92 Best Romantic Movies On Itunes Canada (Page 6)

Joy is a dutiful, overseas Filipino worker supporting her entire family back home. Ethan is a well-off bartender who has, time and again, put himself first before others. They couldn’t be any more different, yet in Hong Kong, their alien status and ambitious goals make them kindred spirits. What starts as a low-stakes bond quickly turns into an essential relationship, one that puts their personal commitments to the test. 

Hello, Love, Goodbye may appear formulaic at first, but it is heightened by a keen understanding of life overseas. It avoids romanticizing the migrant experience and sees it for what it truly is: a harsh but necessary means to an end. If this seems too severe, it’s also softened by an enchanting romance and some welcome comic relief in the form of the pair’s friends. Because of this nice mix, it’s no surprise that Hello, Love, Goodbye instantly broke domestic records and remains the highest-grossing Filipino movie of all time. 

Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Alden Richards, Jameson Blake, Jeffrey Tam, Jerome Ponce, Joross Gamboa, Kaka Bautista, Kakai Bautista, Kathryn Bernardo, Lito Pimentel, Lovely Abella, Maricel Laxa, Maxine Medina, Maymay Entrata, William Lorenzo

Director: Cathy Garcia-Molina, Cathy Garcia-Sampana

Rating: TV-PG

Happy Together is a beautifully devastating tale about a gay couple, portrayed by Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Leslie Cheun, who struggle with maintaining romance and fidelity in their relationship. Despite their efforts, they find the emotional distance growing between them, especially as they leave their home of Hong Kong for Buenos Aires.

Filmed and set in the late 1990s, Happy Together explored the depths of queer love in a way most films hadn’t. 

Since its release, it has touched the souls of many and caused tears to be shed. It serves as a reminder that love isn’t perfect, but it’s always worth the effort.

Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Chang Chen, Chen Chang, Gregory Dayton, Law Shu-Kei, Leslie Cheung, Shirley Kwan, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai

Director: Kar-Wai Wong, Wong Kar-wai

Rating: N/A

There is a great deal of disbelief to suspend with this film, arguably the weakest of Japanese animation director Makoto Shinkai’s oeuvre. It follows Hodaka, a broke high school student in Tokyo looking for a job. The story kicks off when he meets Hina, a cheerful girl who lives with her younger brother and has the power to control the weather.

Again, as with all of Shinkai’s work, it’s remarkably beautiful. Rainfall, skies, and cityscapes are eye candy here, probably more than in any piece of animation ever. But this has every high school romance trope elevated to an extreme level, like Shinkai’s best known film Your Name but on steroids—a teenage boy and cute girl fit together like pieces of a puzzle, a grand adventure starts, forces beyond their control threaten to separate them, and the standard anime couple seemingly never see each other again, until they dramatically meet years later.

For the sake of an against-all-odds romance, Weathering with You downplays its insane plot devices. It glosses over runaway kids wielding firearms, an underage girl almost going into sex work, and a climate disaster potentially displacing millions of people—all for a love story.

Genre: Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Romance

Actor: Aoi Yuki, Ayane Sakura, Chieko Baisho, Hidekatsu Shibata, Kana Hanazawa, Kana Ichinose, Kanon Tani, Kotaro Daigo, Masako Nozawa, Mone Kamishiraishi, Nana Mori, Ryo Narita, Ryohei Kimura, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Sakura Kiryu, Sei Hiraizumi, Shinjirou Gouda, Shun Oguri, Sumi Shimamoto, Tsubasa Honda, Yuki Kaji, Yuki Ominami

Director: Makoto Shinkai

Rating: PG-13

The Sessions is drama about Mark O’Brien (John Hawkes), a quadriplegic who is forced to live in an iron lung due to complications from childhood Polio. A poet by trade, Mark longs to experience the touch of a woman, and despite his condition, to ultimately lose his virginity at the age of 38. After consultation with his parish priest (William H. Macy), Mark begins to see a professional sex surrogate (Helen Hunt), who slowly opens his mind and his body to the pleasures of sexuality. A very frank depiction of sex and sensuality, The Sessions is unflinching yet utterly tender storytelling. Hawkes and Hunt are both wonderfully real and honest in their performances. It’s the type of film that will surprise you by the ending at how much it has moved you.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Actor: Adam Arkin, Annika Marks, B.J. Clinkscales, Blake Lindsley, Daniel Quinn, Helen Hunt, J. Teddy Garces, James Martinez, Jarrod Bailey, Jennifer Kumiyama, John Hawkes, Jonathan Hanrahan, Ming Lo, Moon Bloodgood, RayVeness, Rhea Perlman, Robin Weigert, Rusty Schwimmer, Tobias Forrest, W. Earl Brown, William H. Macy, Мун Бладгуд

Director: Ben Lewin

Rating: R

Testament of Youth isn’t totally unique. Plenty of period dramas, even those that are true to life, have a similar approach of capturing the loveliness of a teenage summer vacation to better juxtapose the ugliness of war and how terrible it is to put young adults through it at a time when they should be exploring their lives. But it’s not terribly made– the film gets better as it goes, Max Richter’s excellent score is captivating, and there’s a certain novelty of watching the fresh faces of some of Britain’s biggest actors, even if their better known works have eclipsed this film. Testament of Youth may not be as devastating as war films like Atonement, but it’s a fairly decent watch, if you’re specifically craving for a period drama you haven’t watched before.

Genre: Drama, History, War

Actor: Alexandra Roach, Alicia Vikander, Anna Chancellor, Charlotte Hope, Colin Morgan, Daisy Waterstone, Dominic West, Emily Watson, Hayley Atwell, Heather Nicol, Henry Garrett, Jenn Murray, Joanna Scanlan, Jonathan Bailey, Josh Taylor, Kit Harington, Laura Elsworthy, Miranda Richardson, Naomi Everson, Niamh Cusack, Nicholas Farrell, Nicholas Le Prevost, Taron Egerton, Teresa Churcher, Xavier Atkins

Director: James Kent

Rating: PG-13

 As glad as I am to see a film celebrating the complex joys of interracial love and debunking the stigma of arranged marriages, I can’t help but wonder how and why a film about love got to be so dry and passionless. Is dating really this painfully awkward? Is marriage really this burdensome? Realistically, yes, but when you’re trying to make a point about true love supposedly trumping it all, including cultural differences and age-old traditions, then you should at least make it seem like the winner. The movie tries to have its cake and eat it too by serving us heaps of realism and fantasy on one plate, failing to understand that you only have to pick one to be palatable. “Love Contractually” is the title of Zoe’s documentary, but it’s also the name this movie should’ve gone with, seeing as how everyone acts like they’re obligated to be here. 

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Actor: Alexander Owen, Alice Orr-Ewing, Asim Chaudhry, Ben Ashenden, Emma Thompson, Haqi Ali, Jamal Andreas, Jeff Mirza, Lily James, Michael Marcus, Mim Shaikh, Munir Khairdin, Nikkita Chadha, Nosheen Phoenix, Oliver Chris, Peter Sandys-Clarke, Ravi Aujla, Sajal Ali, Shabana Azmi, Shaheen Khan, Shazad Latif, Sindhu Vee, Taj Atwal, Wasim Zakir

Director: Shekhar Kapur

Rating: PG-13

Written by Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s Body) and directed by Zelda Williams (daughter of the late Robin Williams), Lisa Frankenstein is a playful, funny, and stylish take on ‘80s horror and coming-of-age romcoms. Unfortunately, those traits alone are not enough to give the film the weight it needs to stand the test of time. There’s a clumsiness to the direction that, ironically enough, makes the film seem like parts lousily stitched together, instead of a coherent whole. There are pauses that are too long, transitions that feel off, and questions left unanswered. Why does it feel natural for Lisa to kill people? Was she close to her mom? What does her relationship with The Creature indicate, apart from the trite and obvious “outcasts must stick together”? Lisa Frankenstein doesn’t have to answer all these to be a good film, but when things are shallowly rendered, they become hard to ignore. It prioritizes pulpy gimmicks and visual gags that are admittedly fun to watch, but leaves behind equally important matters that flesh out Lisa as a person.

Genre: Comedy, Horror, Romance

Actor: Ashton Leigh, Bryce Romero, Carla Gugino, Charlie Talbert, Cole Sprouse, Donna DuPlantier, Geraldine Singer, Henry Eikenberry, Jenna Davis, Jennifer Pierce Mathus, Joe Chrest, Joey Harris, Joshua Montes, Kathryn Newton, Liza Soberano, Luke Sexton, Paola Andino, Ray Gaspard, Ritchie Montgomery, Shane Partlow, Summer Selby, Sylvia Grace Crim, Trina LaFargue, Walker Babington, Wendy Miklovic

Director: Zelda Williams

Rating: PG-13