The kind of film that can break a heart

The Trailer

The Banter
An excerpt from the book:

            ‘Dex?’  

            ‘Hm.’

            ‘Let’s just cuddle, shall we?’

            ‘Of course. If you want,’ he said gallantly, though in truth he had never really seen the point of cuddling. Cuddling was for great aunts and teddy bears. Cuddling gave him cramp. Best now to admit defeat and get home as soon as possible, but she was settling her head on his shoulder territorially, and they lay like this, rigid and self-conscious for some time before she said;

            ‘Can’t believe I used the word ‘cuddle’. Bloody ‘ell – cuddle. Sorry about that.’

            He smiled. ‘S’alright. Least it wasn’t snuggle.’

            ‘Snuggle’s pretty bad’

            ‘Or smooch.’

            ‘Smooch is awful.  Let’s promise never, ever to smooch,’ she said, regretting the remark at once. What, together? There seemed little chance of that. They lapsed into silence again. They had been talking, and kissing, for the last eight hours, and both had that deep, whole body fatigue that arrives at dawn. Blackbirds were singing in the overgrown back garden.

            ‘I love that sound’ he mumbled into her hair. ‘Blackbirds at dawn.’

            ‘I hate it. Makes me think I’ve done something I’ll regret.’

            ‘That’s why I love it,’ he said, aiming once again for a dark, charismatic effect. A moment, then he added ‘Why, have you?’

            ‘What?’

            ‘Done something you regret?’

            ‘What, this you mean?’ She squeezed his hand. ‘Oh, I expect so. Don’t know yet, do I? Ask me in the morning. Why, have you?’

            He pressed his mouth against the top of her head. ‘Course not,’ he said and thought this must never, ever happen again.

The Music
And look: Emma Morley's mixtape (she makes 2 for Dexter, one in 1989 and another in 2000), which already sound like the kind of songs I'd be playing if I want to feel the glory of getting my heart smashed into bits (let's check-- 11 of these are already on regular shuffle rotation in Sunshine the ipod):

Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack

There is a Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths

Fight The Power - Public Enemy

All I Want - Joni Mitchell

Sweet Jane - Cowboy Junkies

This is Love - PJ Harvey

Fade into You - Mazzy Star

On Saturday Afternoons in 1963 - Rickie Lee Jones

In My Life - The Beatles

Days - The Kinks

Walk on By - Dionne Warwick

Baby - Os Mutantes

These Days - Nico

Company - Rickie Lee Jones

Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks

Aria from the Goldberg Variations - Glenn Gould

You've Got to Hide Your Love Away - The Beatles

Pitseleh - Elliot Smith

Lover, You Should Have Come Over - Jeff Buckley

All to You - Ellen Mcilwaine

Dedicated to the One I Love - The Shirelles

Corrina, Corrina - Bob Dylan

Each and Everyone - Everything But The Girl

Nothing in this World Can Stop Me Worryin' 'Bout My Girl - The Kinks

Vitamin C - Can

Good Fortune - PJ Harvey

My Sweet Lord - Nina Simone

St. Swithin's Day - Billy Bragg

I Know It's Over - The Smiths

Dress - PJ Harvey

Northern Sky - Nick Drake

I Say A Little Prayer - Aretha Franklin

It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career - Belle and Sebastian

Protection - Massive Attack

Uncertain Smile - The The

Who Knows Where The Time Goes - Fairport Convention

Missing - Everything But The Girl

Pearly Dew-drops - The Cocteau Twins

Cruel - Prefab Sprout

Heroes - David Bowie

Magic in the Air - Badly Drawn Boy

Needle in a Haystack - Martha Reeves and the Vandellas

The Bottle - Gil Scott-Heron

Gloria - Patti Smith

Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt

Love and Affection - Joan Armatrading

I Heard It Through The Grapevine - The Slits

All Day and All Of The Night - The Kinks

The Boy With The Arab Strap - Belle & Sebastian

Once Around The Block - Badly Drawn Boy

That Summer Feeling - Jonathan Richman

I'm A Believer - Robert Wyatt

Long Hot Summer - The Style Council

Can't Find My Way Home - Ellen McIlwaine

For more One Day insights, check out David Nicholls' page here: http://www.davidnichollswriter.com/one_day/4

A soundtrack, lines here and there, an amazing trailer, are things we go by when we decide whether a movie is worth our time or not. Based on the book excerpts available on David Nicholls' website and on the director's taste (Lone Scherfig, the same genius who directed An Education), I already know One Day is a must-see. It's even promising to be Up There with Reality Bites, Almost Famous, Sense & Sensibility, Elizabethtown, An Education, Toy Story 3 (I kid you not) in that it's somewhat perspective-altering or perspective-considering. 

I'll stop the sappiness now and, together with Turtle, just promise to survive seeing this film. :)