TMS Spotlight: The Return of Romance and Passion in Cinema
(MPI Media Group)
As a lifelong fan of films focused on romance and passion, the last two months have been treating me so well. Shockingly well considering how much of a broken record that now asinine dialogue on Hollywood not being interested in featuring sex on film has become. There have even been some pointing out that major blockbusters [particularly the MCU] don’t even properly portray love on screen much anymore. This was always annoying to me as a film viewer whose favorite genres include romantic comedies, melodramas, romantic dramedies, and so forth. It got to the point where I was so fed up with how overly platonic modern studio movies are that I sought out the most infamous, graphic films I could find from the erotic thriller period of the 1980s and early 1990s, a la filmmakers Adrian Lyne, Brian De Palma, Paul Verhoeven and Ken Russell. This ultimately ended up being a somewhat jarring experience and maybe a bit more reactionary than was necessary from me, but at least I was reminded of how underrated actresses Nancy Allen and Theresa Russell are. Thankfully, it almost feels like someone in the film industry granted me a wish this year. Starting near the end of April, I got Woody Allen’s Coup de Chance, which is more of a French crime melodrama featuring an extramarital affair than a legitimate romance. But there was enough chemistry between leads [Lou de Laâge and Neils Schneider] to keep me pleased. Then the next week Luca Guadagnino’s much hyped Challengers was released to great feedback. While the rumored graphic threesome was apparently non-existent; this is a story centered around a semi-love triangle/ménage-à-trois with a ton of sexual tension and foreplay in between the crazy editing during the tennis sequences. It also helped the three stars, Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, are an appealing trio.
(MGM Pictures)
Next was David Leitch’s The Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, the first studio picture in a while to blend action with romcom. The film struggled to reach general audiences at the box-office, but those who saw it—including me—found it was a fun romp where the cast was clearly having fun, and Gosling and Blunt had some nice, cute moments together. It was near impossible to separate Michael Showalter’s The Idea of You from its Harry Styles fanfic accusations; yet this is a recent release with a decent May-December theme that doesn’t feel too uncomfortable, and has some effective, maturely shot love scenes between Anne Hathaway and Nick Galitzine. And most recently, Richard Linklater’s Hit Man, which I feel could also work as part of double feature with The Fall Guy. Two hours of Glen Powell and Adria Arjona’s characters falling in love and lust while the male lead is also misleading criminals to the police.
I don’t know how the stars aligned to give me five consecutive romantic and/or passionate movies in a row, but Hollywood is very much welcomed to keep the trend going. In fact, my main complaint about Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders out now is that the leads are a married couple who don’t share any legitimate love scenes. There’s enough room in cinema for romance and sex as there is for action and drama.
