Middle of the Night Meanderings (Suzanne Forster)

I woke up at three a.m. last Saturday night. Generally, no good can come of waking in the wee hours, but in this case, there were a couple of perks. First, what woke me up was a cool idea for a linked paranormal series, and that’s always fun for a writer, even in the dead of the night. Actually, that may be the best time for anything paranormal. Once I got the idea down on paper, I couldn’t sleep, so I turned on the TV and low and behold, there was a great paranormal romance I’d seen several years ago: Meet Joe Black with Brad Pitt, Claire Forlani and Anthony Hopkins. It had been long enough since I’d seen the movie that I couldn’t remember exactly why it had made such an impression on me. I just knew that certain images from the movie had stayed with me, which is saying something.

I’m generally terrible about details and don’t retain things unless they burn themselves into my brain. So, the fact that vivid images came quickly to mind meant this was one of those experiences that fall into the “haunting” category. When something haunts me, whether book, movie, music or even an item of clothing that won’t let me leave the store until I buy it, I know that a chord has been touched in me—and I need to pay attention. But in this case, all I had were those images, and I probably shouldn’t share them now because some of you may not have seen Meet Joe Black.

So, there I was, wide awake and glued to the movie, curious about what had captured my imagination all those years ago—and wondering whether it would still work for me. It did. MJB definitely belongs in the haunting category, at least for me. I loved the premise, the situation, the characters, the ambience, the setting, just about everything. Brad, Claire, Anthony Hopkins and Marcia Gay Harden were perfectly cast. Compelling narrative questions were raised, and more important, answered satisfactorily. The story has universal themes and emotional resonance and the ending works—and really good endings are hard to pull off when one or more of the characters are supernatural beings. So, the stakes were high.

Meet Joe Black started me thinking about other romantic movies that I’ve loved over the years. Some of them had paranormal elements, like Ghost with Patrick Swayze and Somewhere in Time with the late Chris Reeve. Another favorite was an older movie called Heaven Can Wait with Warren Beatty and Dyan Cannon, where Beatty plays an angel. There was also the television series, Beauty and the Beast, with that amazing subterranean set, and another one of my film favorites—Lady Hawke with Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer, where a spell has turned her into a hawk by day and him a wolf by night. That one also left me with indelible images.

Although there was no obvious romance in The Matrix, I saw lots of possibilities for Neo and Trinity, and for me, that made it intensely romantic. And then at the very end, when Neo is dying, Trinity tells him of the Oracle’s prophecy that she would fall in love with The One—and that she loved him, Neo, and therefore he must be The One, which was a central question of the movie. It was a long wait, but well worth it, and all the more so, I would argue, because the movie was really not a romance in the conventional sense, so every little scrap of romance was a treasure.

Of course, I was always seeing possibilities for Dr. Spock on Star Trek, and desperately wanting him to meet his match and engage, so to speak. That unattainable quality is very powerful in a hero, or antihero. Dr. House has it in the television series. In the first season I found myself hoping for a close encounter between him and the innocent young Cameron, who seemed to be wishing for the same thing. Ah, love. Done well, there’s nothing better than forbidden love.

All of this tells me that I really must be an incurable romantic, which raises the question are the movies romantic or do our imaginations make them romantic? Have you found any movies romantic that aren’t obviously so, like The Matrix?

Others I’ve loved have more conventional romantic elements, and the list is long. I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen Moonstruck with Cher & Nick Cage, but it must be a half dozen at least. The Bodyguard had superb sexual tension, some great dramatic moments and a heartbreaker of a soundtrack. And of course, there was Daniel Day Lewis in Last of the Mohicans. What a performance! Many of us are still waiting for him to play another grand romantic hero, but we probably shouldn’t be holding our breath. I did love There Will Be Blood, but romantic … uh, no.

Let’s see now, my list wouldn’t be complete without The Thornbirds, although I must admit that I liked the book by Colleen McCullough better than the mini-series. What are your favorite romantic movies? I just realized I didn’t mention any of the Jane Austin classics, and I’ve loved them all. Do your favorites stay with you in that haunting way I mentioned? Do you get your fix by watching them repeatedly? Please feel free to leave lists, if you have them. I’m always looking for a great new love story.

Suz