The Belated Valentine’s Edition of Secondhand Screenings

Ever since the new, extra-horny remake of Wuthering Heights made its blockbuster debut this past Valentine’s weekend, there’s been a mess of commentary that eschews yearning in agony for someone in favor of speaking your mind and being honest and open with your feelings when you have them. Fair enough, Jacob Elordi, but if you had learned anything from any forced readings of Dostoevsky, or perhaps Brontë, it’s that yearning is part of what makes you human in the first place.

All of the films we picked for this Valentine’s edition of Secondhand Screenings show some extent of the “moral imperative” that most lovers, or love-sick, crush-hounded puppy dogs, have in yearning for another (or many others, hey, it is Utah, after all!). So write that love note! Elordi would tell you to send it, and Dostoevsky might even tell you to burn it. But who cares if it’s late anyway? These reviews were belated, so too can be your love, if you feel it!

Before Sunrise
Director: Richard Linklater
Castle Rock Entertainment
Released: 01.27.1995

Before Sunrise is an unconventional romance. It’s not one with high-highs and low-lows, while it doesn’t follow the classic “romcom” formula. It avoids the unrealistic. The film stars Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, who play two young and pensive characters Celine and Jesse. Their roles feel reversed: a French woman as a dreamer, and an American lad as a cynic. To understand their connection is to know that regardless of cultural differences, gender or language, they still have the ability to form a meaningful connection. Taking place in Vienna, this film is a reminder that beauty and affection often come in unexpected and spontaneous ways. Between the two, they address life’s biggest mysteries and the simple and mundane pleasures and pains of everyday life. 

Many of the scenes throughout the film are cut into long, uninterrupted takes, allowing the viewers to experience the rawness of every passing moment. While it’s true that there is a sequel, watching just the first is satisfactory and thought-provoking. With the film’s open ending comes a certain lack of resolution. This is largely a writer’s choice, as the ending feels both beautiful and confusing, so does life. This film is an intended depiction of human excellence and the inevitable flaws that come with it. Thoughtful and compelling, the unexpected pair make jokes, speak in poetic undertones and discuss life’s biggest events and the inevitable — death. 

Before Sunrise is for those who don’t enjoy the idea of Valentine’s Day, but love the idea of love. So much throughout the film is said, but what I find most beautiful is what isn’t. The mundane. —Joy Nelson

Boy Meets World
Producer: Michael Jacobs, April Kelly
ABC
Released: 09.24.1993

Play word association with anyone: Whether they’re a real Boy Meets World fan or not, the word you’ll get back is “Topanga” (and if you are a real fan, you can hear Cory and Shawn say it in shocked unison). People remember Topanga for more than her hippy-dippy name. Viewers will remember her for being the girl they had a crush on in middle school and for being one half of the “perfect couple.” However, are Cory and Topanga the perfect couple? Despite not getting together until season three, as the show goes on, their origin story shifts. By the end, Cory claims to have been with Topanga for at least 16 years (they’re like 19 years old). Yet, as their time together magically grows, their apparent love for each other dwindles. 

Here are the facts: Cory cheats on Topanga more than once, most notably with Linda Cardellini’s snow bunny character, which leads to just one of their many breakups. Topanga turns down the chance to study at Yale to be with Cory, proposing to him before their high school graduation cap and gown are cold. Then, they break up again before even getting married. Love and fate are HUGE themes in Boy Meets World, with nothing mattering more than Cory and Topanga being together because the Universe wants them to be. So why do they keep breaking up? Someone needs to teach Michael Jacobs about “show, don’t tell” because we are told a nauseating amount that Cory and Topanga love each other, but what we are shown is two people who don’t really like, know or care about each other. Want to see two people who have a true connection and bring out the best in each other? Look no further than Cory and Shawn. —Braxtyn Birrell

Equals
Director: Drake Doremus
Infinite Studios, Freedom Media, Route One Entertainment, Scott Free Productions
Released: 07.15.2015

At first glance, Equals may appear to be just another descendant of the futurism genre. Sterilized, nearly translucent white walls and dim, blue-gray lighting mark THX 1138 influences, while its dystopic-utopia tropes denote Brave New World and 1984. In the film, The Collective exerts control by suppressing people’s emotions, both through conditioning and chemical means. Anyone showing any signs of “increased sensitivity,” or worse, found “coupling” (gasp), are diagnosed syndromic and committed to a detention center where assisted death is doled out. This leaves everyone in the society “equals,” or existing on a level emotional field. 

What sets the film apart is the fact that it is not a story of rebellion, or even redemption, although some may see defiance in the love story that unfolds between coworkers Silas (Nicholas Hoult, Superman) and Nia (Kristen Stewart). It is indeed foremost a love story, and a pure one, with a quiet elegance and delicate attention to subtle detail that captures the microscopic milestones leading to the feeling of enrapturement, little by little. Stolen glances turn into prolonged gazes, which are then followed by a little friendly stalking. When they finally connect, and Silas finds that Nia has been hiding emergent emotions of her own, their first romantic encounter unfolds so slowly that I coined the term snail erotica to describe it. The scenes between them are very tactile, like ASMR for A24 film freaks, and as they spend precious time together, the lighting becomes colored and the ambient score flourishes more, underscoring the naturalness of their communion.

While The Collective considers space travel the key to “ultimate reality,” focusing its subjects’ attention on the future to alleviate the existential questions of living, the film itself is not interested in a space-age plot. Instead, it seeks to ground us in more accessible concerns — love, and the chemistry of eyeballs. Silas says, towards the end when he decides he doesn’t care what the cosmos holds, “The answers are right in front of us. I know why I’m here.” This message, like the film itself, turns out to be profound in its inherent simplicity. —Kyle Forbush

Masculin Féminin
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Anouchka Films, Argos Films
Released: 09.19.1966

From “We will always have Paris” (Casablanca) to “Big is moving to Paris” (Sex and the City), French cafés and the Eiffel Tower have persisted as the filmic backdrop of the most iconic moments of Hollywood romance, because Paris is the “city of love,” oui? Well, French filmmakers paint a very different picture of human connection, one that couples the mundane and the outlandish. French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard encapsulates this through his iconically stylistic lens in the indie classic Masculin Féminin (also known by Godard’s alternative title, The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola).

The film is a free-form romance that leans away from the picturesque and toward a comical and candid observation of 1960s youth culture as it follows its main character, Paul (Jean-Pierre Léaud), a sheepish intellectual, as he pursues an affair with the sweet and career-driven pop-star Madeleine (Chantal Goya).

The film is a time capsule of 1960s Paris, Brigitte Bardot, and all. It is shot on location, embracing Paris cafes, laundromats and stuffy apartments, and there are no moments that are dressed up for your viewing pleasure (outside of the fabulous clothing). In fact, it is entirely minimalistic in setting and its documentary-like cinematography, directing your focus toward the characters’ lives in a bustling time of political and social change. The film’s open discussion on topics of gender roles, war, consumerism and sexuality, paired with Godard’s complex yet cartoonish characters, ensures you will never be bored. It often feels so intimate and in the moment when lovers pull out pistols during quarrels, it is laughable, but you won’t bat an eye in Godard’s satirical, tragic world. It is the perfect film to pregame your Valentine’s night of chocolate treats and contemplating your life. —Madi Madrid

Stuck In Love
Director: Josh Boone
Informant Media, MICA Entertainment, Solution Entertainment Group
Released: 07.13.2013 

Love is such a nostalgic feeling, bringing us back to a giddy, childish and easily excitable state. That is how Stuck In Love feels for a kid born in the ‘90s or early 2000s. Stuck In Love, similar to other movies created around the same time period, features a stacked cast, a killer soundtrack and for some reason, writing/journalism.

The main characters, Samantha (Lily Collins) and Rusty (Nat Wolff), are siblings with their parents, William (Greg Kinnear) and Erica (Jennifer Connelly). The whole family being writers and William being an astute author. William and Erica’s disastrous relationship takes you throughout the movie and throughout the holidays. Although the movie is set through various Thanksgivings, it is a rom-com through and through, earning a yearly Valentine’s Day watch. Samantha and Rusty go through their own love stories as their parents struggle to unstick their own. With William having an affair with Tricia (Kristen Bell) and Erica in a new relationship with Martin (Rusty Joiner). The parents seem to keep being drawn to each other and yearning is in full effect.

Samantha falls in love with Louis (Logan Lerman) throughout the movie. Their relationship is beautiful and tender. Samantha, determined not to fall in love, sleeps around with men who have half her IQ, i.e., “Good Looking Frat Boy” played by Glen Powell in one of his first roles. When Samantha stumbles upon Louis, a sweet, smart and courteous man with a strong relationship with his ill mother, she can’t help but fall in love. 

​Rusty falls in love with the most popular girl in school, Kate (Liana Liberato). Kate has a substance abuse problem and although Rusty attempts to save her, she ends up going to rehab. Stuck In Love does everything a romcom needs to do, leaving you feeling giddy, childish and excitable. Or stuck in love. —Alegra Zuchowicz

Monster High: Why Do Ghouls Fall In Love?
Directors: Andrew Duncan, Dustin McKenzie, Audu Paden, Steve Sacks
Mattel, Nerd Corps Entertainment
Released: 02.12.2012

As a long time lover of vampires, Valentine’s Day and all things pink, it was only natural for me to revisit my childhood favorite film: Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love? A movie created to promote Mattel’s Monster High toy line, it was only one of the greatest influences on my personality (second only to my parents). Our protagonist, Draculaura, is faced with the vampire Valentine, a figure from her romantic past who had created the holiday of “Valentine’s day” as a romantic gesture for her birthday. But the romance is all smoke and mirrors: this sweet talkin’ southern gentleman vampire is actually a male manipulator and, much like my ex-boyfriends, returns to Draculaura in order to break her heart. Valentine is, as Draculaura’s ghoul friends point out, a bitch. In realizing that Draculaura is in love with Clawd Wolf, he resorts to hypnotizing her and madness ensues.

I found it interesting how far the Monster High creators were willing to go in presenting this male-manipulator narrative, but it paid off. Although the pacing is strange at times, and there are a few-too-many B-plots, the story rang true. The film hails from an era of girl-boss feminism where Draculaura’s ghoul friends are the MVPs of freaky friendship. They call her out, listen to her and save her from evil men. I’m glad that the media I consumed as a child was so focused on female friendship and community. I remember watching this film when it debuted, Draculaura doll in hand with my own ghoul-friends. Who would’ve guessed I’d have the chance to write about it now, after a mandatory re-watch and gal-entines with my ghouls? —Gabriella R.W.

Read more festive Secondhand Screenings:
SLUG Magazine Presents: 31 Days of Secondhand Givings
SLUG Magazine Presents: 31 Nights of Secondhand Screenings