I’m writing a teen romance, and wanted to poll everyone here for the best romantic movies they know.
So far on the list, which is short:
- The Notebook
- Twilight
- Amelie
- Bridges of Madison County (not very teen!)
Thanks!
i like 10 things i hate about you, spectacular now
Don’t have any teen romances, but–
You’ve Got Mail (1998) – one of my favorite movies, period.
It Happened One Night (1934)
Last Chance Harvey (2008)
I second Dan310’s two suggestions, along with Pretty in Pink, Dirty Dancing, Sixteen Candles, High School Musical, The Princess Diaries, Romeo + Juliet, A Walk to Remember…
Basically, I just used IMDb.com’s “Keyword” search function, typed in “teen romance,” and up came about 287 titles tagged as “teen romances.”
Not saying all the above have solid storyforms, of course; they were just popular in their day…
Hope that helps, and am very intrigued by the idea of you writing a teen romance, MWolleager! Can I see?
In due time, you can see.
I like the idea of using the imdb filters… but given that there are nearly 300… do you have any favorites? (They don’t even have to be teen.)
The Fault in our Stars
Say Anything, Benny and Joon
I enjoyed all the ones I mentioned (including Dan310’s). Of course, as I get older, I lower my expectations for teen stories–it’s been SO long since I was one, it’s sometimes difficult to connect with newer ones…
The genre has had its tropes for many years, and for good reason: We all tend to go through certain similar rites of passage, and many teen romances just revisit those passages in different times and places.
So I entrust you, MWollaeger, to break beyond the tropes and write something even old fogies like me can relate to (if that’s even something you’d like to accomplish :-).
Sunrise (1927). Can’t say enough about this silent FW Murnau film. It impresses me, particularly with its technical attributes, far more than many modern films.
What about City Lights? (Speaking of silent movies.) I’ve never seen it.
City Lights is definitely cute and funny. But the Dramatica analysis didn’t see it as being a complete Story. Plus it’s a tragicomic romance between a bum and a blind girl — not the easiest tale to make a romance out of.
When Harry Met Sally
Pride & Prejudice (preferably the 1995 miniseries)
Sense & Sensibility (Ang Lee w/ Emma Thompson, 1995)
I know those aren’t “teen” romance films, but other than the above-mentioned John Hughes films, good American teen romance is hard to come by (I confess I enjoy A Walk to Remember even though it’s a narrative mess).
Karate Kid (1984) has a nice romance thread embedded in it. Same with Spider-man 1 - 2 (Sam Raimi).
I actually think Japanese animation has a better corner on teen romance. While there’s plenty that’s melodramatic and histrionic, there are some greats like Eureka Seven, From Me to You, Waiting in Summer, and The Tatami Galaxy.
I am a huge fan of Japanese animation, though I’m fairly new to it. I can’t find places to stream these shows – do you have a place? (Funimation has Tatami Galaky, KissAnime has Eureka Seven – 50 episodes.)
My husband loved Untamed Heart, “Even though it had a sad ending.”
What romances don’t? Louis CK said something like, “All romances end in heartbreak, divorce, or death.”
You can find some of these free on Hulu:
http://www.hulu.com/the-tatami-galaxy,
http://www.hulu.com/waiting-in-the-summer,
http://www.hulu.com/kimi-ni-todoke-from-me-to-you,
I think you can watch Eureka Seven on Funimation’s site, but I’ve never tried their streaming service:
http://www.funimation.com/shows/eureka-seven/videos
(Choose ‘subtitled’ always - the dubs are terrible)
Made of Honor
The Ugly Truth
Outlander
Timer
Hitch (sorta)
Titanic
Somewhere In Time
Endless love
About time
The time travelers wife
Romances are different depending on what stage of romance your looking for. Courtship (prolly for a teen story this would make the most sense) vs. say a romance between a married couple like Bridges of Madison County
I’ve never been particularly interested in or impressed by most teen romances, but I whole heartedly endorse the manga/anima suggestions. (For…reasons) Most shoujo would be a good choice. There’s some good shounen but much of it tends to be American Pie type sex comedies but with more fan service.
I particularly liked Kimi ni Todoke (Reaching You), Kimi no Iru Machi (The Town Where You Live) a more dramatic shounen/crossover manga. One of my favorites though the anime adaptation is not paricularly good, Last Game (!) Say I Love You (also has a live action movie), Wolf Girl and the Black Prince (another great one and not at all what it sounds like. It’s not a fantasy. I think it may also have a live action adaptation), Nana (a classic and significant manga/anime/movie. It’s Josei so it’s more mature --in the serious grown-up sense–following two teen girls named Nanna from high school graduation to early adulthood.)
You can actually find a number of these on YouTube as well as other sites. If you’re particularly interested in any, let me know and I can give you more information about them.
Not the ones I watch/ed and/or read. In 1967 I read a short story in a Playboy magazine, where a guy gets together, again, with a gal who had dumped him for a husband who had just died, leaving her emotionally fragile with grief. The guy was interesting, charming, loving, supportive, then nasty at a vulnerable moment, causing her to kill herself, as he walked away with satisfied smirk. I have never read/watched anything with an ending not to my blue sky liking since. Other than Sixth Sense, and that worked out so well, I watched the next film Unforgettable without checking out the end. Well, that end was so horrible, I went back to studying the endings first to decide if something was going to get hours of my life. If it’s not going to perk me up forget it, that is my motto. I have discovered since then, with writing, that if an ending is weak, no matter of brilliance beforehand can save a work from more than mediocrity, while a good ending saves a mediocre scramble, leading up to it.
Jane Eyre, with all of them capturing some aspect of the book. The 1943 Wells-Fontaine-PeggyGardner version was my favorite in capturing character, even though the end was too rushed (probably a budget crisis). The 2006 Wilson-Stephens version was most successful at showing Jane’s transformation at the end.
The brilliance of Charlotte Brontë’s writing is showing a girl creating a successful life after an abusive childhood. I read it 17 times between the ages of 13 and 16. It gave me a toe hold to a functionable life.
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