Not For Valentines

The night after the night before, here are 5 films you shouldn't have watched this Valentines Day (or maybe you should have)


5. Catfish (2010)

Directors: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Stars: Yaniv Schulman, Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost

In an age where millions of us are hooking up online, Catfish highlights the potential pitfalls of dating in these technological times of near infinite anonymity. There is still debate over the documentaries merits (a result of the involvement of Paranormal Activity creators Ariel Shulman and Henry Joost) but the narrative renders such thought irrelevant, a sort self fulfilling prophecy,Yaniv Schulman (brother of Ariel) is the central character who is in a typical  "on-line relationship"  and we must believe that he himself believes the basis of said relationship is all that it appears, so to convince us the team track the plethora of phone calls, letters, and facebook antics to unveil the truth.

4. Tokyo Decadence  (1992)

Director: Ryû Murakami
Stars: Miho Nikaido, Yayoi Kusama, Sayoko Amano


Ai (Ironically the Japenese word for love) is an escort going through a crisis of confidence, her life has spiraled into a world of bizarre bondage, kinky threesomes and generally every hedonistic impulse her body can be used for. All the while she pines for a lost love which along with a visit to an eccentric fortune-teller fuels her epiphany. Stylistically there is heavy European influences with lingering shots and deeply silent voids, but ultimately this is a film exploring a nations relationship with its own dark sexual desires and fantasies


3.Shame (2011)
Director: Steve McQueen
Stars: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge

Michael Fassbender plays Brandon a man incapable of love or loving, but well versed in the physical urges one might associate with it. Director Steve McQueen's follow up to 2008's Hunger relies on a similarly visceral thematics as we observe the same ritualistic, opportunistic, and catastrophic abuse of the body, here it takes place in office restrooms, strangers beds, hotel hookers and nightclub alleyways. Throw into the mix the arrival of sister Carey Mulligan who has her own set of problems and Brandon's life is about to implode into the myriad of dramas their clashing life styles bring about.


2.From the Life Of The Marrionettes (1980)

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Stars: Robert Atzorn, Christine Buchegger, Martin Benrath

One of regular features in the vast back catalogue of Ingmar Bergman is his take on marriage, 'Life of Marrionettes the follow up to the acclaimed Autumn Sonata (which also concerns itself with holy matrimony) is a dark and murky journey. Set in West Germany the film charts the psychological breakdown of a German couple whose relationship is beyond oblivion, punctuated by the opening scene murder of a prostitute by Husband Peter (Robert Atzorn) we then investigate events before the grisly crime and interrogate the mental profiles of those who knew him, chiefly Wife Katarina (Christine Buchegger) in an attempt to piece the murderous puzzle together.

1. Blue Valentine (2010)
Director: Derek Cianfrance

Stars: Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams

The title says it all, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are tasked with providing an insight into the struggles of the modern day American marriage.Husband Dean (Gosling) is made of a fierce simplicity, he works ordinary job with his bare hands, has an irksome outlook on life and a hunger for emotional contact. Wife Cindy is a more calculated configuration of aspirational intelligence, passive aggression and sporadic extroversion. Director Derek Cianfrance expertly fragments and patches together the couples past and current states and allows us to judge for ourselves where it went wrong, if it was doomed from the start or if they can make it through their troubles.