Hello fellow bookworms. I had such a great time blogging here with you last time and so I’m pleased to have the chance to drop by again!
I’ve been thinking a lot about kissing these days. Maybe it’s the promise of spring and summer going to my head. But I’ve been mulling over what makes a good kiss in a book or movie because having a good first kiss in my books is important to me. It’s got to be fun!
A while ago I re-watched Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice (the one with Kiera Knightly) and I was totally rapt in the scene where it’s raining and they’re fighting with each other outside. And I thought to myself “Oh right. I remember this scene exactly. Any second now they’re going to have that great onscreen kiss…any second…”
Well, if you’ve seen the movie, you know there is no kiss in that scene. But the tension is so intense that my brain rewrote the scene in my head as if there had been a kiss. Amazingly enough, the scene isn’t any less intense because of the lack of lip locking. That’s sort of what I want my books to do: to be wildly intense, but not too obvious. It’s all about subtlety, in my mind.
Anyway, I made a list of my top five favorite onscreen almost kisses, just for kicks. Here they are.
5) Enchanted. I love that moment at the end of the movie when Patrick Dempsey’s character sings under his breath to the heroine. There’s so much drama there, when they’re looking into each other’s eyes. So bittersweet. Thank goodness they have a happy end!
4) Interview With The Vampire. This is an odd one to list. Louis and Armand (Brad Pitt and Antonio Banderas) have this moment when they almost kiss but don’t. Whether or not you think it’s sexy, it is riveting and shocking as far as “near kisses” go. The director and the actors get the tension right. And I wouldn’t mind trading places with either one of those guys for that instant. J
3) While You Were Sleeping. There’s that really adorable moment when Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman are slipping on the ice together, and then they’re face to face and they can’t really move because it’s so slippery, and it seems so obvious that the kiss should happen….and yet… It’s a nice light moment that turns quickly into something serious. I’m a fan!
2) Pretty Woman. Really, this whole movie fits the “almost kiss” criteria because of the heroine’s “no kissing” rule. When they finally do get around to kissing, it’s so effective (to be all clinical about it) because it means so much more than if they were allowed to kiss from the beginning. Great writing there.
1) The Sound of Music. You know that scene where the captain and Maria are waltzing in the garden, and there’s the gorgeous shot of Julie Andrews looking so dreamy over Christopher Plummer? My favorite ever. I’ve been watching that movie every few years or so since I was a little girl, and it chokes me up every time. Love love love!
What’s your favorite almost kiss moment?
Lisa Dale
http://www.lisadalebooks.com/
I’ve been thinking a lot about kissing these days. Maybe it’s the promise of spring and summer going to my head. But I’ve been mulling over what makes a good kiss in a book or movie because having a good first kiss in my books is important to me. It’s got to be fun!
A while ago I re-watched Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice (the one with Kiera Knightly) and I was totally rapt in the scene where it’s raining and they’re fighting with each other outside. And I thought to myself “Oh right. I remember this scene exactly. Any second now they’re going to have that great onscreen kiss…any second…”
Well, if you’ve seen the movie, you know there is no kiss in that scene. But the tension is so intense that my brain rewrote the scene in my head as if there had been a kiss. Amazingly enough, the scene isn’t any less intense because of the lack of lip locking. That’s sort of what I want my books to do: to be wildly intense, but not too obvious. It’s all about subtlety, in my mind.
Anyway, I made a list of my top five favorite onscreen almost kisses, just for kicks. Here they are.
5) Enchanted. I love that moment at the end of the movie when Patrick Dempsey’s character sings under his breath to the heroine. There’s so much drama there, when they’re looking into each other’s eyes. So bittersweet. Thank goodness they have a happy end!
4) Interview With The Vampire. This is an odd one to list. Louis and Armand (Brad Pitt and Antonio Banderas) have this moment when they almost kiss but don’t. Whether or not you think it’s sexy, it is riveting and shocking as far as “near kisses” go. The director and the actors get the tension right. And I wouldn’t mind trading places with either one of those guys for that instant. J
3) While You Were Sleeping. There’s that really adorable moment when Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman are slipping on the ice together, and then they’re face to face and they can’t really move because it’s so slippery, and it seems so obvious that the kiss should happen….and yet… It’s a nice light moment that turns quickly into something serious. I’m a fan!
2) Pretty Woman. Really, this whole movie fits the “almost kiss” criteria because of the heroine’s “no kissing” rule. When they finally do get around to kissing, it’s so effective (to be all clinical about it) because it means so much more than if they were allowed to kiss from the beginning. Great writing there.
1) The Sound of Music. You know that scene where the captain and Maria are waltzing in the garden, and there’s the gorgeous shot of Julie Andrews looking so dreamy over Christopher Plummer? My favorite ever. I’ve been watching that movie every few years or so since I was a little girl, and it chokes me up every time. Love love love!
What’s your favorite almost kiss moment?
Lisa Dale
http://www.lisadalebooks.com/
