Thursday Movie Picks: Unrequited Love

Before I got married, even before I'd ever had a girlfriend there was a girl I'll simply call T. She showed up in my class about halfway through third grade and was instantly the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen. She was in my class through sixth grade and attended the same school as I right through high school graduation. Year after year, she became something greater than she was the year before. I dreamed about her and imagined myself saying those magic words that would somehow sweep her off her feet, but alas, it was never meant to be. In my senior yearbook, she wrote me a perfectly generic message saying how 'nice' it was to have went to school with me for all those years. That's about as close as I got to a meaningful exchange with her.

My pitiful little story was inspired by this week's topic for the Thursday Movie Picks hosted by Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves. It is movies about unrequited love. There are lots and lots of these. I've decided to come at the subject from three different angles while mixing in some love for the Brown-Houston clan. Lord knows they need it right about now. Chronologically, of course, here are my picks...

Waiting to Exhale

(1995)

This all-out salute to girl-power contains lots of unrequited love. In what might be the finest movie performance of the late Whitney Houston's acting career she plays a woman clinging to the hope that the married man she is in love with will actually leave his wife for her. That guy, by the way, is played by none other than Mr. Allstate himself, Dennis Haysbert. However, the unquestionable star of the show is a brilliant Angela Bassett as a woman who has devoted her life to making her husband a success, not the same guy, only to see him leave her for another woman, Throw in excellent work from Loretta Devine, an oddly dramatic and very young Donald Faison, and a charming Gregory Hines, and we get an excellent lesson in the high art of melodrama.

A Thin Line Between Love and Hate

(1996)

Our first pick gave us women on the both sides of bad marriages. This one gives us a Cougar gone mad. Our hero, of sorts, is Darnell, played by Martin Lawrence. He is a nightclub manager and unrepentant playboy. He wines and dines his way into the heart of the beautiful, wealthy, and mature Brandi only to discover he's in love with a much more simple girl. He puts the brakes on things with Brandi and Fatal Attraction happens. I'm not much of a fan of his movies, but this stands next to the Bad Boys flicks and his turn in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, as his finest work. It's completely derivative, but fun. Here is my second bit of love for a certain R&B family. Bobby Brown plays Martin's co-worker, fellow playboy, and sidekick, and has a fun time doing it. Not that he's any good, but he does have fun.

The Skin I Live In

(2011)

My first two picks take a somewhat traditional path to showing us unrequited love. This one is completely off the rails and I love every minute of it. A rather morose Antonio Banderas plays a world renowned doctor who has developed artificial skin that is resistant to burns and insect bites. As such, he lives in a huge, secluded mansion. He also happens to be keeping a beautiful woman locked up in the bedroom adjacent to his. The wall between them is made up of a two-way mirror that he watches her through, occasionally going in her room to check on her. He loves her. She doesn't love him and it only gets more bizarre from there. I'll say nothing else to keep from spoiling it. Just know that it's from famed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. Therefore, you know it's not going to be quite like anything else you've ever seen. (my full review)

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