Curtis romcom romps (and I admit to enjoying Hugh Grant movies more than I really should) and is arguably more satisfying than any of them. —Paul Ruta
Upstream Color (2013)
Talk about a recipe for love. This film has parasitic tapeworms that allow people to control your actions, some very special pigs, and two attractive people who have a hell of a meet-ewwwwwwww. —M.M. Kaufman
200 Cigarettes (1999)
Ok, so this is by all means a New Year’s Eve ensemble movie, BUT if there’s anything seasonally appropriate round the year, it’s Paul Rudd and Courtney Love making out in a divey bathroom stall. Paul Rudd and Courtney Love have to be among cinema’s most underrated pairings. But wait, it gets better: NC daddy Ben Affleck plays a flirty bartender in this movie. His pick-up line? “So, how do you like your eggs done in the morning, scrambled or fertilized?” Also, Elvis Costello makes a cameo.
TL; DR: come for the 90s nostalgia and stay, well, for the 90s nostalgia. —Gauraa Shekhar
The Amazing Spiderman 2 (2014)
You'll never find it nesting in the romance genre, but The Amazing Spiderman 2 gets me every time. Literal superhero gives up his neighborhood-based crime-fighting career for talented postgrad student's academic dreams? Swooooon. Can't watch it without sobbing. I once gave a stewardess a fright with my ridiculously swollen eyes, courtesy of the in-flight entertainment options. That was when travel was still a thing, another dreamy sequence that now exists only in our fantasies... —Jemimah Wei
Once (2007)
This movie is bursting with soul-breaking music; it practically yearns by its identity alone. A busker meets a flower seller and the two forge a connection/collaboration that leads to true beauty. Is there love? Is it real? Is it real even if it’s fleeting? Is it real because it’s fleeting? “Once” won’t give you answers but it’ll give you the questions with some truly haunting tunes. —Elliot Alpern
Casablanca (1942)
Humphrey Bogart made heartbreak and loneliness look sexy in a way that was unequalled until Lana Del Rey came along, and if you can overlook him mansplaining the concept of self-sacrifice to Ingrid Bergman during his face-turn at the end you’ve got one of the most re-watchable movies of all time. Sometimes being in love means running a nightclub out of spite, and sometimes it means shooting a Nazi officer in the heart and knowing your cop frenemy will cover it up for you. —Nathaniel Berry
Her (2013)
These days it doesn't seem so insane that Joaquin Phoenix could fall in love with the woman inside his computer. I've been trying to feign a connection with my Apple Watch but mostly it's just gently informed me I'm not really its type. –Rachel A.G. Gilman
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
I remember watching this film with my grandmother on television and thinking this is really corny but really cool. The comedic misadventures really balance out the strange “I wish this person would like me” romantic subplot. I mean if you combine Ben Stiller and a mid-life crisis you get gold. Weird trippy gold, but it works! –Akhim Alexis
Gnomeo and Juliet (2011)
James McAvoy and Emily Blunt voice garden gnomes from rival yard displays who fall in love and try to express themselves through Elton John songs. It is the best thing ever. Bonus feature: there's a spin-off called Sherlock Gnomes. –Rachel A.G. Gilman
