love on film: hypnotic, crazy, mysterious

when you are young and in love, you feel as though almost all of the stories about love on film or book are especially written for you. but even today, when my battle-scarred heart has survived all the horrible things that lovers sometimes have to go though to be stronger as ever, i still cry over love stories, especially if the lovers, in the tradition of romeo and juliet, did not end up together.
here are some of my favourite films, from the ridiculous to the most serious, from the juvenile to the adult, that made me fall in love over and over again. i watch them every time i am broken hearted, nostalgic, or just feeling melancholic. i cried at some, if not, most of them.
one thing these movies have in common is the beautiful soundtrack: love story, looking through the eyes of love, endless love. cheesy, yes, but when you are watching the movie and the song is being played, the cheesy song just blends in seamlessly with the scenes and you forget how corny the lyrics are. try endless love and be mesmerized by the beauty of the young and in love brooke shields.

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great expectations (a reinvention of the classique book. the chemistry between ethan and gwyneth is impalpable. i wonder why they didn't make more films after this?)

five hundred days of summer (zooey enchants, gordon captivates, the story hypnotizes and the soundtrack swoons. i am love!)

summer of 42 (one of the best, if not the best, coming-of-age story(ies) that i have ever seen. jennifer is such a beauty. i wonder what happened to her?)

love story (the chemistry between ryan and ali is too perfect for words. their witty banter when they first met at the library never fails to make me smile and feel kilig to the bones.)

ice castles (if you don't cry on this one, your heart is made of ice. chos!)

last american virgin (don't let its comic trailer fool you, it's actually one of the most touching coming-of-age films that i have ever seen. get a copy of the movie if you can.)

pretty in pink (my all time favourite molly ringwald movie alongside sixteen candles and breakfast club. andrew is adorable. and so is james.)

some kind of wonderful (star cinema's template for all its lousy movies about best friends secretly in love with each other. but this one's far from corny. the acting is superb and the soundtrack is marvelous.)

notting hill (when julia roberts was at the peak of her box-office power; her pairing with hugh grant remains unparalleled to this day. they are such a perfect match!)

an affair to remember (oh. deborah's clothes are perfect. every fashionista's dream.)

reality bites (more than just a love story, by the way. it's about my slacker generation and our search for our rightful place in the highly consumerist, highly materialistic, uncaring society.). winona and ethan at their gorgeous best. 

before sunrise (ethan and julie are divine!)

before sunset

before midnight

endless love (the gorgeous brooke shields captivates, tickles and makes you fall in love all the more.)

blue lagoon (the very first r-rated movie that i saw when i was in my early teens. brooke is a goddess.)

man in the moon (from the director of summer of 42, a gorgeously shot, poignant movie about first love. reese witherspoon's first ever big screen outing).

mermaids (the triumvirate of cher, winona and the very young christina ricci makes watching this movie  worthwhile. plus the young actor who is winona's object of affection is truly a dish!)

breakfast at tiffany's (it's audrey hepburn playing a role in a story penned by truman capote (more precisely, based on his short novella), shot in the glorious new york. need i say more? truman, by the way, had in mind then reigning screen goddess marilyn monroe for audrey hepburn's role.)

the way we were (oh. barbra streisand and the drool worthy robert redford. plus the song.)

two for the road (a realistic portrayal of how marriage, adulthood and responsibilities sometimes torn two people in love apart. but in the end, love triumphs. it always does).

a man and a woman (it's french. love it or hate it.)

scenes from a marriage (truly, madly, deeply beautiful from the acting, story to overall theme. moody, elegant, sometimes too dark. but that's life.)

in the mood for love (one of wong kar wai's poetically shot films. moody, lavish costumes (look at the dresses of maggie cheung. they're to die for. the lead actors tony leung and the glamourous maggie will take your breath away. this is the movie that made me want to live in hong kong.)

chungking express (another favourite from hong kong's wong kar wai. tony leung and heartthrob takeshi kaneshiro are such perfect leading men. the song california dreaming is lovely and blends in well with the movie.)

turn right, turn left (the young takeshi, long hair and all, at his most handsome yet.)

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my most favourite films:

the english patient

almásy: what do you hate most?

katharine: a lie. and what do you hate most?

almásy: ownership—or being owned. when you leave, you should forget me.

(katherine's letter to almasy while she laid dying inside the cave is truly heartbreaking. read and weep.)

"my darling, i'm waiting for you — how long is a day in the dark, or a week? the fire is gone now, and i'm horribly cold. i really ought to drag myself outside but then there would be the sun. . . i'm afraid i waste the light on the paintings and on writing these words. we die, we die rich with lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have entered and swum up like rivers, fears we have hidden in, like this wretched cave. we are the real countries, not the boundaries drawn on maps with the names of powerful men. i know you will come and carry me out into the palace of winds. that's all I've wanted — to walk in such a place with you, with friends, on earth without map..."

and almasy's classique writing on his journal:

"betrayals in war are childlike 

compared with our betrayals during
peace.  new lovers are nervous and
tender, but smash everything - for
the heart is an organ of fire..."

and:

the age of innocence (the best of the lot alongside the english patient. everything is perfect: manners, clothes, setting, cinematography, story, dialogues, acting, direction, music, dances, even the arrangements of the plates and other dinner wares. i wish i were born during those not so innocent but perfectly elegant times.)

a favourite line in the film:

newland: you gave me my first glimpse of a real life. then you asked me to go on with the false one. no one can endure that. 
ellen: i'm enduring it.