Love is one of life’s most difficult concepts to grasp. One moment, it can be the most giddying and exciting thing in the world, the next it can become dark and sombre. What does love even look like when it’s at home?
Every Friday throughout October, you’ll be able to seek out the answer to this question with a dose of late-night love from Watershed’s ‘LOVE is like…’ series.
Be it thrilling and passionate, aching and painful, or something altogether much more surprising, screenings will traverse the entire spectrum of what love can be, taking you through beautiful and lighthearted films, controversial tales of the pain of falling for someone and, erm, Adam Sandler in a serious flick for once.
Amelie
First up on Friday October 2 is ‘Amelie’, a film where love itself is romanticised as much as the tale’s Parisian setting. Celebrated as a visual feat swathed in rich colours, the titular lead Amelie is a young woman who channels her passion into harnessing life’s simple pleasures, convinced that true love isn’t something she'll benefit from anytime soon. But as she opens her life up to mystery, she also opens herself up to new and exciting prospects – including love, perhaps.
Punch Drunk Love
Also on the agenda is the little-known ‘Punch Drunk Love’, showing on Friday October 9, in which Adam Sandler takes on a persona you probably won't have seen before. Shedding his signature goofball persona for that of a shy, awkward and lonely owner of a company specialising in novelty toiletry products, the Sandler of this film masterfully constructs a surreal rom-com, finding a delightfully gentle chemistry with Emily Watson’s Lena Leonard.
Despite director Paul Thomas Anderson winning the award for ‘Best Director’ at Cannes in 2002 and a very positive critical response, ‘Punch Drunk Love’ has somehow remained somewhat under the radar, which is just another reason for you to fall in love with it this October.
Blue is the Warmest Colour
Next you’ll be able to catch Abdellatif Kechiche’s ‘Blue Is The Warmest Colour’ on Friday October 16, which spans several years to tell the story of Adele, a sensitive high school pupil who becomes drawn to a mysterious blue-haired art school student, Emma.
Exploring the desire and passion that often becomes entangled with how you face love, this film uses a tumultuous relationship to take audiences through the many guises that love can undergo – at times quiet and sensual, at others aching and visceral – to boldly depict what it’s like to fall for someone … hard and fast.
Her
The penultimate screening on Friday October 23 is ‘Her’, which was a surprising hit commercially and critically at the time of release after originally being pencilled in for a limited release.
Directed by the legendary Spike Jonze (his debut venture as a solo screenwriter), the film sees Joaquin Phoenix as the central character Theodore, who develops a relationship with an intelligent computer operating system, personified as Samantha through a female voice. Here, love becomes something that is tender and intimate whilst also being isolating, and as it unfolds prepare to be completely captivated.
Let The Right One In
The programme concludes hauntingly on Friday October 30 with ‘Let The Right One In’, using the Halloween weekend to unleash an atmospheric tale of loneliness and vampirism in Stockholm from director Tomas Alfredson, following young boy Oskar as he befriends a new neighbour with a mysterious secret. With an unsettling soundscape, the film is both tense and touching, and is the perfect way to experience love on the most chilling night of the year.
Love is like... Friday October 2-30, 11pm. Watershed, 1 Canon's Road, Harbourside, Bristol, BS1 5TX. Click here for more info and tickets.
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