Romantic Dramas

[Trini]

A topic to discuss films centered on romance or a romantic relationship, that are not romantic comedies.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I'll add a list to get @Trini's topic going.

My favourite romantic dramas:

I threw everything in here - any movie I like with a romantic element that is not a comedy (so action, drama, fantasy, thriller, musical, science fiction, literary adaptation, epic).

I have a part 2, but apparently there's file size limitations on this forum. I'll try again later.

Edited March 29, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

Part 2.

And a oral history of Cruel Intentions:

https://ew.com/movies/2019/03/21/cruel-intentions-oral-history/

Edited March 29, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[Trini]

My initial idea to start this thread was because I had a question:

But first, backstory! One of my favorite romantic movies is Wicker Park. Despite one very big plothole, I find it really compelling and re-watchable. All the actors are great in this (Josh Hartnett really sells the love story), the music is memorable, scenery/settings fantastic (but down to earth). But what really sets it apart to me is how the story is told; the main romance is plays out in flashbacks, while in the present, the lead unravels a mystery trying to find his lost love.

So my question: anyone have recommendations for similar films? Not necessarily the same premise, but something that mixes romance and mystery.

[Trini]

Ms Blue Jay, I see you have Edward Scissorhands in your list, Sci-fi/Romance is also my jam. I thought The Time Traveller's Wife had a really interesting premise.

Edited March 29, 2019 by Trini

[methodwriter85]

I guess Brooklyn starring Saoirse Ronan counts? Such a gorgeous movie, and I really loved the ending:

[Ms Blue Jay]

52 minutes ago, Trini said:

Ms Blue Jay, I see you have Edward Scissorhands in your list, Sci-fi/Romance is also my jam. I thought The Time Traveller's Wife had a really interesting premise.

Hey @Trini, *Love* that you started this topic.

"The Time Traveler's Wife" is one of the BEST books I ever read.  I wholeheartedly recommend it.  But unfortunately, when I saw the movie, it was just such a huge letdown!  It was one of those instances where the movie just couldn't live up to the amazing book for me.

"About Time" (also with Rachel McAdams) seems to lift HEAVILY from Audrey Niffenegger's idea, but it's a solid movie nonetheless.  I just hate when people copy other peoples' ideas!

"Edward Scissorhands" I mean come on.  Perfect movie.  Without a doubt.  (Although I guess that takes from Frankenstein!)

Edited March 29, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[Ms Blue Jay]

54 minutes ago, Trini said:

So my question: anyone have recommendations for similar films? Not necessarily the same premise, but something that mixes romance and mystery.

I really gave "Wicker Park" a few tries, but unfortunately, I never finished it!

Romance and Mystery:

Eyes Wide Shut
The Lake House
Brick (kind of?  This is a modern take on a film noir, and very very cool.  The style is overwhelming, but if you can get past that, it's rewarding.)  
Double Jeopardy????
Enemy (2013, Jake Gyllenhaal, very weird movie, with some little romance)
Ghost, obviously
Vanilla Sky!

For romantic mysteries with gay themes, I'd say Gemini (2017) and Passion (2012 - Rachel McAdams yet again!) and maybe even Mulholland Drive???? (But I haven't seen it in awhile.)

On the more comedic side of a romantic mystery, there's So I Married An Axe Murderer  and Head Over Heels (2001).

Premonition (2007) is a movie that critics didn't love, but that I liked.  It's a mystery, but unfortunately it's not exactly romantic, but Sandra Bullock is the star which is a nice bonus.

I've heard that Femme Fatale (2002) is good, but I haven't seen it.

By the way, I use the website/App Letterboxd to organize all my lists of movies, which is why my knowledge of movies might seem encyclopedic.  I totally recommend browsing there and searching for lists, and you'll find so many I'm sure.

https://letterboxd.com

I did a search for "romantic mystery" there and Punch Drunk Love, Memoirs of a Geisha, and Clouds of Sils Maria came up.

Edited March 29, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[Spartan Girl]

How about Sense and Sensibility? Great performances by Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant. But the real star is Alan Rickman's Colonel Brandon! One of his best roles ever. God, I miss him...

[methodwriter85]

Five Feet Apart didn't hit me like The Fault in Our Stars did, but it was pretty good.

[Ms Blue Jay]

That reminds me!

Cute "A Walk to Remember" reunion happened just this past week when Mandy Moore got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

https://www.today.com/popculture/walk-remember-reunion-shane-west-surprises-mandy-moore-walk-fame-t150995

[festivus]

Do we consider Love, Simon a romantic movie or a teen movie? Because I don't watch many romantic movies and I'm unfamiliar with many that have been posted but if it has teens in it I'm all over it. Even though I'm 52 I still love them. I went to see Pretty in Pink in the theater back in the day and since then I've probably watched that movie 30 times.

Looking over @Ms Blue Jay's list, I have seen The Graduate, The Big Sick and Edward Scissorhands and a few more and Grease of course. Many, many times on that last one.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I considered "Love, Simon" a romantic comedy, personally, but there are so many movies that seem to ride the line between drama and comedy ("dramedy") so it's hard to classify things so cut and dry.  I thought that "Love, Simon" was great.  I thought that the main actor was fantastic.

Just in case you missed it, there is a Romantic Comedies thread here too:  

Edited March 29, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[festivus]

Thanks, I've been in that thread a bunch. I guess I considered Love, Simon more of a drama than a comedy, but honestly neither one of those. I have a separate category for movies like that that is just teen movies. I don't like having so many threads though because I lose track of conversations and some movies are hard to classify. I kinda wish that movies with romance as the main thing was all one topic.

I did enjoy Love, Simon very much. I loved his parents and I felt it very true that parents of that age would react the way they did to his coming out. I watched it about a month ago but I didn't feel like digging up its thread which hadn't had a post in like a year. So I'll put here that I about shit myself when Simon played Waterloo Sunset. That's one of my favorite songs ever and I loved that we had a teen boy playing old records like that. I find it to be true of teens who were raised on their parent's music because my two boys play lots of stuff that was from way before their time.

[Shannon L.]

20 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

How about Sense and Sensibility? Great performances by Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant. But the real star is Alan Rickman's Colonel Brandon! One of his best roles ever. God, I miss him...

One of my absolute favorites.  I have it recorded on the dvr and still throw it on to fall asleep to quite frequently. 

A sentimental favorite of mine is An Officer and a Gentleman.  My parents, after seeing it for themselves, agreed to let me to watch it.  I was 13 and when my mom brought me to see it, I felt so grown up.  I loved it.

[Wildcard]

A favorite of mine - though not the happiest of films - was The Constant Gardener.  The ending was memorable and Rachel Weisz was great in it,

[BooBear]

I am Dragon - I just saw and loved. I warn you that it (depending on what one you watch) is in Russian with english subtitles. Even though some trailers are in dubbed english. After about 15 minutes the movie was so engrossing I forgot it was subtitled. It is streaming on Tubi (which is free) and Amazon Prime.

Kind of an odd mix of beauty and the beast and the blue lagoon (but is is very PG).

[BooBear]

On 3/28/2019 at 10:48 PM, Spartan Girl said:

How about Sense and Sensibility? Great performances by Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant. But the real star is Alan Rickman's Colonel Brandon! One of his best roles ever. God, I miss him...

I liked that one by my favorite version was the 2008 BBC miniseries.  Dan Stephens and Hattie Moran were amazing. 

[Scarlett45]

On 3/28/2019 at 9:19 PM, methodwriter85 said:

I guess Brooklyn starring Saoirse Ronan counts? Such a gorgeous movie, and I really loved the ending:

Brooklyn was an excellent film. Cinematography was gorgeous, the acting was quiet yet very precise....I need to watch it again soon. Sairose was a talent as a little girl, her talent has only grown. 

[BooBear]

I am catching up on my amazon prime, saw another good one, Teenage Dirtbag. It is an odd movie but concerns a boy from the wrong side of the tracks who has always semi known this straight arrow cheerleader because they have alphabetical order names.  But in their senior year in high school via a creative writing course they develop feelings for each other but never really admit it out loud.  At the start it says it is based on a true story and though the director says there is no real life person - the entire way it plays out to me seems so true to real life I can't believe the movie isn't a tribute to a real life person / situation. Major UST if you like that kind of thing. 

Edited April 7, 2019 by BooBear

[methodwriter85]

16 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

Brooklyn was an excellent film. Cinematography was gorgeous, the acting was quiet yet very precise....I need to watch it again soon. Sairose was a talent as a little girl, her talent has only grown. 

It felt like the slice of life movies they used to make in the 1980's and 1990's but they don't now because studios are chasing franchise movies that open at 100 million plus.

I like to pretend that Tony and Eilis lived happily ever after with his family developing suburban Long Island with Eilis as the plucky account manager.

[BooBear]

Saw a couple of different ones

Forgive the title but Good Dick was ... interesting. It starts Jason Ritter as a video game store clerk (2008 movie)  who becomes intrigued with an introverted female customer who keeps renting erotica. It sounds so icky but it isn't.  It is a little bizarre and a little slow but if you liked messed up people find love stories this one will keep your interest. 

[festivus]

1 hour ago, BooBear said:

Forgive the title but Good Dick was ... interesting. It starts Jason Ritter as a video game store clerk (2008 movie)  who becomes intrigued with an introverted female customer who keeps renting erotica. It sounds so icky but it isn't.  It is a little bizarre and a little slow but if you liked messed up people find love stories this one will keep your interest. 

That sounds interesting. Is it streaming anywhere?

[BooBear]

36 minutes ago, festivus said:

That sounds interesting. Is it streaming anywhere?

Tubi for sure but also I think amazon. 

Edited April 7, 2019 by BooBear

[BooBear]

I guess I can't edit my prior post but here is the trailer for I am dragon ( it is in english but the movie may not be).

[memememe76]

The English Patient, Brokeback Mountain, Cold Mountain, Pride and Prejudice, Titanic, Atonement, the Before movies, Children of a Lesser God, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Leaving Las Vegas, End of the Affair.

Underrated: When a Man Loves a Woman, A Walk to Remember, Great Expectations.

This past decade: A Star is Born, Before Midnight, Call Me By Your Name.

[festivus]

From that list I've seen Titanic (meh),  Brokeback Mountain (LOVE), and Leaving Las Vegas (good but too sad to ever watch again).

Two I want to see: A Star is Born, Call Me By Your Name. I do want to get to the Before movies someday, I've actually owned them forever but for whatever reason have never watched them.

Oh, I remember I saw The English Patient. I remember nothing about it except that it was long. Oh and Sayid from Lost was in it. 

Edited April 7, 2019 by festivus

[Bastet]

The description of Good Dick sounded interesting, but that trailer made it look as if she repeatedly rejects him - at one point literally running away from him - but he pursues her.  I do not find "man won't take no for an answer and that's so cute it wears her down" storylines watchable, so is the trailer accurate?

Switching gears, if you put a gun to my head and told me I had to sit through either Titanic or The English Patient again, pick one, I might choose death.

[memememe76]

More recent I forgot to mention is Moonlight. I find the 1st part fine, the 2nd part very meh, but the 3rd part great. Loved the characters in their adult versions. For that part, I would classify it as a romantic drama. 

I have no guilt loving Titanic and the English Patient. Seinfeld can suck it.

[BooBear]

Map of the Human Heart was good too.  I remember going to see it because something else my friend and I wanted to see was sold out and John Cusack was in it (he isn't in it much). I just remember it being an epic story about love but also what struck me was that it concerned people in WWII you might never really get to have a story about, eskimos, land mappers.  The trailer isn't great but.. it was 1992. 

[BooBear]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

so is the trailer accurate?

That is one of the issues some had with the movie. But in my opinion he is very gentle about it. There is a difference between persistent gentle prodding someone out of their comfort zone and being a jerk. He makes it clear that he is willing to be patient but he isn't going to let her just hide in her house forever. There is a practical reason he is so pushy at the start. But when she finally tells him that it is time to go, for real, he does as she says. Jason Ritter is one of the few actors out there that could have pulled this role off.  

[BooBear]

I can't really tell if this is a comedy or a drama but I recommend Barefoot. Bad boy rich guy is serving a public interest sentence as a janitor at a mental hospital when a girl shows up that is unlike any other - but she isn't mentally ill. After she has some issues with some of the other residents he helps her out and she follows him out. He takes her to his brothers wedding and road trip. The trailer seems a little more silly than I remember the actual movie being. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

Just to make sure everyone sees Elaine's reaction to The English Patient:

On 4/7/2019 at 12:35 PM, memememe76 said:

Great Expectations.

I rewatched this, after probably never watching it since 1998, and man, I really liked it!  I agree that it holds up.  It's beautiful.

I also recently rewatched Romeo + Juliet, and definitely didn't love it.  Baz Luhrmann is so frenetic.  It was weird.  The opening was beautiful, but it went downhill from there.

I also watched Moulin Rouge for the first time.  Again, it's gorgeous, and I love "Come What May", but the tone is sooooooo strange for me.  Incredibly surreal.  So many people love this one though so I'll give it another chance.

Sense & Sensibility is on Canadian Netflix right now.

Brokeback Mountain is one of those movies on my list of the Most Egregious Examples of Movies I Haven't Seen Yet.  Also The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  Also Slumdog Millionaire.  

Edited April 10, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[BooBear]

Quote

Brokeback Mountain is one of those movies on my list of the Most Egregious Examples of Movies I Haven't Seen Yet.  Also The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  Also Slumdog Millionaire.  

I haven't seen Brokeback but I didn't love Benjamin Button on Slumdog. For me they weren't romantic enough. Just kind of paint by the numbers. 

If we are talking about ones we didn't like, Every day disappointed me.  It is on almost every streaming service so I decided to give it a shot. It has a high concept idea as well. There is this "spirit" (calls itself A) that inhabits bodies every day for one day and then is "pushed" into someone else's life. The spirit has been like this since birth. One day he gets pushed into the body of Rhiannon's boyfriend. A tells Rhiannon about himself - they fall in love and he keeps bringing back the bodies that he inhabits to Rhiannon. The problem for me was (1) based on YA so ... right there and (2) when it all had to come to an end I expected a much more heart wrenching painful *epic* reaction and it was just so... not. 

[festivus]

17 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I also recently rewatched Romeo + Juliet, and definitely didn't love it.  Baz Luhrmann is so frenetic.  It was weird.  The opening was beautiful, but it went downhill from there.

I tried watching this one many years ago. I couldn't make it past 15 minutes.

17 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I also watched Moulin Rouge for the first time.  Again, it's gorgeous, and I love "Come What May", but the tone is sooooooo strange for me.  Incredibly surreal.  So many people love this one though so I'll give it another chance.

The first time I watched this I'd just had dental surgery and I was super high. It was so trippy and I freakin' loved it. I always wondered if it was the drugs that made it seem so weird but nope, it wasn't. That movie is cray-cray. I still love it though.

17 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Brokeback Mountain is one of those movies on my list of the Most Egregious Examples of Movies I Haven't Seen Yet.  Also The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  Also Slumdog Millionaire.  

Brokeback Mountain is a beautiful movie. It is seriously just one of the most gorgeous movies I've ever seen. I didn't see it myself until maybe 5 or 6 years after it was released. I will say this; it's beautiful and sad and be careful of the mood you're in when you watch it. I was affected for weeks after seeing it.

I've never seen the second two on your list but I plan to. They're on the list! The million mile long list.

Eta: Just watched that clip. I remember it after watching and it's hilarious. You go Elaine!

Edited April 11, 2019 by festivus

[Ms Blue Jay]

4 minutes ago, festivus said:

I've never seen the second two on your list but I plan to. They're on the list! The million mile long list.

Right?  I actually keep track of the movies I want to see on this app, Letterboxd I mentioned upthread.  My watchlist is 800 movies long - no joke.

Thanks for the comments on Brokeback.  

Edited April 11, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[festivus]

1 minute ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Right?  I actually keep track of the movies I want to see on this app, Letterboxd I mentioned upthread.  My watchlist is 800 movies long - no joke.

I'm an old lady. I still write them down in my spiral notebook. lol

[Trini]

On 4/10/2019 at 4:34 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

I also recently rewatched Romeo + Juliet, and definitely didn't love it.  Baz Luhrmann is so frenetic.  It was weird.  The opening was beautiful, but it went downhill from there.

It's funny that you say that, because I think the opposite, the opening is super weird, but it gets better after that. It's one of my faves that I can watch over and over!
 

14 hours ago, festivus said:

I tried watching this one many years ago. I couldn't make it past 15 minutes.

When I first saw it, I hated the beginning, but if you can get past that, it calms down a lot. When Romeo and Juliet meet, that is the turning point of the film (for me).
 

On 4/10/2019 at 4:34 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

I also watched Moulin Rouge for the first time.  Again, it's gorgeous, and I love "Come What May", but the tone is sooooooo strange for me.  Incredibly surreal.  So many people love this one though so I'll give it another chance.

Eh, or don't. This one, on the other hand, I did not like. The only good points for me were a few of the musical numbers, and Kidman and the costumes were gorgeous; everything else - UGH.

[methodwriter85]

This is a Wattpad 1D fanfic turned PG-13 teen drama being marketed like it's a 50 Shades of Grey for the younger set...I am soooo hopeful this is so bad it's good:

[Ms Blue Jay]

I finally saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 11 years later and I was bLOWN. AWAY.  It knocked me out.  It is so incredibly beautiful.  The first hour especially was such magic I had this huge smile on my face the whole time.  I thought it was wonderful!  I felt silly that I had skipped it for so long but there were a lot of circumstances around that time where seeing this wasn't really a priority.  I was also scared of the running time.  But it was fine.  There were some parts that could have been edited out, but.  It's really one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen.

Oh I also saw Slumdog Millionaire.  It was good, but, I wasn't really swept away by the storytelling device.  I thought that the best part was the children at the beginning.  The child who played the main character was absolutely wonderful.  The rest was interesting I guess, but, it couldn't live up to the hype for me.  Also, at the end, Freida Pinto is a really bad dancer.

Next up will be Brokeback Mountain and The Notebook, eventually.

Edited July 2, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[Vixenstud]

Always, with Richard Dreyfuss and Holly Hunter:

I'm always wet faced by the time the credits roll.

Edited September 19, 2019 by Vixenstud

[Ms Blue Jay]

I watched "Money Train" (1995) which has an unexpected love triangle between Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes, and early J.Lo.  It wasn't a "bad" movie per se…. but it wasn't great.  I did enjoy myself.

[methodwriter85]

Aww. Elio and Oliver forever.

Timothee and Armie really did have such insanely good, palpable chemistry throughout that whole movie. And the funny thing is that they're both straight. They really sold me on that romance.

Edited December 22, 2019 by methodwriter85

[Ms Blue Jay]

They were showing Pride and Prejudice (2005) at a local theatre in honour of Valentine's Day.  Oh my god, I bawled my eyes out.  It is just so good.  One of my favourite movies for sure.  Just amazing.  I love Keira Knightley and Matthew McFayden.

Did anyone watch Portrait of a Lady on fire (2019)?  Definitely a quality romantic drama.  

Edited March 8, 2020 by Ms Blue Jay

[Spartan Girl]

On 9/19/2019 at 1:35 PM, Vixenstud said:

Always, with Richard Dreyfuss and Holly Hunter:

I'm always wet faced by the time the credits roll.

Omg me too.  Especially this scene

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

Finally got through "Sense and Sensibility" (1995) after trying like 5 times. It's on Canadian Netflix along with a lot of other quality costume/period films.

"Phantom Thread" is a great one I recommend.  It took me two times but now I really love it.

Edited April 7, 2020 by Ms Blue Jay

[VCRTracking]

I really love the fact that Sofia Coppola made a movie about her marriage falling apart and won an Oscar for it and a decade later her ex-husband Spike Jonze made a movie about their divorce and he got an Oscar for it too! And they both started Scarlett Johannson!

 

 

 

[tribeca]

Watched isn’t it romantic staring Rebel Wilson. 
 

thought it would be a lot funnier.   Maybe the best parts were all in the previews.  Liked all the actors and it was cute.  

[Ms Blue Jay]

7 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

I really love the fact that Sofia Coppola made a movie about her marriage falling apart and won an Oscar for it and a decade later her ex-husband Spike Jonze made a movie about their divorce and he got an Oscar for it too! And they both started Scarlett Johannson!

 

 

 

Noah Baumbauh used Scarlett Johansson to star in a movie airing out his dirty laundry about his own divorce in "Marriage Story" as well.  Woody Allen has put her in at least 3 movies, so he's probably done similar.  

37 minutes ago, tribeca said:

Watched isn’t it romantic staring Rebel Wilson. 
 

thought it would be a lot funnier.   Maybe the best parts were all in the previews.  Liked all the actors and it was cute.  

We talk about it a lot in the Romantic Comedies thread if you're interested.

[tribeca]

2 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Noah Baumbauh used Scarlett Johansson to star in a movie airing out his dirty laundry about his own divorce in "Marriage Story" as well.  Woody Allen has put her in at least 3 movies, so he's probably done similar.  

We talk about it a lot in the Romantic Comedies thread if you're interested.

Whoops that’s where I thought I was.  Sorry 😐