Film & TV Lunch Club: February 2021 - Love is Love

The Lobster, Time, Submarine

Feb 01, 2021

Hello and welcome to February, which is not only the month of romantic, hetero-love, but all sorts of love. Everyone should be able to love freely!

The members of my #filmandtvlunchclub put forward and have been voting on titles which they think fits the theme this month: 'Love is Love'. Below you will find the selection that got the most votes in our poll, as well as a long list of other titles which you can use as a watchlist - each film, documentary or television show has a method for watching in brackets but please note that these are correct as of today and are subject to change.

🎞 February Selection 🎞

The Lobster | Official Trailer HD | A24

The Lobster (2015; Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos) Comedy/drama/romance: In a dystopian near future, single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods. Rent from Rakuten, Amazon, Youtube or BFI Player.
Time (2020; Dir: Garrett Bradley) - F-Rated Documentary: Fox Rich fights for the release of her husband, Rob, who is serving a 60-year sentence in prison. Stream on Amazon Prime.
Submarine (2010; Dir: Richard Ayoade) Comedy/drama/romance: 15-year-old Oliver Tate has two objectives: To lose his virginity before his next birthday, and to extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life. Rent from all the places listed above.

Bonus Short: If Anything Happens, I Love You (2020; Dir. Michael Govier, Will McCormack) - Animation/short/drama: This illustrated short film takes us on an extraordinary emotional journey of two parents struggling to overcome the hurt left by a tragic event that leaves their family changed forever.

🎬 The Long List: Optional Extras 🎬

Other notable films/TV shows suggested for the theme by club members:

Love, Simon (Rent or watch on Channel 4 on 14th February) - Simon Spier keeps a huge secret from his family, his friends and all of his classmates: he's gay. When that secret is threatened, Simon must face everyone and come to terms with his identity.
Appropriate Behaviour (Prime) – Shirin is struggling to become an ideal Persian daughter, politically correct bisexual and hip young Brooklynite but fails miserably in her attempt at all identities. Being without a cliché to hold onto can be a lonely experience.
Someone Great (Netflix) - After a devastating break up on the eve of her cross-country move, Jenny enjoys one last NYC adventure with her two best pals. Someone Great is a romantic comedy about love, loss, growth and the everlasting bond of female friendship.
Time and Again (BBC iPlayer) - Welsh acting legend Dame Siân Phillips stars alongside Brigit Forsyth in this award-winning drama written and directed by Cardiff-based film-maker Rachel Dax.
10 Things I Hate About You (Disney Plus) - A pretty, popular teenager can't go out on a date until her ill-tempered older sister does.
About Time (Prime and Netflix) - At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think.
Definitely Maybe (Netflix) - A political consultant tries to explain his impending divorce and past relationships to his 11-year-old daughter.
Under the Eiffel Tower (Netflix) - Stuart is a having a mid-life crisis. Desperate for something more in life, he tags along on his best friend's family vacation to Paris - then proposes to his friend's 26-year-old daughter, Rosalind, while standing under the Eiffel Tower.
Frances Ha (Prime) - A New York woman (who doesn't really have an apartment) apprentices for a dance company (though she's not really a dancer) and throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as the possibility of realizing them dwindles.
Notting Hill (Netflix) - The life of a simple bookshop owner changes when he meets the most famous film star in the world.
Manchester by the Sea (Prime) - A depressed uncle is asked to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy's father dies.
P.S. I Love You (Netflix) - A young widow discovers that her late husband has left her 10 messages intended to help ease her pain and start a new life.
Black Mirror: Hang the DJ (Season 4 - Netflix) and Be Right Back (Season 2 -Netflix) –Two episodes from Charlie Brooker’s anthology series.
Lost in Translation (Prime) - A faded movie star and a neglected young woman form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo.
Beautiful Boy (Prime) - Chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring experience of survival, relapse and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years.
Squid and the Whale (Prime) - Follows two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.
The Handmaiden (Netflix) - A woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her.
The Notebook (Netflix) - A poor yet passionate young man falls in love with a rich young woman, giving her a sense of freedom, but they are soon separated because of their social differences.
My Octopus Teacher (Netflix) - A filmmaker forges an unusual friendship with an octopus living in a South African kelp forest, learning as the animal shares the mysteries of her world.
What If (Netflix) - Wallace, who is burned out from a string of failed relationships, forms an instant bond with Chantry, who lives with her longtime boyfriend. Together, they puzzle out what it means if your best friend is also the love of your life.
Holding The Man (Netflix) - Tim and John fell in love while teenagers at their all-boys high school. John was captain of the rugby team, Tim an aspiring actor playing a minor part in Romeo and Juliet.
Call Me By Your Name (Rent) - In 1980s Italy, romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old student and the older man hired as his father's research assistant.
Rafiki (Rent on BFI Player) - "Good Kenyan girls become good Kenyan wives," but Kena and Ziki long for something more. When love blossoms between them, the two girls will be forced to choose between happiness and safety.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Mubi) - On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
Blue Is The Warmest Colour (Rent) - Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire and to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adèle grows, seeks herself, loses herself, and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.

🔜 Next Month 🔜

The theme for March will be FEMME FETALE to coincide with International Women's Day on March 8th. In the meantime, register for Miss En Scene's #ChooseToChallengeCinema event here!