Thursday Movie Picks #7: Unrequited Love

Welcome back to Thursday Movie Picks hosted by Wandering through the Shelves Blog again. The only series I constantly do for the last two weeks.

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The Valentine is coming and so Friday the 13th. However, this week’s Thursday Movie Picks theme is quite, you know, bridging the two events; it’s about Unrequited Love—there’s a joy of Valentine and the nightmare of the Friday at once. So, here’s my pick:

01. (500) Days of Summer

Tom and Summer get into my picks for two consecutive weeks; but, how could I help with this? The first movie to come in my mind when talking about unrequited love. We know from the start that Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) falls for Summer (and he gives up everything he has for her only. Yet, Summer never feels the same way, right? She only loves being with Tom, but she’s never really into him. Wish that Tom realized it earlier…

02. Leon: The Professional

I always love Leon for the depiction of the relationship between Leon (Jean Reno) and little Mathilda (Natalie Portman). What makes it pathetic is: Leon’s a professional hitman and Mathilda’s just a kid whose family were murdered; there’s a generation gap and, more than that, there’s a moral gap. Mathilda mistakenly takes Leon’s sympathy as a love; and she’s always craving for love and affection to Leon. I feel so sorry for her; she should’ve been growing a little more to understand.

03. 5 Centimeters per Second

This is the most heartbreaking animated feature I ever seen. Toono and Akari met when they’re both little, but distance separates them. The thing is, there must be some barriers to hinder them being together and we never really know why they can’t be together. This is a real unrequited story fueled by fate and all beautiful imagery; ironic, isn’t it? Further description of what’s going on in 5 Centimeters per Second can be read here!

Oh, it’s a raining Thursday here in Indonesia, so I give an honorable mention to The Garden of Words, another work from Makoto Shinkai (5 Centimeters per Second).

Happy Thursday everybody!