Hello readers and welcome back to Mac Claire, your curated destination for all things Music, Arts & Culture! 🎶🎨🎭 First off, since I've had a delay in getting this article out I'd like to thank you for your patience. Second, I'd like to extend my thoughts to everyone in Texas and the surrounding regions who spent the past week dealing with historic winter storms, blackouts, and a lack of water, heat and electricity as a result of them.
In this article (which is the next in my February Valentine's series) I'll be taking a dive into some of the best romance movies out there, my favorite romance movies, and discussing what puts the best ones at the top of the list. If you're a fan of rom-coms, romantic dramas, historical romance, etc., this is the article for you! Let's get to it! 💕
First, let's take a look at what some big names have to say. According to entertainment resources like Rotten Tomatoes and Oprah Mag, these are some of the best romance movies out there: Casablanca (1942), A Night at the Opera (1935), The Shape of Water (2017), The Big Sick (2017), Call Me by Your Name (2018), Cold War (2018), Before Sunrise (1995), Brokeback Mountain (2005), A Star Is Born (2018), Carol (2015), If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), and Like Water for Chocolate (1992), among others. It must be noted of course that opinions are just opinions though, and everyone has a different idea of what's "best"!
Now to my favorite romance movies! A few of my favorites are shared with the list above, but some have yet to be mentioned. My list of favorite romance movies includes: Casablanca, Pride & Prejudice, Call Me by Your Name, and The Holiday.
Casablanca (1942) is about a nightclub owner named Rick Blaine who comes face to face with his ex-lover Ilsa and her husband Victor Laszlo, a famous rebel. The couple appear in Rick's club in Casablanca, Morocco (then a French protectorate) seeking his help because the Germans are looking for them. I watched this movie for the first time in an American Studies course in college about emigres in film and loved it immediately. Some people find black and white films hard to get into, but they're totally worth the watch. I love the witty script, the wartime setting, the fashion, and especially the music. The featured song As Time Goes By is a beautiful, classic song with a golden age feel and as a musician myself it's one of my favorites to sing!
Pride & Prejudice (2005) is a film adaptation of the famous novel by Jane Austen about Elizabeth Bennet, her energetic sisters and their varied personalities, and their life in the English countryside during the late 1700s/early 1800s. Things get very interesting for the Bennet family, though, when they meet the charming Mr. Bingley and the handsome yet reserved, upper-class Mr. Darcy. I can't even count how many times I've watched this film. Actors Kiera Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen steal the show as Elizabeth and Darcy; their chemistry is off the charts! The scenery is stunning and creates the most beautiful moments, like the scene where Darcy walks towards Elizabeth at dawn across the fields. Lastly, my absolute favorite thing about Pride & Prejudice is the soundtrack. Written by Dario Marianelli, the soundtrack is a combination of traditional dance songs for the ball and drawing room scenes and sweeping instrumental music performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the English Chamber Orchestra. The whole movie is greatly enhanced by the music and altogether it's a masterpiece.
Call Me by Your Name (2017) takes place during a hot Italian summer and follows the story of 17-year-old Elio Perlman who finds his first love in Oliver, a graduate student who comes to stay with Elio's family and intern with his dad. Their love blossoms toward the end of the summer, but can it last? This movie is also based on a book: the 2007 novel by André Aciman. One of the things I love most about Call Me by Your Name is the visual aesthetic of the film. There's a brilliant use of warm versus cold tones throughout the film, painting the scenes in hues of yellow, tan, blue, and turquoise that highlight the Italian architecture and bodies of water. I also love the soundtrack, which is comprised of songs by various artists. My favorite selections are by Sufjan Stevens, whose song Mystery of Love actually received a nomination for Best Original Song at the 2018 Academy Awards.
Lastly, The Holiday (2006) is the only rom-com on my list and follows Iris and Amanda, a British writer and a Hollywood film trailer creator, who exchange houses during the Christmas holiday to escape their lives back home. Both are greeted not only by new scenery, but by new romances too. The Holiday has a fantastic plot where the lives of the characters become interwoven and I love how many movie-making elements are incorporated into the story and script: screenplay writing, film score composing, etc. It really adds a unique, playful, and creative element to the movie. Some moments in The Holiday make you laugh and some make you cry; you truly can't ask for anything more. ❤
There are so many more romance movies out there that I want to watch and hopefully I'll get to them all someday. What are your favorites and what puts them at the top of your list? Let me know by commenting below!
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In my next article I'll be heading to the City of Love- Paris, France! 🥐💋🇨🇵 This "Scenes from the Screen" feature will show locations that I visited on a past trip to the city that have been featured in various television shows and films. I can't wait to share it with you all!
Until then, thanks for being a reader and I'll talk to you soon!
~Claire
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