Movie Scenes with Loving Looks Between Two Characters

The scenes featured in this blog post capture the special space between two characters who are in love. They help us reflect on the people we love as intimate friends (Charlotte and Bob in Lost In Translation), those we chase and must let go of (Juniper and Mud in Mud), and those we must return to (Amy and Frank in the Hang the DJ Black MIrror episode).

Lost in Translation: Karaoke Scene

Lost in Translation is a movie about falling in love while traveling in a foreign country.

In this scene, Charlotte & Bob are in a karaoke bar with Charlotte’s friend Charlie and his friends. After Charlotte sings Brass in Pocket by The Pretenders, Bob sings More Than This by Roxy Music. When singing the lyrics “More than this, you know there’s nothing…” he catches Charlotte’s gaze. She turns away with a shy smile. In the next shot, Bob completes the lyric with another “more than this”. This time, she doesn’t turn away. She wades in the love between them.

The scene starts at 0:51:41 in the movie.

Charlie and Charlotte sing "Brass in Pocket" by The Pretenders ("you're special, so special..."), everyone is drunk now, as they all sing along at the chorus. WOMEN keep refilling the glasses.

CUT TO:

Mr. Valentine sings a popular slow heartfelt Japanese song that everyone knows and sings along to. Charlotte and Bob look at each other, it is very foreign, but Bob likes being there with Charlotte and her friends.

She flips through a big binder of songs.

CHARLOTTE
What do you feel like singing, Bob?

BOB
No way.

CUT TO:

Bob sings "I fall to Pieces" to Charlotte. Charlie and everyone cheers for him.

Beer pitchers are replaced. Charlie starts singing "Angle". The little room is filled with smoke, Charlotte makes her way to the door to get some air.

The scene is from page 72 of the Lost In Translation screenplay.

In this version of the script, Bob sings I Fall to Pieces by Patsy Cline. Perhaps the song More Than This was chosen for the movie because, like the relationship between Charlotte and Bob, it feels bigger than romance. Charlotte and Bob also share a special friendship. When romance and friendship meet, it feels like there’s nothing more than that.

I can relate to this. I saw Lost In Translation shortly after falling in love for the first time. Friendship came first. A flirtatious kind of friendship. There was little romance in the traditional sense. We snuggled and kissed once or twice and, like Charlotte’s gaze indicates in this scene, I wanted much more. But circumstances within ourselves and with relationships between others kept that from happening. Watching this scene helped me feel not so alone during that time. It also taught me how to not chase beyond friendship (and a kiss).

Speaking of chasing, it would have helped me even more if the movie Mud was around back in 2005. That girl was hard to let go of.

Mud: Farewell Scene

Mud is a movie about chasing the love of your life at all costs.

In this scene, Juniper is standing outside her motel room smoking a cigarette. From the distance, Mud steps out from behind a large pole in an adjacent lot. She sees him and they meet eyes. He lifts his hand slowly, saying hello and farewell in the same motion. She lifts her hand from the walkway rail and shrugs her shoulder to say sorry, I can’t give you what you want. Her eyes water. Mud turns to walk away. She wipes her eyes, relieved. Not for herself, but for Mud because he is free of what caused him to become a criminal: chasing her.

The scene starts at 01:49:20 in the movie.

EXT. EXECUTIVE INN - EVENING

The sun has been down for awhile. Juniper leans on the railing outside her room taking long drags from a cigarette. 

She sees Miller’s green pick-up parked below. 

Suddenly the headlights pop on and the truck pulls away. She watches, curious, as it speeds out of sight. 

A train whistle blows in the distance but is overtaken by a semi rumbling down the street. She watches the semi pass revealing the DAY/NITE Gas Station’s parking lot.

MUD STANDS IN THE CORNER OF THE LOT. 

Half lit by a sodium lamp, he stares up at her. 

Juniper raises up. Even in the dim light she knows it’s him. She doesn’t move. 

Mud holds up a hand, waves. Juniper slowly waves back. 

She tries to smile at him, but she’s about to cry and it’s hard to muster. 

Mud smiles. After a long moment, he turns his back and disappears in the shadows at the side of the gas station. 

Juniper watches after him.

This scene is from page 110 of the Mud screenplay.

Juniper comes to the town Mud is hiding out in, making us think that she is interested in being with him. But, after she arrives, her actions reveal that she is not as committed to the relationship as he is. She loves him as much as he loves her, but she’s not ready to be with him. This scene conveys that through body language, more succinctly and beautifully than words ever could. This scene also shows that Mud is not a madman chasing a girl. He realizes he has chased her long enough and understands that this is the end of the road. It’s time to let her go.

Idolizing and chasing someone has never gotten me in trouble like it did Mud, but it has led to jealousy and heartbreak.

At a church retreat, there was a girl who flirted with me, rubbed up against me, and told me she liked me. But she did the same with other guys, like Juniper with the guy in the bar before this scene. On the final night of the retreat, we were supposed to write letters to our new friends and put them in a basket with our name on it. I got one from her and thought it meant something more than it did, like Juniper coming to town. Idolizing her created a lot of tension and ups and downs. I know she liked me, but she didn’t want to be with me like I wanted to be with her. We stayed in contact after the retreat and, like Mud, it took me a while to say farewell.

Black Mirror (Hang the DJ): End Scene

The Hang the DJ episode in season four of Black Mirror is about finding love in a world run by advanced dating applications.

In this scene, Amy and Frank are looking for each other in a bar after AI-versions of themselves successfully complete 998 of 1,000 dating simulations. Amy studies the dating app on her phone with a picture of Frank. She spots him across the bar doing the same. They make the connection and smile. Then they’re somewhat stunned, trying to figure this connection out. A knowingness is felt, like the love the AI-versions of themselves felt in the simulation. After an infinite gaze, Amy walks toward him with another smile.

The scene starts at 00:49:34 in the episode, available on Netflix.

A DATING APP ON A PHONE

A picture of Frank with a green 99.8% MATCH identifier is on it.

In the background, the song Panic by The Smiths is playing.

We pull out to…

INT. BAR - NIGHT

A woman is cradling the phone in both of her hands. We pull out enough to see that they’re Amy’s hands. 

She moves her eyes around the room in search of the guy on the screen.

At the bar across the room she sees Frank, fiddling with his phone.

We switch to FRANK’S POV. 

He’s looking at the same dating app with the same 99.8% MATCH identifier on it, except with a picture of Amy.

He looks up and around the room. 

Amy looks down and back up from her phone, making sure he’s the right guy, and not wanting to be caught staring at him cold like some psycho.

They meet eyes and Frank is like a deer in headlights. But Amy plays it cool and smiles. It puts him at ease and he smiles back. 

It feels so easy so fast that he shakes his head slightly in disbelief, like saying hey, how do I know you.
She looks at him intently, like saying, I don’t know but I feel it too. 

She smiles again, almost with relief, happy she’s made it here.

Then, back and forth, a knowingness is shared. A connection that makes the music, bar banter, and everything else waves in the background of this special moment.

With a tilt of the head and another smile, she says, let’s do it for real now and walks toward him.

The official script is not available. This is my fan version of the script.

This is the most optimistic Black Mirror scene ever made. It posits the idea that artificial intelligence can reach a point where it brings people together who share a deep connection. Dating applications today are a crapshoot. You can see pictures of the person and read a short autobiography about them, but dating applications have no significant data that can predict if you’ll connect with them. The AI in this episode does. And the gaze between Amy and Frank that’s filled with humor, romance, and intrigue alludes to the idea that AI can go further than predicting connection and predict love. 

Teams within dating applications like Bumble, Hinge, and Tinder could draw inspiration from this episode. Today, the technology they use seems as advanced as Facemash, the initial version of Facebook in 2003 that let Harvard students judge the attractiveness of other students.

I’ve met about 20 women through dating applications between 2017 and 2022. I’ve shared a connection with about half. A few could have developed into a loving relationship if I was open to that at the time. The other women? The dates with them were either uncomfortable and awkward or flat. I’ve never met someone through a dating app where the connection was known on the first date, like it was between Amy and Frank. 

If you’re ready to be with someone, using technology that could identify a connection would be a game changer. The consequence is that it would be so easy that it would remove some of the mystery of life. 

The only time I met someone where we locked eyes and both knew that we knew each other from somewhere before, like Amy and Frank, was not facilitated by a dating app. We were quiet people in a loud club who didn’t speak the same language and, after dancing for ten minutes, she motioned me outside. We hopped on her motorcycle, returned to my little rental in Floripa, Brazil, and spent the rest of the month together. The connection was so strong that not much talking was needed, even when at a restaurant or on the beach.

What are your favorite scenes with loving looks?

What are your favorite scenes with loving looks between two characters? Let me know in the comments!