Staying Fit
(Left to right) Robert Redford and Jane Fonda in "Our Souls at Night" and Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga in "Loving."
Kerry Brown/Netflix; Ben Rothstein/Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection
It's summertime and the loving is easy. OK, make that occasionally easy. More often, romance is met with challenges major, minor and sometimes self-inflicted. Need proof? Here are 10 of the finest romances — some cheery, some teary, some both — streaming on Netflix currently.
The Theory of Everything (2014)
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Jane Hawking's memoir, Travelling to Infinity: My Life With Stephen, offered an intimate vantage to gaze upon the amazing story of the famed astrophysicist and the tenacious, creative woman who kept him going once he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In embodying the couple's highs (there are many) and lows, Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne (who won the Oscar for his performance) suggest that perseverance and compassion are at the core of a love that endured much but also changed.
Watch it on Netflix: The Theory of Everything
About Time (2013)
Upon his 21st birthday, Tim (a pitch-perfect Domhnall Gleeson) learns from his dad (Bill Nighy with all his twitchy, inviting charm) that the family's menfolk can time travel — in, it turns out, a delightfully modest way. They can't futz with historic events but can hop back to recent moments in their own lives. This conceit gives Tim and this snappily written film plenty of room to tease the small stuff: a muffed first pickup line or a bumbly go at a bra clasp. Rachel McAdams is radiant as Mary, the woman Tim falls for. That he doesn't overuse this “gift” underscores how so much of life — his and ours — can be special as is.
Watch it on Netflix: About Time
Love Jones (1997)
A writer and a photographer meet in this romantic foray that has aged nicely since its premiere in the late ‘90s. Nia Long plays Nina, the budding photog whose fiancé had split at the movie's start. Lorenz Tate of the sweet smile and low-key bravado dedicates a spoken-word piece to Nina, just minutes after meeting her at a hipster club in Chicago. It doesn't work. But the stars and their characters have a savvy chemistry that won't be denied — challenged, sure, but not denied.
Watch it on Netflix: Love Jones
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