Four Love Stories for your Watchlist

 

Love. I have read a few books in the genre, but the number is fewer than those in mystery and thriller genre. But I have watched enough movies and shows to recommend it. I list down below few of my latest favorite shows on love, relationship and romance – it encompasses everything – the highs and lows of a relationship, the intricacies of sharing space, trust issues, care-taking, all with love at its core. It’s the adult version of love, along with the teenage version of butterflies in the stomach, and the anticipation.

First Love:

The Japanese web series was released on Netflix sometime last year. I watched in almost entirely while travelling - flights to Pune from Bengaluru, to Bhubaneshwar from Pune and train journey to Keonjhar from Bhubaneshwar. It was a roller coaster of emotions. The story goes back and forth from 1990s and 2000s.

A cute little teenage romance brews between the high schoolers - boy, Namiki, and the girl, Noguchi. The fresh brush of first love. It is endearing to see them go on picnics, bury a time capsule with their pictures and letters to one another and curios from that time to open 10 years later.

As cliched as it sounds, Noguchi loses her memory of the recent few years in an accident. She has no recollection of Namiki, and at the behest of her mother, Namiki lets her go.

Fast forward to 15 years later, Noguchi has a son and is divorced. Namiki is still unmarried, but in a steady relationship. Both had different dreams for their life, different ambitions which they could not achieve. Life happened. He sees her again on the busy streets of Tokyo and gets acquainted with her through her son. There’s still a gap in her memory, she doesn’t remember yet. He tries to start anew a friendship – a reminder of the older times. And it’s so good to watch them share space again, be each other’s confidants and strengths.

And that title track is a must-listen. It had been my go-to song for weeks in loop.

And I’ll always root for love stories set in 1990s 2000s high school, it is just so nostalgic.

 

From Scratch:

This web series on Netflix is an adaptation of the best-selling memoir of the same name. There’s Sicily and USA – delicious food and art. It is a take on relationships – how they change over time, how new phases of life demand new commitments and new trials. It’s love in all its shades.

Beautiful Sicily and its food find its due place in the book. Garlic and olive oil do magic to food on screen making our mouths water. Incredible storytelling, so engaging narration, and so raw at times, so down to earth. Life in its full force, awe and behold. There is grief as well, but it ends with acceptance and moving on, a positive ending to the series in my opinion.

 

A Married Woman:

She is dismissed in her home, her career and job deemed meaningless, her identity still just a housewife. She receives solace in art, a dramatics club anchor, a person who delves in poetry. On his passing she connects with his girlfriend, and they hit off a friendship intense for the society. She gets to experience life anew; her everyday life is now different from how it was before she met them. But propriety and limitations of her home cause dilemma. Is this new relationship trustworthy, time enduring, would she get her due place and respect in it. The dilemma is never ending and so progresses the story.

The story is set in post partition times, times of riots and curfews. A tough time for the country. What does she choose, in the end? Love and life is never straightforward.

Hidden Love:

She has a high school crush that turns to unrequited love, and leads to a broken heart. But later in life, years ahead, he falls for her harder. How does love blossom when she had once given up on him, and second chances do they actually work? It is a sweet little tale, with a lot of heart, familial love, the innocent brush of first love, and the quiet kind of love enduring the test of time. It is very relatable. Has its share of swoon. And I have watched it twice – that says a lot as I never repeat my watchlist. It is a comfort watch, when you are nostalgic and miss the cozy cocoon of friendship, loving care of family and a romantic love that dotes on you.

 

I’ll always choose love stories over crime thrillers. I have grown up now. Choosing comfort need not require explanation.

Let me know if you watch any of these, or have any such recommendations for me.