Thursday Movie Picks - Romantic Tropes: Forbidden Love

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This week's picks from Wandering Through The Shelves is the kind of love that has to be kept secret. There's plenty of those, most of them tragic. I tried to take at least 2 of my picks in a different direction. Here's what I came up with.


1) Brokeback Mountain - This is always the first thing I think of when I hear "forbidden love." This movie is perfect.


2) The Girl Next Door - A teenager falling in love with his ex porn star neighbor is certainly forbidden. I'm sure there's plenty in this movie that hasn't aged well but it was a lot of fun.


3) Lars and the Real Girl - This forbidden love is about a man falling in love with his sex doll. This was a lovely little film and I jumped for joy when it got an Original Screenplay Oscar nomination.

Comments

  1. Sonia CercaFebruary 18, 2021 at 9:36 AM

    I love that you picked Lars and the Real Girl. It is such a charming film!

    ReplyDelete
  2. joel65913February 18, 2021 at 10:19 AM

    I agree that Brokeback is nearly a perfect film so full of frustration and longing. The short story that served as its basis is a beautiful thing as well. Amazing performances.

    I've tried with Lars but I've never been able to hang with it. Just a bit too strange, eventually I'll give it another go because I do like Ryan Gosling.

    I've heard of the other but it struck me as seamy so I've never bothered.

    To be honest Brokeback is the first that occurred to me as well, and will probably be the title of the week, but I wanted to see if I could find some more obscure not quite so tragic picks (though my first is equally sad) and came up with these.

    Broken Blossoms (1919)-Chinese immigrant Cheng Huan’s (Richard Barthelmess) dream of spreading Buddhism to London has dissipated and he has sunken into aimless opium addiction until he finds young English waif Lucy Burrows (Lillian Gish) battered on his doorstep. Renewed by their emotional connection he cares for her as she recovers, but their forbidden love across ethnic boundaries is riven when they are discovered by Lucy’s abusive father (Donald Crisp).

    Death Takes a Holiday (1934)-Unable to comprehend why people cling so tenaciously to life Death (Fredric March) assumes human form as Prince Sirki at Duke Lambert’s Italian villa. Mixing with his guests in an attempt to gain insight he meets the beautiful Grazia (Evelyn Venable). Instantly attracted to each other Sirki and she wrestle with the impossibility and the forbidden nature of their love.

    Dirty Dancing (1987)-Teenager Baby (Jennifer Grey) is vacationing with her family at a Catskills resort in the 60’s when she meets dance instructor Johnny (Patrick Swayze). Through a series of events they become involved but the lovers face several obstacles including the dual facts that Johnny is forbidden to fraternize with the guests and Baby is likewise forbidden from seeing the older Johnny by her father (Jerry Orbach).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamFebruary 18, 2021 at 11:01 AM

      Girl Next Door is very raunchy so you may not love that one. I've only seen Dirty Dancing from your picks which I never cared for.

      Delete
  3. SaraFebruary 18, 2021 at 12:24 PM

    As much as I dislike Emile Hirsch, I love The Girl Next Door. Mostly for Timothy Olyphant. Great choices!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamFebruary 20, 2021 at 8:50 AM

      What a douchebag he turned out to be. I used to really like him as an actor.

      Delete
  4. RuthFebruary 18, 2021 at 3:27 PM

    Lars and the Real Girl, definitely a fascinating but moving forbidden romance. Interestingly enough, my filmmaker friend made a documentary about people in love with silicone dolls, called SILICONE SOUL https://www.siliconesoulmovie.com/ You should check it out, it's on iTunes, Amazon Prime, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  5. thevoid99February 18, 2021 at 6:16 PM

    Brokeback Mountain and Lars and the Real Girl are great choices though The Girl Next Door hasn't aged well as I hated some of the music choices in that film. Plus, what happened to Elisha Cuthbert? I haven't seen her in anything lately.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamFebruary 20, 2021 at 8:41 AM

      She was on that Happy Endings show for a long time but I never watched that. Paul Dano at least is thriving.

      Delete
  6. GetterFebruary 19, 2021 at 7:00 AM

    Still can't watch Heath Ledger movies without tearing up so I haven't... Brokeback Mountain would be the worst too... god, my emotions.

    Haven't seen the last one though it has been in my list for ages.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamFebruary 20, 2021 at 8:40 AM

      It's hard watching his movies, I still miss him and all the amazing performances he could've given.

      Delete
  7. SJHoneywellFebruary 19, 2021 at 9:06 PM

    Lars and the Real Girl is such an odd duck, but it's one that works because everyone buys into it. It needs that to make it work.

    ReplyDelete
  8. DellFebruary 20, 2021 at 7:10 PM

    I'm sorry, but Brokeback Mountain is boring. I just can't with that movie. I know I'm in the minority on that one.

    I like The Girl Next Door, but it's been a while since I've seen it.

    I'll never watch Lars and the Real Girl. That thing is square in the center of uncanny valley for me, and is just creepy looking. If it were in a horror movie, I'd be willing to give it a go because it's supposed to be creepy. Here, this dude having a relationship with it...yeesh. I'm sorry, but that will forever remain a hard pass.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamFebruary 22, 2021 at 6:40 PM

      First of all, how dare you!

      I'm kidding. I've been in the minority plenty of times.

      I get not wanting to see Lars and the Real Girl but it's honestly so much sweeter than you'd expect lol. It's very quirky.

      Delete
  9. Often Off TopicFebruary 22, 2021 at 5:45 AM

    Oh my god, I forgot all about Lars and the Real Girl. That was such a sweet, funny movie!
    Brokeback Mountain is the ultimate pick for this week <3

    ReplyDelete
  10. WandererFebruary 25, 2021 at 5:27 PM

    I've seen your bottom two picks and I like them both.

    ReplyDelete
  11. ThePunkTheoryFebruary 26, 2021 at 2:18 AM

    Oh, I haven't heard anybody talk about Lars and the Real Girl in ages! 😅 A great film!

    ReplyDelete

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