Most depressing but good movies you have seen (bad film, Netflix, you must see)

[loves2read]

Any mention Seven yet?

[Lodestar]

The first two? "Bambi" and "Old Yeller." Those really did a number on my little self.

"Out of Africa," "The Killing Fields," and "Threads" all were tear jerkers for me.

Oddly enough the dark comedy, "Spun," had me laughing nearly through the entire movie but in retrospect has left me deeply saddened.

[rxgrrl]

Schindler’s List.

[Brave New World]

Nil by Mouth
Tyrannosaur
Poor Cow
Kes
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
This Sporting Life
Get Carter
Hunger
Naked
Scum
If....
Filth
The Walking Stick
The Elephant Man
I, Daniel Blake
The Selfish Giant
Dead Man's Shoes
Elephant
My Name Is Joe
Rita, Sue and Bob Too
Ladybird, Ladybird
Happy Go Lucky
Sweet Sixteen
Made in Britain
This is England
London to Brighton
Trainspotting
Breakking the Waves
Vera Drake
Garage
Fish Tank
Bleak Moments
Threads
Kill List
Meantime
The Wind thst Shakes the Barley
The War Zone
Waterland
A Clockwork Orange
1984
The Magdalene Sisters

As for TV - Cathy Come Home, Abigail's Party, GBH, Boys from the Black Stuff, Contact etc.

[StarlaJane]

Originally Posted by Scorpio60

I saw some of these and I agree with:

Million Dollar Baby (I could watch that movie again because it was that good IMO)
The Misfits
Anna Karenina
Splendor In The Grass (I didn't find it depressing, just sad)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

I could not watch Million Dollar Baby again; way too depressing if only for the realism (some might call it injustice) of the narrative: despite sincere ambition and hard work, the protagonist does not triumph (or, eve, survive). And, unlike other stories where there is some kind of redemption in death, there’s just death for the million dollar baby.

Splendor In The Grass is depressing but bittersweet because of, again, the realism: repressive, well-meaning parents who destroy true love because they think that they know better than their children (but don’t). Everything works out in the end—the kids move on and create lives for themselves—but only after leaving their small town and their parents’ toxic control. Ultimately, Deannie and Bud’s love is unable to overcome small town social mores. True love does not triumph.

I completely agree re: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, as it follows a narrative similar to that of the above movies: a protagonist that the audience is rooting for does not triumph over evil so that we are left feeling a great sense of injustice after the film.

[SaltwaterTherapy]

Charlie St. Cloud

[Greysholic]

Brief Encounter (1945)
Le notti bianche (1957)
The Children's Hours (1961)
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)
Army of Shadows (1969)
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
Z (1969)
A Special Day (1977)
The Return of Martin Guerre (1982)
Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
Farewell My Concubine (1993)
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
To Live (1994)
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Sophie Scholl: the Final Days (2005)
United 93 (2006)
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)
Waltz with Bashir (2008)
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
District 9 (2009)
About Elly (2009)
Melancholia (2011)
A Royal Affair (2012)
Tower (2016)
The Nightingale (2019)
A Sun (2020)
Happening (2021)
Mass (2021)
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
Close (2022)
Holy Spider (2022)

[loves2read]

Originally Posted by Brave New World

Nil by Mouth
Tyrannosaur
Poor Cow
Kes
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
This Sporting Life
Get Carter
Hunger
Naked
Scum
If....
Filth
The Walking Stick
The Elephant Man
I, Daniel Blake
The Selfish Giant
Dead Man's Shoes
Elephant
My Name Is Joe
Rita, Sue and Bob Too
Ladybird, Ladybird
Happy Go Lucky
Sweet Sixteen
Made in Britain
This is England
London to Brighton
Trainspotting
Breakking the Waves
Vera Drake
Garage
Fish Tank
Bleak Moments
Threads
Kill List
Meantime
The Wind thst Shakes the Barley
The War Zone
Waterland
A Clockwork Orange
1984
The Magdalene Sisters

As for TV - Cathy Come Home, Abigail's Party, GBH, Boys from the Black Stuff, Contact etc.

Some of those are not what I would rank as “good” but some like “clockwork Orange” fit the bill

[pikabike]

Oh, yeah, I would add Brokeback Mountain to my list. The short story it was based on, too.

Also, The Man Who Fell to Earth and the novel it was based on.

[loves2read]

Originally Posted by pikabike

Oh, yeah, I would add Brokeback Mountain to my list. The short story it was based on, too.

Also, The Man Who Fell to Earth and the novel it was based on.

Agree—nothing was more depressing than seeing Ennis smell that shirt…