For Lovers Only

A chance encounter between photographer Yves (Mark Polish) and former lover Sofia (Stana Katic) leads to a passionate reignition of their relationship.

The sound recording has excessive background noises to the point of being distracting. I have to assume that it's a choice but it's an annoying choice. It's hard to understand the dialogue at times. I suggest turning on the subtitles. There are sections where the film uses music and it turns somewhat into a music video. That helps. This is guerilla filmmaking. It helps with the feeling of dropping in on their fling. The black and white cinematography certainly looks beautiful. It doesn't hurt to have the beautiful Stana and the Parisian streets. This is fine for an arthouse experimental film.

What can I say after seeing utter perfection!

This film has an excellent cast, heartfelt storyline and a beautiful score. But to me It didn't feel as though I were watching a film; it was more like visiting an art gallery and seeing the works of art move in front of your eyes. Its visually stunning, perfect lighting and location.

I can't recommend this film more then I do. Its just so refreshing to see a film, not some Hollywood blockbuster that makes no sense, but a film, about love, life and sacrifice.

Don't miss out on this one, you'll die with regrets..

It's one the most hauntingly beautiful movies I've seen in a long time. Just fell in love with it during the first scene itself. True many say that there is nothing much to the story, but I loved how it ended: open for interpretation. The other fact that made it such a wonderful experience was how realistic it all felt. It could have happened to any one of us. Plus haven't most of us had that love who somehow got away, despite the many opportunities? Having followed Stana Katic's career ever since she starred on 'Castle', I feel so grateful that she took time off of her summer holidays to shoot a movie that started off as just a travel & shoot movie but ended up touching a lot of our hearts!

The rawness played by Stana and Mark is astounding. Each glance, kiss and vocal tone is filled with emotion. You actually go on the journey with the characters and you become them. You become embroiled in this French love tryst before you realise and you become swept along in the beauty of the production. Knowing that the movie was shot so simply enhances your experience as a viewer. It feels so intimate and honest. It feels so right being shot in black and white too. The photography is just stunning, each frame is almost a work of art in itself. I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. It's a once-in-a-lifetime discovery. Absolutely love.

Have you ever strolled with your girlfriend down the street in the perfect mutual moment and wished somebody photographed the both of you at the right angle and turned it into a postcard? That's what this film feels like from beginning to end.

For Lovers Only is a completely intoxicating assault on the senses. They completely capture the intimacy of human touch; someone stroking your hair, nibbling your ear, the saliva strings between kisses, stroking their fingers across your back while clamping their legs around you in a deep embrace. It's every picture-perfect chocolaty moment that any hopeless romantic would love to experience.

Stana Katic looks divine; her beauty makes me want to cry. Suffice to say, she gives a good performance. Mark Polish is fine but his performance is hidden beneath his sunglasses. Together they both make a believable couple and most importantly create the mutual overwhelming rush of passion. Also noteworthy is the film's sensuous soundtrack, of which I listened through the film's closing credits.

Romantic as it is, the Polish brothers also present an insightful examination of love. Relationships are spatial and temporal, and we are confined by how close we are and how much time we have. It's always in moments of ecstasy where time zips by, you begin counting the seconds before the moment is gone. For Lovers Only incorporates this into its film language, most notably in its montage sequences.

Here we see how love amplifies everything up to eleven, how everything becomes life and death (which justifies the dreamy black and white cinematography). And how there is only one person for you in the entire world, right before you wake up and snap out of it. Through the sweet and the sour, we realize Sofia and Yves are intertwined in this moment of passion because of their past relationship and by the romantic excitement of their chance encounter. It's suddenly romantic when they're reminded how they are so used to each other. But does familiarity make a lasting relationship? That becomes the film's central question, but they leave it up for the audience to answer themselves.

In the end, unlike the typical Hollywood romance, this film chooses the emotional journey of love over the final result of whether love is obtained. For Lovers Only is a bittersweet dark chocolate of a film and I recommend every romantic couple have a 89-minute affair with it.

For more reviews, please visit my film blog at http://hkauteur.wordpress.com/