I love you, Bridget Jones!

Yuriko Kotani shares her Perfect Playlist of romcoms

Yuriko Kotani shares her Perfect Playlist, telling us: ‘It’s all films and most of them are from my DVD collection.’

Amelie (2001)

Right from the start, this film took me to Amélie’s world. Even before watching the film, seeing the poster, I was already there. I can get to know her, her parents, all the other characters

I love how Amélie sees the world, her imaginations, the music – I listened to the sound-track over and over again – the interior design. I remember I tried to make my room like Amélie’s flat. I learnt French by watching Amélie, went to a French cafe in London and ordered a coffee in French. I went to Paris and visited Two Windmills in Montmartre. I love Amélie’s hairstyle (that’s the only thing I don’t think I can try myself. But maybe one day… who knows?)

Most importantly, I love the fact that Amélie tried to do something so wonderful and kind to others. One of my favourite scenes is when she takes a blind man across a road. She is so warmhearted and made me cry.

There are many lines that made me laugh so hard. I don’t want to spoil it by writing them down here so please watch it if you haven’t!

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

I watched it when I was in Japan and fell in love with Bridget Jones. I got the DVD when I moved to the UK and I watched it over and over again. And then watched Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), and Bridget Jones’s Baby (2008) at the cinema. I have both DVDs as well.

After I came to the UK, I went to places in London and many locations reminded me of this film. Bridget gave me courage, hope, strength… and many more things.

When I watched this film, it encouraged me and cheered me especially when I had to go through tough time, So thank you and love you, Bridget Jones!

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

I love this film so much, I watched at the cinema and bough the DVD (it’s yellow - just like their bus), and I remember I watched special features commentary of the film director and writer.

I felt like I was a part of the Hoover family and going through the road journey together. While story goes on, I felt related to each characters (whether you agree with them or not), and I wanted them to get to California for the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant.

The dance scene was absolutely phenomenal. And another favourite moments of mine was when the character Dwayne spoke at the sea. It was such a powerful and beautiful lines. I remember my friend and I were saying the lines to each other because I memorised them.

The Simpsons Movie (2007)

I’ve been introduced to The Simpsons when I was a student in Japan. I remember I tried my best I can to understand the stories and the lines as I was learning English at the time.

Then, time went by… and now I can watch it without subtitles which is absolutely amazing feeling. I just want to tell student me in the past - keep learning and one day you can understand, laugh out loud and enjoy the Simpsons in English!

So when I heard that the team is making a movie, I couldn’t wait to watch it. The TV programme is incredible, and I was so looking forward to seeing Homer and every characters on the big screen. And it was phenomenon. The Spider-Pig song stayed in my head forever.

And I remember when I bought the DVD, I thought the DVD poly-box cover design itself is funny as well - the word MOVIE’s O is missing but we see O shaped oil stain. Yes, it was the donut and Homer is eating it. D’oh!

Fish Story (2009)

It’s a Japanese film and I had this DVD, and I think I lent it to someone to watch and it hasn’t been returned, so I don’t have it with me. I hope it’ll come back to my DVD collection one day in the future, (Borrowing DVDs from each other - I now remember we used to do these things!)

There are many stories taken place in this film, it looks like all unrelated, but then, it all come together. Watching this film, it gave me goosebumps, and made me think about life in a bigger scale. You never know things you did or created might save the world in the future, just like in this film!

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

I watched this film at the cinema and I’m so glad I did it. It starts off with a student who looks at a book. Then, there was an author of the book, and time goes back to when he was younger. He is at a hotel and meets the owner of the hotel Mr Zero Moustafa… and then, we’ll hear the story of Zero when he was younger. It’s like opening the boxes!

I was mesmerised by the world the film created – so colourful, amazing cinematography, humorous characters. There are so many elements to enjoy this film. One of my favourite scenes was Society Of The Crossed Keys, it was exciting. It’s such a marvellous film and I hope I can watch it on the big screen again.