Five of the Best Romance Flicks for Weird People
Well, it had to happen eventually. Despite being cautious and avoiding real life, I have been bitten by the bug. I’m not talking about the kind that injects you with venom and causes a necrosis of the flesh that eventually rots you away to nothing. No, this is much worse. It’s a bug that begins with “L” and ends with “oh my god what have I done I told myself I’d never do this again why do I never learn?” So to celebrate my impending doom, I have decided to put together a list of five of my favorite romantic flicks.
These are not your typical romance stories. These are instead tales of love from the misfit perspective. Not every relationship begins with a rose and a kiss and a sappy theme song. In fact, many of them begin rather dysfunctional. Which is why these movies are so amazing. If you prefer your romance clean and classic, these probably aren’t the best films to sit down and watch with your significant other. But if you’ve grown up in a world where you feel awkward and the person you care about is both the cure for that awkwardness as well as a huge catalyst to it, then you might be in the right place. Without any further gushing, here are five romantic flicks for weird and socially awkward people.
Amelie (2001) -
Put together by the legendary director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children), Amelie is the tale of a girl on an epic quest to find the one she loves. She lives in a world that exists primarily in her head (a problem writers in particular seem to experience), envisioning herself as a hero to the downtrodden. She encounters a boy with just as strange of an imagination and puts him through a series of tests, so to speak. Not scary tests like taking him home to meet her parents, but odd things like having him go on a haunted house ride. In the end, Amelie gets the boy.
This movie is a perfect example of how misfits fail to connect. It is only through the wandering of Amelie’s imagination that she can even gather enough courage to pursue her love interest. And only though a bit of luck that she manages to make a connection at all. An amazing love story that examines the way we build fantasies to deal with real life, it’s no wonder that it has a 90/95% over at Rotten Tomatoes. I firmly believe that everyone should see Amelie at least once.
Edward Scissorhands (1990) -
Back when Tim Burton was making amazing fairy tales, he produced Edward Scissorhands. This story brings a modern day Frankenstein’s monster to a small and chronically predictable town. Naturally, Edward isn’t liked by everyone. Many think him too different or, in some cases, dangerous. Though the titular character does not live happily ever after in the usual sense of the phrase, his journey does bring him love and the ending is perfect for the story that the movie chooses to tell. More than just a love story, Edward Scissorhands is a great holiday movie and entertaining for kids as well.
Her (2013) -
A recent addition to my favorite quirky romantic films list, Her is a story of a man that falls in love with his computer AI. Though it might come across as strange to many people, Spike Jonze’s tale speaks very deeply of the modern world and how technology affects the way we both find and pursue romantic relationships. The main character is a misfit through and through and it is only a disembodied voice that can eventually gain his love. Her brings to mind all the Skype and texted-based relationships of the modern world. Some may see it as a warning against losing one’s self in a computerized world. Me, I see it as a tale of a love that crosses all boundaries.
Secretary (2002) -
If you’re looking for a movie that deals with romance in a non-traditional way, there are few flicks better than Secretary. The story follows the titular secretary as she ends up embroiled in a relationship with her employer. But the love here is of a very different sort. Both of them are driven to desires that are not traditionally seen as acceptable by the outside world. They live in a world of mental agony because they cannot express who they truly are. It is only through the building of trust between the pair that they eventually manage to overcome the regular world and accept themselves for who they are even as they embrace the misfit nature of the one they love. I’m a bit disappointed by the Rotten Tomatoes score of 75/83%, but Secretary is definitely not a movie for everyone. Looking at some of the reviews, it’s obvious that a great many people did not understand the movie’s message. This is, in my opinion, unfortunate, because Secretary is a movie with so much to say about the nature of love and how we make ourselves miserable by denying the truth of who and what we really are.
I know that some will give me grief for this one, but I absolutely love Garden State. Some see it as pretentious or even meaningless, but to me the relationship between the two main characters is a perfect example of how two broken people come together to make each other’s lives better. The movie holds many more observations than just the love story, but the romantic side of the tale is done perfectly. It’s a movie about opening yourself to someone else and accepting flaws and understanding the true nature of sacrifice. It has a pretty good score on Rotten Tomatoes, coming in at 86/88%. Though it has some flaws,
Photo Credits -
Amelie courtesy of screenmusings.org
Edward Scissorhands courtesy of wbez.org
Her courtesy of collider.com
Secretary courtesy of cinemasquid.com
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