Love on the Highstreet is a heartwarming depiction of sentimentality in a “stereotypically stoic nation”

The London-based filmmakers Will Corry and Josh Cooper first met at school, forging what’s turned into many years as close friends and creative collaborators. Over the years they’ve come together on a number of occasions to craft short personal projects that act as “attempts to answer life’s big questions”, Will tells It’s Nice That. These films are in fact, always, “a bit of an excuse to start conversations with strangers”, he continues.

This time around, the pair wanted to make a film all about the gushy stuff and what better day to orbit it around than Valentine’s Day – a time to adore or despise love, depending on your sentiment. Both Will and Josh are sceptics of the occasion (as many of us are), and they started the project to take a closer look into it and find out why people are so keen to mark the occasion.Their resulting short, Love on the Highstreet, was shot over two Valentine’s Days in South London with the aim of “providing an unbiased look at all the goings-on of February 14th and whether, or even if, it truly represents love”, says Josh.

The duo documented everything from those behind the scenes at card shops and local florists, to dinner dates and burlesque nights – the film really does show the day from all angles. Dedicated couples declare their love; a fair few share their thoughts on the day as “a money-making thing”; some are simply “suckers for it”; and one individual even sees it as a chance to make amends following a bad breakup.

“We are obsessed with the nuance of human behaviour and people’s individual quirks”, shares Will, which is why they leave a lot of their films completely up to things people say or do on the day. Simultaneously hilarious, sweet and serious, Love on the Highstreet is no different in its share of unplanned humour and honesty. “We find hard-hitting documentaries completely necessary and inspiring just as much as we do Geordie Shore, BBC Archives and old episodes of Airline UK”, Josh says. “We like to think our films sit happily in between all of these somewhere – as a display of Britain, British ways and British sensibility.”

In terms of the pair’s process, when it came to documenting, this film (like many of their others) started by getting a camera out and “running around with it for a few days”, meeting people, getting caught up in conversations and having some initial encounters that would later help to shape and structure the rest of the film’s content.

These early beginnings don’t entirely dictate the project though, as Will and Josh like to keep themselves and the footage open to new possibilities. On this project in particular, they were pleasantly surprised by all of the friendly faces that were up for a chat and being on camera. “Although there were a few that declined,” says Will. “One being a man buying multiple bunches for multiple unknown Valentines who said: ‘you boys gonna get me in trouble’.”

Following a fair few spontaneous conversations and a brilliantly paced edit from James Barnett, the footage became a charming slice of everyday life in south London, and the terribly British temperament that accompanies it. But did making the film see the duo’s sceptical views on the day shift? Josh says: “We wouldn’t say that our views on the day have necessarily changed, but at the same time, we are no longer opposed to the holiday.”

On the film’s sentiments, Will adds: “We saw an article on the BBC that said, ‘Brits, according to many outsiders, are reserved, repressed, resilient, unemotional, and self-controlled’. So, if anything, we hope people now see Valentine’s simply as one day a year where you are openly allowed to talk about and display your love for someone else, romantic or not, or even yourself – especially in our stereotypically stoic nation.”