There are dozens and dozens of romcom, feel-good movies that we faithfully re-watch every year on Valentine's Day (or whenever we feel like falling in love with Hugh Grant.) And though these will forever hold a spot on our favourite movie list, sometimes, our mood calls for that heart-wrenching, dysfunctional romance movie showing the ugly side of relationships. After all, love is truly messy.
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Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance, 2010)

What if one forgets why love is there in the first place?

Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) were once two young individuals caught in a whirlwind romance. Six years and one daughter later, Cindy grew into a woman with bigger opportunities, while Dean remained the same, maybe with a little less hair and a bigger beer belly.

Blue Valentine shows a cross-cut between time periods, as if looking for the moment where it all changed, or perhaps proving it didn't. Heart-achingly painful to watch, it will make you take a closer look on the dynamics of relationships and marriages.

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He's Just Not That Into You (Ken Kwapis, 2009)

Do you chase after love, or does love chase you?

He's just not that into you revolves around five women and four men trying to sort out their respective love lives. Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) desperately searching for Mr. Right; Alex (Justin Long), the no strings attached bar owner who developed his own take on love; Janine (Jennifer Connelly) and Ben (Bradley Cooper), the “ideal” newly-weds of the bunch; Anna (Scarlett Johansson), an aspiring singer and yoga instructor who bumps into Ben one grocery night; Conor (Kevin Connolly), a businessman desperately trying to be good enough for Anna; Mary (Drew Barrymore), Anna’s friend who is knee-deep in dating sites; and Neil (Ben Affleck) and Beth (Jennifer Aniston) who have been together seven years.

Although parts of the movie can get borderline cheesy, the plot still manages to smack us with the ugly truth that not all love stories lead to a fairytale ending.

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Her (Spike Jonze, 2014)

Love knows no bounds... Or does it?

Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is portrayed as an intoverted, sensitive man who writes personal letters for clients. Saddened by his impending divorce with the love of his life, Catherine, and numerous failed dates with other women, he decides to seek comfort from an operating system he named "Samantha" (Scarlett Johansson). Samantha is an artificial intelligence who is an intuitive entity in its own right. Slowly, Theodore found himself more and more bewitched by her and her capabilities, while Samantha develops feelings for her own. But can their ongoing romance go against the physical world?

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45 Years (Andrew Haigh, 2015)

What if you were never good enough for love?

Beautifully portrayed by Charlotte Ramping, Kate Mercer is an elderly woman who devoted her life to her husband, Geoff (Tom Courtenay). Nearing their 45th anniversary celebration, Geoff received a letter involving his past love, Katya. Suddenly, the mood of the movie changes and stories from the past shake their decades-long marriage. 

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500 Days Of Summer (Marc Webb, 2009)

What happens when a hopeless romantic falls in love with a girl who doesn't believe in love? 

500 Days of Summer revolves around Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a greeting card writer who finds himself falling head-over-heels for his boss' assistant Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel). Feeling as though she is "The One", Tom is taken aback when Summer suddenly dumps him. The movie is filled of bits and pieces of their 500 day romance, with Tom desperately searching for the hidden clues that caused its undesirable end.

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Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)

Have you ever wished love never happened?

Suffering from a heartbreak, Clementine (Kate Winslet) decides to undergo a procedure removing all memories involving her ex, Joel (Jim Carrey). Upon discovering that Clementine has no recollection of him or their relationship whatsoever, Joel opts to do the same. As his memories slowly fade away, he is left with a staggering question whether he made the right decision of throwing it all away.

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Permission (Brian Crano, 2018)

How do you know if he/she is "the One"? Is there even such thing as "The One"?

Anna (Rebecca Hall) and Will (Dan Stevens) have been together for a decade. They are the picture of the perfect couple, Anna is in the brink of finishing her Doctorate degree, while Will has his own furniture shop. Marriage is just another item to cross out soon.

On Anna’s 30th birthday, one close friend drunkenly suggests for them seek out other options before settling down. What was meant to be a mean joke, became a reality for the couple as they venture out to the world of open relationships.

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How To Be Single (Christian Ditter, 2016)

In a world where being single is treated as a crime, how can one truly enjoy singlehood?

Fresh off college, Alice (Dakota Johnson) breaks it off with his four-year long boyfriend, Josh (Nicholas Braun) to search for herself in New York City. A couple of months in her new job as a paralegal and non-stop partying with co-worker Robin (Rebel Wilson), Alice decides that it’s time to get back with Josh. But to her surprise, there’s no more Josh to return to.

How to be single is a journey of self-discovery, wild parties, and a string of men with their own heavy load of baggages.

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La La Land (Damien Chazelle, 2016)

What weighs more: a once-in-a-lifetime love or your life-long dream?

Scraping their way through stardom, Mia (Emma Stone) makes ends meet by working as a waiter desperately squeezing in actress auditions at the same time, while Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is a jazz music aficionado playing in restaurants and bars. As their lives interlace and love blossoms, their shared passion for the spotlight proves to be a bigger problem than they've anticipated.

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