Love is one of the great joys and mysteries of the human condition, and something that everyone from poets to philosophers to physicians has been trying to understand since the dawn of time incarnate, it makes sense that it would be subjected to quite a bit of analysis and pondering over the centuries. Some argue that every work of art can be traced back to being either about death or romance, and it is clear which of the two is more endearing.  The concept of falling in love and having a whirlwind romance has been found in multiple works of art, with the idea that someone can meet their soulmate and go through all the motions in such a limited amount of time. Films such as Before Sunset, The Clock and Certified Copy all employ this technique of exploring a budding romance over the course of a single day, but it was actually first done much earlier, having its roots in the silent era. It’s not entirely clear whether or not Lonesome was the first to approach the subject in such a way (since romantic films were a dime a dozen at the time, and we know that a huge portion of the films produced at the time have been lost or fallen into obscurity as a result of poor preservation practices), but it certainly is one of the most notable for several reasons. Directed by the brilliant Paul Fejos, who was behind several fascinating films produced during this period, and filled with innovative visual techniques and narrative details that immediately make it a lot more engaging and complex than we would expect based on a cursory glance, the film grows into one of the most overtly ambitious and genuinely moving films of the era, influencing a lot of later films that may not have even realized some of the most common traits and tropes of the genre originated with this film. Lonesome is an effortlessly inventive and daring romantic comedy that explores the world with such incredible soulfulness, being a precise and memorable examination of romance and how it can manifest and take over our entire existence in a single moment, which can ultimately define our entire lives going forward, which is an implausible but beautiful idea that the film beautifully conveys.

The premise of Lonesome adheres to the general principles that go into the creation of a great romantic comedy – the simpler the story, the more impactful the romance. High-concept storytelling doesn’t always have a place within the genre, at least not in its most traditional form, and simplicity is always rewarded in one way or another. In this film, we are introduced to two profoundly lonely individuals who reside comfortably in their working-class existence, not wanting much but still longing to share their lives with someone who can be their companion. They meet each other at Coney Island during its Independence Day weekend celebrations, and almost instantly fall in love, and over the course of a single day come to realise that this is more than just a chance encounter, but rather a prophetic moment in which they quite possibly found their soulmate. The romance in Lonesome is so straightforward and unfurnished, it seems impossible not to swoon over seeing these two characters fall so deeply in love with one another. There was a possibility to design this film as a melodrama, which was usually the preferred mode of telling these stories, but there’s something about structuring it as a comedy that pushes it even further, since having these individuals fall in love against the backdrop of a gently humorous series of misadventures creates a more engaging and enchanting atmosphere, one that is slightly detached from reality, but still plausible enough for us to wonder whether such encounters can actually yield such incredibly magical results. Lonesome is a film made for hopeless romantics who want to imagine a world in which they can find their soulmate through a chance encounter, and how a romance can blossom through nothing but the immediate connection two people can make based solely on their shared presence at the exact moment when romance is sparked. This is even more prominent in the second half of the film, which centres around the accidental separation of the two lovers and their frantic attempts to find one another again, a common technique that raises the stakes and allows this film to be even more memorable and heartfelt.

Despite being almost entirely centred on the romance between these two characters, Lonesome is not merely a comedy, but also adopts a secondary genre that was quite popular at the time, the “city film”, in which a large portion of the film was dedicated to exploring a specific cityscape, a sub-genre that doesn’t quite exist anymore outside of experimental cinema and documentary filmmaking, both of which flourished from this style. Fejos is as dedicated to exploring the flourishing love between the two protagonists as he is paying tribute to the city in which they live, the film becoming a love letter to New York City, the epicentre of culture and urban growth in the United States, and quite simply the very definition of cosmopolitan aspiration. The two themes weave together beautifully – the film starts as a loving tribute to an iconic city and its multitude of residents, but gradually sweeps them aside to focus on the story of two people in particular. The sub-genre of romance story known as the “someone in the crowd” technique is fully displayed here, where our hero is surrounded by hordes of people, yet they barely register once the protagonists encounter one another. For the majority of the film, you’d be forgiven for not even noticing the multitudes of wonderful performances that occur around them – the people surrounding our main characters are crafted to be almost intentionally vague and unremarkable, as a means to highlight and draw attention to the heroes of the story, who are simply two ordinary individuals who live in this enormous city, but yet found each other through sheer chance, making them wonder whether it was truly written in the stars. Some may think that Lonesome functions as an advertisement for the appealing, enchanting nature of New York City, and while this is partially true, the majority of the sweeping shots of the city and its residents serve to only amplify the beauty of not only the location, but the story that takes place within it, which makes quite a substantial difference.

In bringing this film to life, the director casts two very promising actors who perfectly embody the spirit of being these ordinary, unremarkable New Yorkers who find themselves immediately falling in love, their whirlwind romance being the very foundation of the film. Barbara Kent and Glenn Tryon are exceptional in the film, and Fejos makes sure that their performances reflect the innovative nature of the production, which was aiming to be a lot more complex than viewers at the time would initially imagine. They’re both incredibly expressive actors, bringing these roles to life with such vigour and authenticity; we sometimes forget that we are watching actors, instead genuinely starting to believe that they were salt-of-the-earth people who encountered each other by chance, and found themselves falling in love as a result of the spark that forms between them in that fateful moment. Tryon’s macho valiance and Kent’s doe-eyed innocence may be very conventional for the era, but it doesn’t stop their performances from being layered, nuanced portraits of two individuals falling head-over-heels in love and realising that they cannot live their lives without the other person being a part of it in some way. A lot of the merit around this film comes in the fact that it is part-sound, with a few scenes in which there is audible dialogue – the first of which comes about in the protagonists’ first encounter, and after several scenes where we see their routine told through intertitles and music, the fact that the first spoken words are to one another is not accidental, and contributes to the enchanting nature of the film, almost as if it is implying that their meeting quite literally broke barriers and changed the entire trajectory of their lives. It’s a simple technique that seems tame in hindsight, but was very likely revolutionary at the time, one of the many admirable elements that we find scattered liberally throughout this film.

The concept of a film centring on two people falling in love after only knowing each other for quite literally the briefest of moments is the definition of idealistic and unrealistic standards that have plagued the romantic comedy genre and made it so divisive. Yet, it is always important to remember that these films are rarely (if ever) intended to be taken seriously, especially when they veer towards the more humorous, offbeat nature of romance. Lonesome is quite simply one of the great romances of its period, a simple but effective comedy about two lonely people who find each other by chance, but grow so close over a matter of hours that their eventual separation becomes even more devastating. The idea of being so in love with another person that even only after a few hours of playful bonding that they idea of never seeing them again becomes genuinely devastating may seem too absurd, but it all speaks towards the underlying message, which is that romance is impossible to define and even more difficult to comprehend, and that someone may fall in love with a moment, and decide that this person is who they envision being their soulmate, if such a concept is actually legitimate or just the product of a culture that overemphasizes the belief that everyone has some kind of lover bestowed on them by fate. It’s a wonderfully heartfelt film that blends comedy and melancholy with such incredible consistency, becoming a masterful, deeply moving depiction of love in its most raw, unfiltered form. Some of it is overly twee and borders on cliche (such as the ending, which is lovely but deeply unrealistic), but everything exists as a means to glorify the act of falling in love, which is not viewed in a way that is authentic or realistic, but rather magical in the way that only cinema can facilitate, which is all part of the extraordinary appeal that drives this wonderful film forward and makes it such an unimpeachable gem of a story.