12:28 am - 02/14/2013
13 Romantic Movies For Valentine's Day 2013
Valentine’s Day – or what some people like to refer to as Singles’ Awareness Appreciation Day (Galentine’s Day, if you’re Leslie Knope) – is today. And hopefully you didn’t forget to buy your loved one a present, or plan whatever it is you two do together. Anyways, we’ve compiled a list of romantic movies ranging from the serious and heart-wrenching to the funny and charming in honor of the holiday. One movie for every year from 2000 leading up to 2013. Maybe you and the S.O. are planning a night in? Consider one of these movies:
Weekend (2011)
Russell (Tom Cullen) is a lonely guy who only has one true friend, a fellow foster kid. He thinks he’s comfortable with his small apartment and his dead-end lifeguard job, until he has a one-night stand with Glen (Chris New). The next morning, the two guys get to talking and fall in love over the course of a weekend. Each one has his own hang-ups in the love department: Russel is not yet fully comfortable with his sexuality and Glen has trust issues from an ex, but together they move on in the face of big career changes. What makes this movie great is its matter-of-fact Before Sunrise approach to documenting true love.
When We Met (2007)
A Bollywood romantic-comedy, the film’s main characters Geet (Kareena Kapoor) and Aditya (Shahid Kapoor) meet on a train. Aditya is dealing with recent heartbreak, while Geet is on a journey to see her boyfriend and elope with him. Initially, Aditya is annoyed by the talkative and hyperactive Geet but her infectious personality quickly grabs a hold of him and he finds himself falling deeply in love with her. When the train leaves without them, the unlikely duo set out to reunite Geet with her boyfriend, but Aditya finds it’s not so easy to let her go.
Saving Face (2004)
Wilhelmina (Michelle Krusiec), nicknamed ‘Wil’, is a surgeon who has to deal with her unwed mother (Joan Chen) coming to live with her after she’s shunned by her Chinese-American community for getting pregnant. Though her mother has apparently known for years that Wil is a lesbian and even ends up meeting Wil’s girlfriend Vivian (Lynn Chen), in the course of the film, she refuses to acknowledge this fact. The movie follows Wil’s struggles between balancing her duties as a daughter and as a girlfriend, and also having to come to terms with who she is.
Love Me If You Dare (2003)
The French dark comedy “Jeux d’enfants” chronicles the cat-and-mouse relationship between a pair of friends, played by real-life couple Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Canet, as they go from childhood to adulthood. The game of dare that they started as children begins to escalate to dangerous heights as the stakes become greater and greater the more they play. The question is whether they’ll ever admit their true feelings for one another.
Love and Basketball (2000)
Childhood friends and rivals Monica (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy (Omar Epps) share one love: basketball. They grow up with the dream of becoming professional basketball players. As they get older, a romantic relationship blossoms between them, as do their skills in the sport. When they find out they’ve both been accepted to USC, it seems as though all their dreams are coming true – but both Monica and Quincy have a few more difficulties to overcome both on the court and with each other before they can get their happy ending.
THE REST AT THE SOURCE
Weekend (2011)
Russell (Tom Cullen) is a lonely guy who only has one true friend, a fellow foster kid. He thinks he’s comfortable with his small apartment and his dead-end lifeguard job, until he has a one-night stand with Glen (Chris New). The next morning, the two guys get to talking and fall in love over the course of a weekend. Each one has his own hang-ups in the love department: Russel is not yet fully comfortable with his sexuality and Glen has trust issues from an ex, but together they move on in the face of big career changes. What makes this movie great is its matter-of-fact Before Sunrise approach to documenting true love.
When We Met (2007)
A Bollywood romantic-comedy, the film’s main characters Geet (Kareena Kapoor) and Aditya (Shahid Kapoor) meet on a train. Aditya is dealing with recent heartbreak, while Geet is on a journey to see her boyfriend and elope with him. Initially, Aditya is annoyed by the talkative and hyperactive Geet but her infectious personality quickly grabs a hold of him and he finds himself falling deeply in love with her. When the train leaves without them, the unlikely duo set out to reunite Geet with her boyfriend, but Aditya finds it’s not so easy to let her go.
Saving Face (2004)
Wilhelmina (Michelle Krusiec), nicknamed ‘Wil’, is a surgeon who has to deal with her unwed mother (Joan Chen) coming to live with her after she’s shunned by her Chinese-American community for getting pregnant. Though her mother has apparently known for years that Wil is a lesbian and even ends up meeting Wil’s girlfriend Vivian (Lynn Chen), in the course of the film, she refuses to acknowledge this fact. The movie follows Wil’s struggles between balancing her duties as a daughter and as a girlfriend, and also having to come to terms with who she is.
Love Me If You Dare (2003)
The French dark comedy “Jeux d’enfants” chronicles the cat-and-mouse relationship between a pair of friends, played by real-life couple Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Canet, as they go from childhood to adulthood. The game of dare that they started as children begins to escalate to dangerous heights as the stakes become greater and greater the more they play. The question is whether they’ll ever admit their true feelings for one another.
Love and Basketball (2000)
Childhood friends and rivals Monica (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy (Omar Epps) share one love: basketball. They grow up with the dream of becoming professional basketball players. As they get older, a romantic relationship blossoms between them, as do their skills in the sport. When they find out they’ve both been accepted to USC, it seems as though all their dreams are coming true – but both Monica and Quincy have a few more difficulties to overcome both on the court and with each other before they can get their happy ending.
THE REST AT THE SOURCE