1. The English Patient.
The film is beautifully photographed, and like 'Lawrence of Arabia', is set in Northern Africa, but during the second world war. The story is complex, but it boils down to a forbidden love between an opinionated and often difficult archeologist played by Ralph Fiennes and a married woman played by Kristin Scott Thomas.
2. Lost in Translation (2003).
3. Bridges of Madison County (1995).
This is an understated romantic film. This is probably down to the competent directing from Eastwood, and the exceptional acting ability of Streep, which she executes without much effort - at least it appears that way! Streep's character, Francesca, who is somewhat of a dreamer, was in search of an illusionary life, which was unobtainable, mainly because it only existed inside her head of fantasies. Indeed, the fantasy of the romance is only her interpretation of it via her journals. In reality, her romantic interlude would have turned sour because it would not live up to her expectations in everyday life, just as her idea of the American way of life didn't, being married to an ordinary farming lad.
As an Italian homemaker, Francesca is stereotyped from the start as the opera loving romantic, cooking breakfast for a largely unappreciative family in a mundane world, which she once viewed through rose tinted spectacles, whilst daydreaming back home in Italy.
The film's message is that romance can be deceptive, in that it misleads women into mundane lives that bear no reality to what they have been taught about it. But, women who crave romance, should demand it, and not be afraid to ask for it, or to admit to liking it for that matter. This is what Francesca should have done with her husband.
4. Girl with a Pearl Earring.
Is this an incredibly dull movie about a single painting - or is it a mesmerizing and penetrating insight into art and a particular 17th century Dutch artist? It probably depends on your point of view.
5. Before Sunset (2004).
Four great things about this movie:
a) The ferry ride, and the subtle ways you can tell they're both heartbroken, lonely, frustrated and angry. The way she discusses the "little details" that compose a person, and what she missed most in him. "Like I remember the way your beard has a bit of red it in, and how the sun was making it glow that...that morning right before you left."
b) The scene in the van, where they finally unburden themselves. One of the most emotionally raw and honest interplays I've seen on celluloid. The way she reaches out to touch him, but holds back at the last second. Much different in tone from the way Hawke reached out to brush her hair aside in the first film.
c) Celine's song. So simple yet so endearing. The way her voice fades to a whisper as she sings, "My heart will be yours until I die."
d) The ending, which is in all ways **PERFECT**. The slow fade, the utter charm of her Nina Simone impression, the ambiguity, and the wonderful look in his eyes as his youth, hope and happiness come rushing back to him while watching Celine dancing and singing (foreshadowed in the opening scene). This is, perhaps, one of the ten best endings in the cinema.
6 Great Expectations (1998).
Great photography by Emmanuel Lubezky and great work from Alfonso Cuarón. Wyneth Paltrow never looked so beautiful. We can't say enough about this movie....viewing should be required by law. It's absolutely amazing. We found the entire movie outstanding.
7. The Great Gatsby (1974).
This lavish Hollywood treatment of the Classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel is a visual and acoustic delight.
8. Out of Africa (1985).
OUT OF AFRICA is based on the memoirs of Danish writer Karen Blixen (pen name, Isak Dinesen) in a coffee plantation in present day Kenya. It explains how this brave woman overcomes the stereotype of a dainty, colonial British lady by running the coffee farm while her husband Bror Blixen (Brandauer) led a life of hunting and infidelities. Meryl Streep is great as Karen Blixen. She manages to maintain the realistic Danish accent through the whole film. Redford is great as Denys Finch-Hatton, the Etonian hunter who keeps companion in her loneliest and hardest. But the real attraction of the film is he outstanding photography of the African landscape together with the sweeping John Barry soundtrack that is probably the most beautiful movie soundtrack of the 1980s. OUT OF AFRICA will be regarded as Sydney Pollack's masterpiece and a Classic of our times.
9. Brokeback Mountain (2005).
It perfectly captures what true, unbridled love is all about and this love transcends any issues of sexuality or gender. "Love is a force of nature". Unfortunately for many people and indeed the protagonists of our story, society doesn't always view it that way.
10. Meet Joe Black.
11. L'amant (1992).
L'Amant is a very beautiful, haunting and sensual film. The characters are perfect and acted in a minimalist way that's refreshing.
