The most comfortable genre in the world, despite the changes, continues to honor traditions and show the gradual development of relationships of lovers – with ardent meetings and bitter partings. Today, we offer you to remember unusual movies, where people live with the expectation of reunion – and it’s not only about geographical distances but also about obstacles, sometimes much more fantastic and mystical.
Sleepless in Seattle, 1993
It’s impossible to start a selection not with a genre classic from Nora Ephron. And now it’s strange to think, but Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks during the filming of “Sleepless in Seattle” almost never met, and for the entire timeline, the actors have no more than two minutes of joint screen time. But is a long-distance feeling a reason for viewers to doubt that Any and Sam should meet and never part?
Recall the plot: one day, a journalist hears a heartbreaking monologue of a widower on a night radio program – the man can not get over the loss and find a common language with his son after the death of his wife. Fate, providence, or curiosity – it doesn’t matter: two lonely people are bound to meet, and, as is classic in the genre, on Valentine’s Day.
The Lake House, 2006
Fiction in romantic stories comes in many forms, but perhaps it is in “The Lake House” that the fracture of the space-time continuum looks the most ordinary and down-to-earth, even 20 years after the movie’s release.
Kate and Alex (Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves) have never met before; the only connection between the strangers is a mailbox outside an unusual glass house. Letters travel through time: the man lives two years earlier, but such trifles do not prevent the unity of souls. Tape Alejandro Agresti – American remake of the Japanese picture: that the original, that the adaptation – the story is more about loneliness and the search for dialog, rather than the lightning strike of feeling from the first lines. Watching the duo of Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves is always encouraging, whether it is a driving “Speed” or melancholy “The Lake House.”
Jusqu’a toi, 2009
“Jack and Jill: Love on Suitcases” by Jennifer Devolder is a bright, touching, and naive version of a romcom from the noughties. The fault of the meeting of two sociophobes becomes the unscrupulous work of airport services: when the Frenchwoman Chloe (Melanie Laurent) loses her suitcase, she brings the luggage of Jack (Justin Bartha) – the young lady instantly falls in love with the mysterious passenger.
“Jack and Jill” is, in many ways, an outdated movie that extols the idealization of an invented character, but only at first. Amidst the romantic tinsel and coincidences, recognizable signs of a generation emerge: Millennials are afraid to make phone calls, have to consult their mother on important matters, and want to live in an invented world rather than face reality.
In Your Eyes, 2014
Once again, a fantastic assumption is to blame: Rebecca (Zoe Kazan) and Dylan (Michael Steel-David) have never met, but they “see each other” every day. In a mysterious way, people living thousands of kilometers away establish a powerful mental connection – they see what surrounds the other and can hear the thoughts of the interlocutor.
The script of the long-distance romance story was written by the now-scandalized Joss Whedon, which means that sci-fi and rom-com get along under the same roof for love (we remember “Buffy” and “Firefly”). Like the other films mentioned at the top, “In Your Eyes” uses the mystical connection as an excuse for the characters to look at their own lives from the outside and figure out what’s worth changing to be happier.
Serendipity, 2001
“Serendipity” today tops the top of harmful romcoms, promoting unrealistic ideas about love and relationships. But if you look at Peter Chelson’s tape as a winter fairy tale about the fact that the one you need will certainly be found even in a large metropolis – the chances of succumbing to the charm remain.
Unlike their “colleagues” in the selection, Sarah (Kate Beckinsale) and Jonathan (John Cusack) meet and even spend a perfect evening together but then break up and, years later, continue to search for the perfect companion through their eyes.
Perhaps the romcom’s main message comes not from the dialog of the lovers, who chirp dreamily about fate, but from the mouth of their best friend (Jeremy Piven): “Maybe if you’re lying here, it means you don’t want to stand anywhere else.”
Like Crazy, 2011
To round out this list of a movie about lovers unfairly separated or never having met before, let’s address the subject literally. “Like Crazy” tells the story of students who are forced to break up due to bureaucratic conventions like an expired visa. Jacob (Anton Yelchin) stays in Los Angeles after his studies, while Anna (Felicity Jones) is forced to return to England.
“Like Crazy” by Drake Dorimus almost instantly became a cult indie romcom precisely because of its verisimilitude: relationships over a fantastic (and not so fantastic) distance don’t look exhausting only in genre cinema, and Yelchin and Jones managed to play one of the most heartfelt couples of the 21st century.
