10 Unconventional Romance Movies Perfect for February's Month of Love
If you’re looking for a different-than-expected movie, watch these films that color outside of the typical romantic lines.
1. Like Crazy (2011): Two college students, American Jacob and British Anna, fall in love but are torn apart when Anna’s visa rules are broken. It paints a painful, stirring and realistic picture of how long-distance can change relationships, the people in them, and how life can bring you back together as quickly as it separated you.
Available on Hulu, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, Redbox, and YouTube.
2. Disobedience (2017): Free-spirited Ronit returns home to her long-tied and tightly-knit Orthodox Jewish community. When she encounters her childhood friend Esti, with whom she had a young relationship that was forbidden and crushed, passion draws them together still as they explore the limits of sexuality and religion and the intersections of both.
Available on Hulu with STARZ add-on, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, and YouTube.
3. War Witch (2012): During sub-Sahara African civil war, 12-year-old Komona is kidnapped, trained to become a warrior and forced to kill her own parents. She falls in love with a young boy with albinism, a boy called Magician. They escape the war together but are soon found and destroyed. Although a war story, the film maintains some glimpses of childlike simplicity and straightforward love, even in the face of war.
Available on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Tubi, Vudu, Google Play, Kanopy, and YouTube.
4. Comet (2014): After a chance meeting at a meteor shower, a six-year relationship is explored through non-chronological but crucial moments, sometimes in parallel universes, reflecting the non-linear nature of cherished moments in life and love.
Available on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play, and YouTube.
5. Midnight in Paris (2011): Hollywood screenwriter and romantic dreamer Gil is on vacation in Paris with his fiancée Inez. Walking home one night, he finds himself in a car on the way to a party where he will meet the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald,and Gertrude Stein, among others. Upon returning, he begins to fall in love with the past and the people in it, inflating the romantic ideals he already held. The relationships he builds in the past reveal to him that it is everything he longed for it to be, but he must return to his own “Golden Era” and find what he truly longs for in the present.
Available on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, Rebox, and YouTube.
6. Lars and the Real Girl (2007): A socially distant and awkward man informs his brother and sister-in-law that he met a wheelchair-bound missionary named Bianca, who turns out to be a life-sized doll purchased from an adult website. As his family and community attempt to accept his uncomfortable coping device, a poignant and straightforward conversation with his brother starts Lars towards stretching his boundaries and accepting the world around him.
Available on Hulu with HBOMax add-on, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, Redbox, and YouTube.
7. An Oversimplification of Her Beauty (2012): This semi-animated film tells the story of a man who is stood up for a date by a beautiful woman. His journal-like storytelling, non-linear events, and self-indulgent mind take viewers on a mind-boggling and kaleidoscopic journey through the rifts and boundaries of platonic and romantic love.
Available on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, and YouTube.
8. Blue Valentine (2010): This tragically beautiful tale tells the story of a couple who appear wonderful but are spiraling internally. The non-linear narrative examines how two “normal” people can be toxic when combined and the loss of self and inner defeat that comes with the decay of a long-term relationship.
Available on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Tubi, Vudu, Google Play, Redbox, and YouTube.
9. Her (2013): A sensitive and soon-to-be divorced man becomes fascinated with a new A.I. that evolves into its own unique identity. He falls in love with her through conversations regarding love and life, eventually attempting a sort-of physical relationship. As she and other A.I.s plan to leave to a space beyond the physical, suggesting transformation and evolution, he remains stagnant but attempts to move on without her. The film is engaging and challenging, presenting ideas of intimacy in a tech-heavy world where a promise of connection is often only illusion.
Available on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, Redbox, and YouTube.
10. The Shape of Water (2017): A mute woman working at a secret government lab lives a routine day-by-day life. When the facility captures a strange amphibian-humanoid creature, she begins to secretly visit him. After an attempt to break him out and save his life, he heals her scars, turning them to gills, and they swim off together down the canal. Stunning scenery and sets, saturated colors, and over-the-top moments blended with subtle details create a strange and unique film.
Available on Hulu with LIVE add-on, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, Redbox, and YouTube.
Emily Cunningham is a freelance magazine writer with a passion for wildlife conservation, social issues, and artistic pursuits including dance, creative writing, and handmade art.
