Films To Note

These film posts keep rolling around quickly but I'm starting to make lists of films I want to share with you guys so I should be able to keep up. Also, if there's a topic or style that you would like to see me recommend films based on then please don't be shy and send me an email or leave a comment and I'll see if I can rise to the challenge. 

This week I'm going to share five unconventional romance films. Perfect for when you need a hit of love but don't want to turn to rom-coms (my guilty pleasure). 

1. Almost Famous (2000)

A Film by Cameron Crowe

An absolutely wonderful film about a young boy who wants to be a music journalist and gets an amazing opportunity to write for Rolling Stone Magazine and go on tour with the fictional, Stillwater. It's a coming of age movie with a great soundtrack and some amazing acting talent but for me, what makes this film is the love story between William and Penny. She is the stunning band-aid who moves through the film in a haze of cool and he is the geeky but adorable kid that who will never quite catch her eye. Watch this when you're feeling nostalgic for first love.

2. Leon (1994)

A Film by Luc Besson

To call this film a romance is slightly controversial but no one can deny the love between Leon and his young apprentice Mathilda, played by an outstanding young Natalie Portman. The story of a cleaner who lives his life in a constant routine until one day newly orphaned Mathilda knocks on his door, begging him to save her. What unravels is a fast paced, dark but hilarious at times tale of revenge, devotion and making your own family.

Watch this when you need something not romantic.

3. The Reader (2008)

A Film by Stephen Daldry

This film has recieved masses of critical acclaim but it is fully deserved, painting the life of Michael Berg and the impact his lover, Hana, has on him. They meet by chance but a frantic sexual connection blossoms between the two, seperated by quite a few years, until one day she disappears. Michael grows up, never quite letting go and then their paths cross again when he least expects it. In the courtroom for a trial for Nazi war crimes. It is a dark story that deals with so many issues bigger than love but it is at the heart of the film along with ideas of pride, resentment and guilt. 

Watch this when you need something without a happy ending.

4. Never Let Me Go (2010)

A Film by Mark Romanek

I was lucky enough to see this first at the Leeds International Film Festival for it's first UK screening and I was stunned. I've since read the novel it's based on, by Kazuo Ishiguro, the science fiction story of a race of people bred for the singular purpose of donating their organs to medical science. Set in Britain and told through the eyes of one of the ex-pupils of Hailsham school, it is a tragic love story with strong themes of yearning, self-acceptance and questions of humanity. 

Watch this when you need something to cry to.

5. Perfume: The Story of A Murderer (2004)

A Film by Tom Tykwer

With a name like that, I wouldn't blame you for thinking this wasn't a romance. And it's not, in the traditional sense. It chronicles the journey of a man with an acute sense of smell, who becomes obsessed with the idea of capturing the perfect scent for his perfume. This perfect scent is of a woman and thus his killing spree begins with a detached sense of purpose. Each woman he kills, he treats like another ingredient, putting her through a series of distilling experiments to try and reach his goal. The romance comes in the form of the woman he decides he must have, a porcelain skinned redhead whose father is determined to protect her.

Watch this when you need a visual spectacle.