By Lola Obembe
The month of February is special for many reasons. Not only is it Aquarius season, but it is also the month that some of my nearest and dearest were born; my grandma, my friend Martin and my beloved aunt Aichi who passed last October… sigh. It is also the month that I was born and last but not the least, the day most of the world celebrates the feast of St. Valentine which has devolved over time into that one day that commercial retailers have convinced lovers to spend exorbitant amounts of money exchanging gifts, chocolates and flowers as a symbol of their affection – as if expressions of love should be confined to just the one day in a year.
But I digress.
I am here to share my top 5 romantic movies of all time and I’m actually quite excited to do so. No one (wo)man should have all this power. My selection ranges from the cliché to the timeless and even in the unexpected.
So here go my top 5 romantic movies of all time:
1. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers:
Made in 1954 starring Jane Powell and Howard Keel, this is a musical set on a backwoodsman’s farm in 1850’s Oregon. When the oldest brother Adam, comes home one day with a wife, his six brothers: Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frank (incense) and Gabriel, decide that they too should get married and so they go to town to pick up (literally) some wives! I’ve probably watched this movie about 150 times since I was 7 years old. My brothers and I know pretty much all the words to the movie. I bought the remastered DVD at some point when I lived in North Carolina. It’s funny, crazy, totally unrealistic but heart-warming and lasts the test of time. Enjoy this with your parents – they would probably enjoy it even more than you.
2. P.S. I Love You:
This 2007 movie was based on a novel written in 2004 about a woman trying survive the passing of her husband from a brain tumor. In the 12 months following the sad event, she begins to move on with the help of a series of letters which her husband, knowing that he would pass, had mailed to her one at a time.This movie… makes you wish you had the power to raise the dead. But despite the sad beginning, you find yourself rooting for the widow and her hopes for finding purpose and love again in this world. Watch this one with your girlfriends …and bring a box of tissues.
3. Love Jones:
The only word I can use to describe this 1997 love story is “mmmmmmhmmm”. Love Jones was THAT movie if you grew up in the 90’s. They really don’t make movies like they did in the 90’s anymore, especially black movies. Ever since Medea… let me leave that story. Lorenz Tate’s Darius Lovehall, aka “Brother to the Night” is your quintessential “dude” … smooth talking, poetry-spitting, ego-having, lady’s kinda man who falls for Nia Long’s Nina Mosley from jump – literally from the first scene in the movie, but spends the rest of the 104-minute film, suppressing his feelings and generally “forming guy”. Nina on the other hand, is confident yet confused and bent on winning this game that Darius is playing with her. This is the sort of film you watch behind closed doors with your friends…or bae lol. It also has the added bonus of some nice poetry. Its indie at its best and I love it.
4. 500 Days of Summer:
Ok so if you know Zooey Deschanel, you already love her and you start out watching this movie seeing baby faced Joseph Gordon Levitt’s character Tom Hansen fall for her character, Summer Finn, that fateful summer. As time progresses, you’re not sure where your loyalties lie anymore. The love you had for Zooey starts to evaporate in this tale told through Hansen’s eyes; he clearly loves her but she just seems to be killing time with him. This is not your typical love story but it’s very real. I highly recommend this movie for any audience. Watch it and stay grounded 🙂
5. The Notebook:
Would any list in any order consisting of romantic movies not containing The Notebook be complete? I put it to you that it would not. The Notebook, ladies and gentlemen, has to be one of the greatest stories ever told. It has made grown macho men cry. I’ve seen it. Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling are so convincing that I still find it hard to believe they are not together in real life. A gentleman recounts the tale of how they met and married to his ailing wife suffering from dementia in a nursing home. It’s such a beautiful story of a love that stood the test of time, meddling parents, poverty, war and seemingly superior suitors. This movie makes you believe in love… sigh. Nicholas Sparks was out to either make money or slay when he wrote this. He succeeded in achieving both. Go watch it.
Happy viewing, everyone!
