Classic Weepies

9 June 2013

To The Wonder

To celebrate the release of To The Wonder on DVD and Blu-ray on 17 June, we take a look at the classic weepies and love stories that have graced the silver screen over the years. Have your hankies ready.

- To the Wonder

From the acclaimed director Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life) is a visionary tale of love exploring the contradictory and potent emotion of relationships.

Finding love in Paris, Neil (Ben Affleck) and Marina (Olga Kurylenko) start a life in Normandy, then relocate to Neil’s native Oklahoma where problems ensue as the passionate love begins to cool.

Neil wrestles with doubt and rekindles a romance with his childhood flame, Jane (Rachel McAdams).

A Terrence Malick movie is always something not to miss and To The Wonder is film that looks so visually beautiful; which just adds further to the emotional turmoil of the characters.

- Blue Valentine

Ryan Gosling stars as love stricken blue-collar worker Dean who falls in love with young medical student Michelle Williams in Derek Cianfrance’s debut Blue Valentine.

The film begins by revealing how their love bloomed, before showing the marriage breakdown five years on. This sensitive portrayal of a relationship is sure to leave one crumbling and weeping.

Blue Valentine is a film that shows both Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams at their best as they deliver two totally knockout performances.

Their turns are passionate, raw and honest in what a film that is powerful from start to finish.

- Casablanca

An American classic set in the tension ridden Casablanca during World War II, Humphrey Bogart stars as ex-freedom fighter, turned nightclub owner Rick Blaine who is stunned by the sudden arrival of a long lost love, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman). She had left him in Paris, and now appears before him with a war hero husband.

Casablanca is one of the greatest romance movies of all time and it is as much loved now as it was when it was released back in 1942.

There is a real magic in this movie and the connection between Bogart and Bergman and that makes this movie so unforgettable.

- My Girl

A tale of young love and friendship between Vada (Anna Chumsky) and cherub-faced Thomas (Macaulay Culkin).

Vada and Thomas both have a few peculiarities; she is obsessed with death, and he is allergic to literally everything, especially bee stings. The Temptations tearjerker soundtrack is almost synonymous with the film and is a classic in itself.

If you do not weep like a baby when you see this film then there really is something wrong with you as it is a movie that really does pack a punch.

My Girl is one of the best coming of age movies that looks at life, death and friendship.

- Brokeback Mountain

A bold, powerful, Oscar winning story of two men (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) who share a deep love and friendship but must conceal it from their families and create separate lives in order to avoid cruel persecution and worse.

A story set in the masculine and traditional world of cowboys, Ledger and Gyllenhaal deliver incredible, convincing and touching performances, as ranch worker and rodeo cowboy, who are ripped apart and conflicted by difficult choices.

Brokeback Mountain is a movie that really does astonish from start to finish as director Any Lee really does deliver a masterpiece.

This is a film that focuses on relationships; relationships between husband and wife, father and children and relationships that can never be.

Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal were both brave to take on this movie and it resulted in a pair of truly mesmerising performances.

- Steel Magnolias

The film’s tagline ‘the funniest movie ever to make you cry’, wonderfully portrays this bitter sweet story set around Truvy's Beauty Parlor in a small parish in modern-day Louisiana.

Featuring a great cast of women from Sally Field, Dolly Parton to Julia Roberts, it gives us a glimpse into the daily lives and enduring friendships of a close knit group of six Southern women over a period of several years.

This may be a movie that will have you reaching for you hanky but it is a film that is also packed with laughs.

- The Notebook

The Notebook’s impact has become a romantic legend of its own, truly symbolizing a classic weepie, with a flock of hardcore fans that can recite lines and reenact their favourite scenes.

Perhaps one of the most vivid scenes that has been parodied many times over is Ryan Gosling’s character, Noah, standing outside his lover’s house, Rachel McAdams, holding a portable stereo playing 'their' song, in a dramatic attempt to regain her affections.

The Notebook is one of the most loved romance movies of the last ten years as the Nicholas Sparks novel gets the big screen treatment from director Nick Cassavetes.

Gosling and McAdams are the driving force behind this film as they really do spark in every scene that they share.

To The Wonder is released on DVD & Blu-Ray 17th June.