You may be feeling very anxious right now. With the coronavirus expected to continue developing at a rapid, exponential pace, you might be wondering if you are next. The best practices are washing your hands and social isolation, but being alone at home all day wondering what exactly is going on outside, constantly checking your news feed, and messaging friends and family who may also be panicking, can be a recipe for anxiety.
While it’s good to stay informed, it’s also good to make sure you’re that you stay relaxed. And what better way to stay relaxed than getting all comfy and watching some relaxing movies? While many critics, including myself, have been revisiting dystopian cinema as a means to understand what is going on, it’s perhaps better for your mental health to watch something nice and relaxing instead.
To help you relax we have compiled a list of five films that you can watch right now. Ranging from simple conversational pieces, to childlike expressions of joy and wonder, our list should calm your mind in no time. Read on below to see what we picked. Think we missed something particularly soothing? Please let us know in the comment section below.
Before Sunrise
Part of the anxiety surrounding global pandemics is the way technology makes it so omnipresent. Take your mind back to 1995, where mobile phones were only for rich people, e-mail was still novel, and Twitter referred to the sound of birds. In Before Sunrise, both Celine and Jesse are taking a train that passes through Vienna. They strike up a conversation, before Jesse convinces Celine that they should discover the city together.
The result is pure comfort food, a variety of gentle conversations about youth, possibility, and discovery that feels like watching love blossoming in real time. And, despite the true emotions of their relationship, which gives the movie its dramatic edge, for some reason they seem completely unperturbed by world events. The Cold War is over! Both Jesse and Celine are able to travel to Eastern Europe and discover new lands that their parents simply wouldn’t have been able to see! Additionally there’s no Brexit or Trump or looming recession to give these characters pause for anxiety! It’s truly delightful; just don’t watch the sequel, at least, not right now. Keep them in 1995 forever.
My Neighbor Totoro
No one is better at creating pleasant worlds full of wonder and joy than master animator Hayao Miyazaki. His masterpiece, My Neighbor Totoro, taking place entirely in rural Japan is a truly childlike film, focusing on the power of nature, discovery and friendly spirit animals.
Miyazaki’s use of pillow shots – cuts to scenery such as passing clouds, or a tree frog splashing around in the rain – help to create a world without any threats, where time passes slowly, and nature is in abundance. With no villains and barely any plot, this is a movie one can basically just live in, admire the scenery and smile whenever Totoro or the Catbus turn up. Just ignore the theories that he’s supposed to be a symbol of death, and focus on his furry demeanour and funny faces! Luckily for us, a large swathe of Studio Ghibli films are now on Netflix, making them easy to watch right now!
Moonrise Kingdom
Wes Anderson’s perfectly crafted worlds are so satisfying they instill in the viewer a natural sense of calm. Unlike governments across the world, he appear to have a complete hold of the entire situation, making them delightful fantasies. Moonrise Kingdom, which tells the story of two children who romantically escape from their scout camp together, is possibly his most relaxing work; a gentle work of escapism that, although filled with many inciting incidents, can’t exactly lay claim to having very high stakes.
Instead it takes us back to a truly childlike perspective, a world full of dancing, elaborate schemes and just general joy. In a world that suddenly feels frighteningly interconnected, its island setting, well away from cities and large masses of people, feels self-contained and safe, making Moonrise Kingdom the perfect relaxing watch.
Chef
When I feel particularly anxious, I find that cooking is a great way to take my mind off things. A similar proxy sense of relaxation can be found with the low-stakes cooking comedy Chef. Made by Jon Favreau as a way of asserting some kind of personal control after helming huge projects like the first two Iron Man movies and the truly dreadful Cowboys & Aliens, the film is a gentle exploration of charting your own path in the world.
Personally I can’t remember, besides the initial restaurant breakdown that kicks off the film’s premise, any conflict in the movie; which is far more interested in the simple process of cooking than ramping up the stakes with any real sense of tension. I’d definitely recommend it if you can’t sleep due to coronavirus anxiety. Watching the kind Totoro-looking Jon Favreau making endless Cubanos sandwiches is a lullaby in and of itself.
First Cow
If you can still make it out to the cinema, we would recommend First Cow, the latest film from Kelly Reichardt. Her latest, First Cow, is a slow western, telling the story of two men on the frontier who strike up a very unlikely friendship. One is a baker from Maryland, another is a Chinese man on the search for riches. When a rich man in the area brings in the first cow to the region, the two men devise an ingenious scheme to steal the milk and use it to bake tasty “oily cakes”.
The result is a gentle yet deeply satisfying tale that doubles up to the power of friendship. Although there is violence and ultimately death, her zen-like directorial approach can lull the viewer into a true sense of calm. Her slow, unhurried style in a world moving 100 miles an hour is exactly what we need right now. After all, only by focusing on what is really important can we stay calm in these difficult times.
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