With not long to go until Valentine’s Day, we would hate for you to find yourself without a film to smooch to on the big night.
We have created a curated collection of romantic and not-quite-so-romantic movies to give you some inspiration called Love is in the air, and we are going to focus on five of those films that are sure to help you lock lips come the 14th!
We would hate for you to get laughed at for pulling out some schmaltzy rubbish, so we have picked some cooler and deeper cuts that will impress your would-be paramour.
A MOMENT OF ROMANCE from Radiance
(a.k.a. The Super Cool Option)
When a small-time hood hired to be a getaway driver makes a mistake, and the heist goes wrong, he panics and takes a hostage. After he escapes, his Triad bosses order him to kill her but the pair escape and begin a forbidden relationship, all the while being chased by both sides of the law.
This sensationally directed film goes at a breakneck pace, and while there is some violence, the love at the movie’s centre is intimately realised.
Sure to get pulses racing!
LOVE JONES from The Criterion Collection
(a.k.a. The Smooth As Hell Option)
Love Jones is a sexy, brainy, and swooningly romantic story of two Black artists in love in 1990s Chicago. A poet and a photographer fall for each other over a shared passion for literature and jazz, and the two leads (Larenz Tate and Nia Long) have magnetism and chemistry to burn!
This is an intoxicating and seductively moody romance that engages both the heart and the mind.
Sure to get you hot under the collar!
KAMIKAZE HEARTS from the BFI
(a.k.a. The Edgy Option)
A quasi-documentary about the 1980s porn industry?! Hey, we said it was edgy!
This is a riskier pick, but this dive into the sleazy San Francisco X-rated underground is also a hot and horny document of a searing queer romance.
SPRING from 101 Films
(a.k.a. The Just-Scary-Enough-But-Still-Romantic Option)
On the run from the law after a bar-room brawl, a troubled young man flees to Italy. Arriving completely alone and without a plan, he soon meets the mysterious Louise and quickly falls in love. But upon discovering that there's more to her than meets the eye, he must decide just how far he'll go for love.
Spring is a genre-bending horror-romance that blends stunning locations, bold performances, and a unique visual style.
Sure to have you jumping into each other's arms!
NOTTING HILL from Universal Pictures
(a.k.a. The Safe Option)
Richard Curtis, Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts? Notting Hill is a safe-as-houses option which may not impress – and may need to be put on with an ironic smirk – but doesn’t risk upsetting or scaring anyone. Although Rhys Iffans in his undercrackers IS pretty terrifying, if you ask us.
Hugh is a floppy-haired bookseller, and Roberts is a movie star - it’ll never work! But, of course, it does in this tale of romance and adventure in London W11.
