With Valentine’s day looming, many of the organizationally challenged among us will be left scrambling to find something to do with their sweetheart. If you’ve left it until now to book a restaurant, sky-diving experience, guided Segway tour, river cruise, or even buy movie tickets, chances are it’s not happening on the fourteenth.
That doesn’t mean you have to give up altogether! I can’t think of many things more romantic than sharing a home cooked meal, and a movie with your valentine. Maybe I speak for myself, but I’m sick and tired of seeing Love Actually, and the other usual suspects pop up on every Valentine’s Day movie list known to mankind.
Here are some unexpected cerebral suggestions to get the intellectual juices flowing. Not those kind of juices. That’s for later.
1. Drive (2011)
Based on a novel by James Sallis, starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, this movie is a film-maker’s clinic. Beautifully shot, lit, directed, and acted, "Drive" may be short on dialogue but not on substance. "Drive" tells the story of a Hollywood stunt driver, and just how far he will go for love. Nicolas Winding Refn’s technically refined, powerful action-thriller is a love story at its core, and is sure to set hearts racing.
2. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
A Wes Anderson movie through-and-through, "Moonrise Kingdom" tells the tale of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love and run away together. It is quirky, sweet, awkward, and hilarious. A refreshing coming of age tale, "Moonrise Kingdom" raises important questions about what it is to experience the complexities of love in the relatively simple world of a not-quite child, not-quite-teenage mind.
3. Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
Another Ryan Gosling pic, but this time in a very different vein. Craig Gillespie directs a movie about a man whose bizarre choice of partner, after years living alone, hardly socializing, puzzles the people around him. Encouraged by his psychiatrist, the people of Lars’ community decide to go along with his unconventional relationship as a sort therapeutic aid. Lars and the Real Girl is genuinely funny, touching, and at times painfully obvious that this is a movie about a damaged man who is finally dealing with his emotions.
4. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Ok, this one is going to seem pretty dated now, but I like to think that comedy is timeless, and this movie stars Robert Downey Jr. alongside Val Kilmer. Need I say more? The very brief synopsis on IMDB reads, “a murder mystery brings together a private eye, a struggling actress, and a thief masquerading as an actor.” If you want to laugh with your valentine, just watch it.
5. Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)
This movie is probably going to end up on most “unconventional love story” lists. There’s a reason for that: It’s brilliant. Starring Shannyn Sossamon, Shea Whigham, Patrick Fugit, and the great Tom Waits, "Wristcutters" centers around Zia, a young man who commits suicide and finds himself in a bizarre alternate reality, reserved specially for those who have offed themselves. Zia befriends Eugene, a failed rock star that killed himself using his electric guitar, live on stage. The two embark on a journey to find Zia’s ex-girlfriend, who he discovers has also recently killed herself. The movie possesses a certain sweetness, and a truly unique story that it is not to be missed.
There you have it. If you want to share a love story that is a little off the beaten path this Valentine’s Day, give one of these a shot.
