Top 10 Depressing Movies In Your Opinion

[lazarus]

Rattle & Hum

It was Larry at Elvis' grave fighting back the tears, wasn't it?

"I wish he was buried was somewhere I couldn't have gone..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orHHfcyYPFc

 

[MrPryck2U]

From Justin to Kelly was pretty depressing. I was hoping Justin would get abducted by Sideshow Bob and never seen again. After that happens, Kelly just happens to bump into Dwayne Johnson and they all lived happily ever after. But, alas...

 

[asr]

I forgot to add 'Thunderbolt and Lightfoot' to my list. The 1974 Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges movie.

 

[MrPryck2U]

I forgot to add 'Thunderbolt and Lightfoot' to my list. The 1974 Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges movie.

Jeff Bridges actually looked attractive as a woman. Eastwood and Bridges were a good combo. It would have been cool to have seen them together in a movie again.

 

[lemonfly]

I love every Kubrick movie with a passion, but I find Barry Lyndon depressing as fuck. Haven't watched it in over 10 years.

 

[Lancemc]

A lot of these movies are really really sad, but none I'd consider depressing. Unspeakably incompetent or boring movies are the only ones which make me feel anything close to depressed, like the soul-sucking miserable kind of tripe I inadvertently end up sitting through on occasion, yeesh.

Well no there's one film actually, the effects of which I still don't quite understand. My better half won't let me watch The Tree of Life around her ever again because the two and a half times we did she says I fell into a really melancholic mood for a day or two after. It's certainly not an intended emotional trigger of the film, I don't think, but there must be some deep subconscious shit going on with that one in me I don't fully understand. And it's weird because it's not at all like my family life is too similar to the one depicted in the film. I dunno maaaaaaan.

 

[lazarus]

That's the benefit of Malick's personal yet highly symbolic work. It's not surprising he's able to get to you on a more subconscious level.

BTW, I watched To The Wonder again a few weeks ago and I think I enjoyed it even more than the first time. Partially spurred on by this article, a really thoughtful take:

http://thewhaleshipglobe.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-ghost-dance-re-evaluating-terrence.html

 

[gvox]

Less Than Zero

 

[bono_212]

Ooof, yeah. That movie wasn't great, but it left me feeling pretty down afterwards.

 

[Irvine511]

Assassination of Jessie James.


Sent from

 

[bono_212]

This isn't in any order, besides my top two, just the movies that stuck with me long after I originally saw them, and have just led to a generally less than stellar mood after viewing:

1) Requiem for a Dream
2) Grave of the Fireflies
3) In a Lonely Place
4) The Mist
5) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
6) Shutter Island
7) The War (Partially here simply because watching it as a kid was a thing that has stuck with me, even though now, it's a relatively positive film)
8) Midnight Cowboy
9) The Deer Hunter
10) The Sixth Sense - Only a few movies have ever made me cry and when I saw this film the first dozen or so times, I had no issues with it. The last two times I've watched it, I don't know what changed, but for the last 15 minutes of the film, I'm basically just a horrible mess of tears and emotion. I know that sad =/= depressing, but any time I think of this film, now, I get really down, so on it goes.

 

[LemonMelon]

FUCK I left Midnight Cowboy off my list. What a great movie.

Deer Hunter too, I guess. I don't associate that movie with sadness, but I guess it is pretty hopeless and depressing.

 

[lazarus]

Great call on Shutter Island. A painful, moving work.

 

[bono_212]

I keep trying to block out the fact that that movie was so much of a bummer to watch. Like, I try to convince myself there was some ambiguity there, but then I try to recall what it was, all I'm met with is the stark reminder that that was just one huge heartbreaker of a film.

EDIT: Also, I didn't even think much of this at the time that I saw the original film, so I was unaware of all of the talk about the very, very end of the movie. Now that I've been reading up on it lately, just adds so many more layers:

Spoiler

http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2010/jul/29/shutter-island-ending

For some, this is to be seen as no more than the rambling of a madman. Others, however, take it as meaning that Andrew's only faking his relapse. His unusual treatment's made him aware of the terrible thing he's done: guilt has therefore engulfed him, and he's deliberately getting himself lobotomised to escape it.

 

[lazarus]

Yeah, that's the consensus reading that I've heard. It's a real gut punch.

 

[purpleoscar]

10) The Sixth Sense - Only a few movies have ever made me cry and when I saw this film the first dozen or so times, I had no issues with it. The last two times I've watched it, I don't know what changed, but for the last 15 minutes of the film, I'm basically just a horrible mess of tears and emotion. I know that sad =/= depressing, but any time I think of this film, now, I get really down, so on it goes.

Yeah that's pretty much me. Remember when Shyamalan's name didn't conjure images of crap movies?

 

[bono_212]

Yeah, that's the consensus reading that I've heard. It's a real gut punch.

Basically that article confirms that that's what they were going for, so now I'm even more depressed.

Yeah that's pretty much me. Remember when Shyamalan's name didn't conjure images of crap movies?

Oh, for those halcyon days.

 

[deep]

in (a few) theaters now

The Immigrant

 

[asr]

More honorable mentions:

About Schmidt
Boogie Nights
Lovely Bones

 

[djerdap]

Idi i smotri/Come and See

One of my favourite movies, but one that I doubt I would want to see ever again. Let's just say it came closest to what war actually feels like.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Not exactly a favourite, but I felt like shit after We Need To Talk About Kevin.

 

[DaveC]

Idi i smotri/Come and See

One of my favourite movies, but one that I doubt I would want to see ever again. Let's just say it came closest to what war actually feels like.

Holy crap, I had never heard of it, and decided to look up the synopsis on Wikipedia. Even that was one of the most depressing things I've read in a very long time, but the movie sounds very, very good. I might check it out.

EDIT: As a side note, this week I was downtown and wandered past the Cineplex in the mall. At this particular Cineplex all the employees have their favourite movie written on their nametag. One big burly (smelled like he hadn't showered in a month) guy in uniform walked past me and I happened to glance at his nametag only to see his favourite movie..."A Serbian Film". I'm guessing his bosses probably don't know what that one is about.

 

[purpleoscar]

Idi i smotri/Come and See

One of my favourite movies, but one that I doubt I would want to see ever again. Let's just say it came closest to what war actually feels like.

For me it was the most histrionic bad acting ever. Absolute torture watching this. I think it's a love it/hate movie.

 

[djerdap]

For me it was the most histrionic bad acting ever. Absolute torture watching this. I think it's a love it/hate movie.

I could not disagree more. Where was this bad acting? The lead actor's hair actually turned grey during filming because of the stress and mental exhaustion the making of the movie caused.

 

[deep]

I am not familiar with that movie,

But looking at the user reviews on IMDB

Come and See (1985) - IMDb

Most think it is solid.

 

[brooklynmike]

I don't know if it's been mentioned or not, but Marley and Me was depressing as hell.

 

[purpleoscar]

I could not disagree more. Where was this bad acting? The lead actor's hair actually turned grey during filming because of the stress and mental exhaustion the making of the movie caused.

For me it didn't look realistic at all. It was a pretentious pantomime of the type I despise. But I can see why others like it because that type of acting looks intense but for me it was annoying like nails on a chalkboard. Heavy-handed and obvious.

 

[djerdap]

For me it didn't look realistic at all. It was a pretentious pantomime of the type I despise. But I can see why others like it because that type of acting looks intense but for me it was annoying like nails on a chalkboard. Heavy-handed and obvious.

There is a scene in that film where actual real bullets were shot above the boy, the lead actor. How's that for a "pretentious pantomime"?

 

[purpleoscar]

There is a scene in that film where actual real bullets were shot above the boy, the lead actor. How's that for a "pretentious pantomime"?

Look I'm glad you really like the movie (it's impossible to make everyone agree) but firing real bullets doesn't make it a good movie for ME, and it doesn't make it look realistic at all. The anti-war message is heavy-handed and boring. The acting is over-the-top so it brings me out of the movie completely. I know critics like it but I'm sure many average people would be taken out of the movie the same way. This is not the style of filming I like.

For those who want to see this movie and decide for themselves, (because liking or disliking art is personal) I found it here:

Come And See (1985) pt. 1 - Video Dailymotion

Come And See (1985) pt. 2 - Video Dailymotion

Come And See (1985) pt. 3 - Video Dailymotion

 

[djerdap]

It's not a point whether firing real bullets makes it a good movie. If anything, it was a ludicrous move from the director. The point is that I find your assessment of the acting in the movie, especially since it was made in such circumstances where Elem Klimov put his actors in situations where no acting was actually needed, even going so far that the emotional toll on the main actor was such that he was by the end physically completely drained out, as downright bizarre. You haven't provided a single example from the film where the message is heavy-handed or where the acting is over-the-top, since I feel the film accomplishes, apart from maybe one scene which I did feel went too far, the complete opposite.

And the film is too good to waste the viewing experience by watching it on a shitty Dailymotion video. If you're watching movies that way, I can't say I'm surprised in you being dismissive about it.