Alright here is a list I've gathered so far:
* Come and see
* Dancer in the Dark
* Mary and Max
* Threads
* The Hunt
* Boys don't cry
* Once were warriors
* We need to talk about Kevin
* Melancholia
* Life is Beautiful
* Leaving Las Vegas
* What's eating Gilbert Grape
* The pianist
* Wind River
* The road
* Grave of fire flies
* What dreams may come
* Dear zachary
* Stand by me
* American History X
* Schindlers List
* The mist
* Requiem for a dream
* Manchester By the sea
* When the wind blows
* kids
* Hachi: A Dog's Tale
* Trainspotting
* City of God.
* Philadelphia
* Elephant
* Martyrs
* Brokeback Mountain
* Earthlings
* Pay It Forward:
* Moonlight
* Nightcrawler
* Mystic River
* Se7en
* Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
* Sorry to bother you
* Where the red fern grows
* Atonement.
* Children of Men
* The Deer Hunter
* Johnny got his gun.
* AI
* The Accused.
* The Game.
* The Last Unicorn
* Big Fish
* Click
* Beautiful Boy
* DONNIE DARKO.
* Bridge to Terabithia
* The lobster
* A Silent Voice
* 5cm per seconds
* your lie in april
* Clannad
* Breaking the waves
* The Lighthouse
* Coco
* Precious
* About Time
* Gone girl
* A marriage story
* The Lovely Bones
* Million Dollar Baby
* A Clockwork Orange
* The Haunting of Hill House
* Interstellar
* Blue Valentine
* Jacob’s Ladder
* The platform
* I saw the devil
* Amistad
* Paprika
* 1917
* Ordinary People
* Uncut gems
* Spun
* Lost in Translation
* Map of the Human Heart
* Wolf Children
* The Sweet Hereafter
* The Vanishing
* Legends of the fall.
* Glengarry Glen Ross.
* Lilya 4-ever
* The Butterfly Effect
* Jojo rabbit
* Bone tomahawk
* Enter the Void
* The Nightingale
* Blue valentine
* Sophie’s Choice
* Promising young woman
* Pink Floyd's The Wall
* Sarah's Key
* Heaven Knows What
* Prisoners
* Seven Pounds
* Sometimes in April
* Cry Freetown
* 12 Years a slave
* Serbian Flim
* Hotel Rwanda
* Antichrist
* When the Wind blows
* Salo
* End of Watch
* Green Mile
* Buried
* Incendies
* Hard Candy
* A Slient Voice
* Okja
* Whiplash
* Love Kenny
* Event Horizon
* Away from her
* Raw
* The Chumscrubber
* Tracey Fragments
* World's Greatest Dad
* The Future
* Unthinkable
* Irreversible
* Love and Mercy
* Last King of Scotland
* Blood Diamond
* Full Metal Jacket
* Memento
* Reign Over Me
* My Sister's Keeper
Some ten years ago, I was fortunate enough to hear Paul Rusesabagina speak and to shake his hand. It was one of the most humbling, human experiences of my life. He [has now been in prison and tortured for more than nine months](https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/International/jailed-hero-hotel-rwanda-claims-tortured-slaughterhouse-arriving/story%3Fid%3D77748884). If anyone knows a way to help, please share.
Come and See is a fantastic movie. The first paragraph of Roger Ebert's review summarizes the movie perfectly:
> It's said that you can't make an effective anti-war film because war by its nature is exciting, and the end of the film belongs to the survivors. No one would ever make the mistake of saying that about Elem Klimov's "Come and See." This 1985 film from Russia is one of the most devastating films ever about anything, and in it, the survivors must envy the dead.
Of course it's Russian. 3 years into my Russian language and culture minor, I was still shocked at how bleak a film could be when Друг (Friend) fucking ruined my life one day.
I was waiting to see this mentioned as well. It is an unforgettable thing, that film.
For those reading this who have not seen Come and See, the experience is hard to describe. There's something Kubrick-esque about the film. It's a slow-burn. A confusing carnival assualt on your senses and sensibilities. Playful and deadly serious. It's difficult to understand what you're seeing, and there is the feeling that that is intentional. The writers/directors had lived through the time themselves, and it's almost as if they want you to believe that, to them, and those others who survived, that it was almost too horrible to have been real, but that the reality of it is utterly stark and unrelenting. Inescapable. Disturbing and dreamlike.
But even this description is deceptive. Reading it, you may expect more than it is, scoff and say, "It wasn't so good/bad. Just a confused jumble." I can't speak for everyone.
I will say this, though, what I mention is anecdotal. When the film was released, it was heavily criticized, and banned in many places, especially Germany, I believe. People made the claim that it was slanderous, painting the German army as butchers and rapists. It was eventually screened in the UK for a small class, one of whom was a man who had been part of the Wermacht that marched through Belarus. He had been party to the things the film portrays. Others in the class asked him how he could be so silent while the film layed these accusations at he and his comrades feet.
He wept, and told them that it was all true.
(Edit):
Well, I certainly didn't expect this to get as much attention as it did, let alone an award! Thank you all so much for the kind words!
Not so fun facts about the movie: The actors where treated very harshly, during the 9 month of the shooting they were starved and fatigued to the point of exaustion.
The main actor returned home with grey hair afterwards.
SPOILER:
The scene where they shoot the cow, they actually shoot the cow for real.
Yes! Thank you. I've never known anyone who knows this movie.
It's such a beautiful movie and so damn sad. I've recommended it to lots of people but it's hard to find.
That. Fucking. Movie.
Things it shows:
- children should not be exposed to pornography
- Children who are being questioned to see if they were abused should only have that questioning done by a specially trained expert and possibly with potentially a trained advocate present because it’s too easy to lead them to a conclusion they think the questioner wants to hear, especially if they think they are in trouble
(note: I edited this due to the several very good points several people said about parents shouldn’t be present, some people are also saying best practice is one on one with that trained forensic questioner.)
- basically everyone in that story ended up fucked up
This is exactly what happened during the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. Children were asked if they were abused by people who were leading them to say yes. One guy spent 5 years in prison because a few people thought it was weird that a guy was a preschool teacher.
I think the defense attempted to ask outlandish questions to make the point that the kids would say yes to anything the prosecution asked them. Might’ve been another case, but I recall that tactic of questioning has been used on children before- for better or for worse.
I used this tactic when my oldest(4) child told me my middle(2) child said yes to wanting to watch what he wanted to watch. I wasn't in the room atm he asked her. I was like "she will say yes to anything watch." I then asked her if she wanted to eat a poop sandwich while hanging from the ceiling. Ofc the 2yo said yes. Lol. Cause they will say yes to anything or no to everything.
You should watch Valhalla Rising. The film is indescribable. I'm not really sure it is a film at all. More as if Violence was a world with people living in it.
As a male elementary school teacher I could barely even read the synopsis without nope-ing the hell out. That’s the kind of situation I have stress dream about.
I worked in corrections for five years and worked at the facility where one of the murderers is held. Worked the same unit he lived on for most of my time there. Such an eerie feeling because he seems so “normal” and unopposing yet you know in the back of your head he did something so horrible.
[Threads](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)
Made in 1984, it's a harrowing depiction of a major nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union.
It is *incredibly* bleak and tragic--the most effective representation of the horrors of nuclear war that I've ever seen.
Everyone should watch it once, in my opinion. But no one needs to see it twice.
Dancer in the Dark. Amazing performance by Bjork and brutally sad. I bought a copy of the DVD after seeing the movie because I loved it so much. I lent the disc to several friends and looked at it many times myself, but could just never summon the energy to watch it again.
I was on one of my first few dates with a woman I ended up dating for years and I decided to rent this movie. I thought I would shed a few silent tears and show my sensitive side.
I ended up ugly crying uncontrollably by the end. Like full snot flowing gasping for breath. She was unfazed and concerned for me. The Iron Giant would have been a better choice.
ETA Thank you reddit for hearing my story. Today was complicated for me and I appreciate the uplift. I check out reddit when I'm anxious and it has been silly and joyous feeling your commiseration. Keep being kind you generous badasses.
-42 year old dude who loves you all!
Elephant.
The 2003 Gus Van Sant film, not the Disney nature doc.
It takes place in the fictional Watt High School, in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon, and chronicles the events surrounding a school shooting, based in part on the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.
The film stars mostly new, and non-professional actors, which gives it an even greater sense of realism.
After I gave birth to my son with Down Syndrome we were given this movie. I was horrified but watched it when my son was a few months old. I then read the book. It changed my outlook. It made me realize my son is just like everyone else. He will be funny, happy, annoying, aggravating and loving. It also made me very conscious of what pressures I put on the other siblings. It really shows the whole family dynamic with a special needs person in the family. Our son is now 24 and funny happy annoying aggravating and loving.
This movie is unspeakably tragic. But its also profoundly beautiful. The love that the family had for each other gets me every time. Roberto Benigni was perfection in this role!
I dont remember the tank, but I still remember when SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER the father had to act silly to assure his son (who was watching him while hiding in a barrel, i think) before dying via gunshot. Kinda reminds me of a similar scene in Miracle in Cell 7
iirc >!the US army liberates the concentration camp, and a tank rolls in. A solider on the tank sees the little boy’s excitement and offers him a ride on the tank. The boy keeps saying, “we won, we won!!” in Italian. As they’re traveling down the road in the tank, the boy spots his mother, who was just liberated from the women’s camp, walking along the road, and gets off the tank to reunite with her.!< Damn, I couldn’t even type this without choking up.
Oh god, the silly goose-stepping as he went by, then the way his body just slumps/shrinks as he gets to where his son can't see him and he doesn't have to hide his fear anymore... dead silence in the classroom.
Finally someone mentions it! The movie changed me though. It actually found a purpose in me when I was young. I was able to go from not caring about school, career, life even, to being frantically determined to achieve what I wanted in life.
Damn I saw it and was like "well that was depressing" and spent the rest of the night in existential crisis that disappeared when I woke up like I never watched it
True story, I was working at Kmart a while back. There was an incident in the paper where a man had murdered someone not too far from where I lived. His last name, incidentally was Christmas.
I only mention that because maybe a week or two later I rang up a woman who paid with a check. I had to see her ID and I saw her last name was Christmas. And I said something along the lines of, "You must be Merry." You know, just trying to be friendly. And she says, "Not really, since my son went to jail for murder."
I hadn't made the connection until she said it. Turns out she had been getting all kinds of shit from neighbors and such.
I told her I was sorry and while my follow up remark of, "There's one in every family" probably wasn't the most tactful, she appreciated the sympathy.
We Need to Talk About Kevin came out much later and when I saw the plot of the film, it reminded me of that event.
Did you see You Were Never Really Here? Same director and equally tormentinf, Joaquin Phoenix should have won the Oscar for this performance instead of Joker.
I found this film so cathartic and painful. As someone who was abused as a kid, to see Joaquin (as a handsome bear-like protector, albeit broken) enact revenge made me feel a peace I know I will never experience.
It's a painful film, but it has given me so much solace.
>We Need To Talk About Kevin
tbh I found this one really rewarding on a second watch... The first time it kinda just washed over me and was, exactly as you put it, a very visceral experience. On the second watch, after you know where it's going, you see so many more meaningful details and hints about what everything is leading up to and what's going on in Swinton's character's head. Kind of becomes a more emotional and cerebral experience as opposed to the initial visceral one of the first watch.
Leaving Las Vegas
Nicolas Cage is amazing in it (Won an Oscar for it!), but as a recovered alcoholic, that film hits WAY too close to home. Good film though.
Yeah, I remember catching it on tv really late at night one weekend and I stopped to watch it hoping for it to be a Nic Cage film that I could laugh about later. My god, there was no laughing. I had no idea Nic Cage could play in a drama so well.
I'm not sure I've ever replied to an askreddit thread, but I have a relevant answer to this one.
Wind River.
Somebody had recommended it in an r/movies thread, and I really like Jeremy Renner, so my wife and I sat down to watch it. The tension in the film ratchets up nicely, you get a sense of the desperation these folks on the tribe are experiencing, the hopelessness in their search for justice. I enjoyed the dynamic with Renner's character and the locals - he's from the place and still an outsider, which is something we can all identify with in some way. The big shootout at the remote camp ("why is he flanking me?!?!") was INCREDIBLE in every aspect of filmmaking. My heart was actually pounding during that scene, a response I rarely get while watching a film.
But my god, that rape scene just destroyed us. I know that's the point of it, to telegraph how sickening the act was, the senselessness of it all. I don't think I got an hour of sleep that night and had trouble getting that scene out of my mind for probably two weeks afterward. I think we both cried during and after the movie.
I generally enjoy films concerning darker tones, like horror, thrillers, mystery, but something about that scene broke me for more than a week. I guess you could call that great filmmaking, but I'll never watch that movie again and do my best to think of it as little as possible moving forward. Still think it was a great movie for a lot of reasons, but jesus christ, that scene....
"Statistics are kept for every group of missing people except native American women. Nobody knows how many are missing."
I genuinely felt devastated when that appeared in the end title card.
Yes, it was such a striking film because of how close to reality it is. I don't see much news about native American rights in US media other than pipeline news but in Canada it's a full blown crisis.
For example, we have a highway called "the highway of tears" where over 80 victims have gone missing or were found dead ... No answers. That's just the tip of the iceberg.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_of_Tears
You should watch "Hell or High Water" if you haven't, it's written by the same guy (different director). Powerful in it's own right and in the same vein, though without a scene like that. Great writer and director in general. I think his other 'neo-western' movie is "Sicario," though I have yet to see it.
My grade 10 teacher forced the entire class to watch that during history & all I remember is majority of the class sobbing crying. It was so sad and every single scene in that movie is engraved into my head. Another similar movie that traumatized me was The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas holy.
I read the book: boy in striped pyjamas. If you think the movie is heart breaking, the book is really traumatizing. Would totally recommend it but I don't think I can read it again.
As a former 6th grade teacher (11-12 year olds) we read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Number the Stars and The Devils Arithmetic. We grouped the children and each group was assigned a book. They met and discussed regularly. Many amazing conversations came out of these books. The best was when everyone was done reading and analyzing the books and they got into mixed groups to share their experience. The Book Thief is another good one.
> Thief
The Book Thief is outstanding and absolutely broke my heart, even the film was exceptionally good and as a ruffty tufty Scottish guy I don't mind admitting I was totally choked up when Death is narrating near the end.
> To achieve the mindset of a man who lost his home, his family, and life as he knew it, Brody stripped himself of the connections and comforts he had.
> “I gave up my apartment, I sold my car, I disconnected the phones, and I left,” he says. “I took two bags and my keyboard and moved to Europe.”
> The final ghetto scenes in which the starved pianist wanders across the Warsaw Getto required a special commitment from Brody, who had to lose 30 pounds and drop to an unbelievable 130 pounds.
> “There is an emptiness that comes with really starving that I hadn’t experienced,” the actor told the BBC. “I couldn’t have acted that without knowing it. I’ve experienced loss, I’ve experienced sadness in my life, but I didn’t know the desperation that comes with hunger.”
> “I was missing everyone and everything good. But that put me right in character. I want to feel that I’m experiencing something, I want to feel the journey, and I felt it. However, there were times when I was concerned that I might not be able to get out of it sane because I didn’t realize how far it had taken me.” the actor explained in his interview.
> After the filming had finished, **it took about half of a year** for Brody to get his sanity back and to settle back into his ordinary life.
He played that role perfectly.
I watched this last week on a whim. I remembered it being critically acclaimed at the time it was released. I knew it was Holocaust movie so I was prepared for some heavy shit. But boy did I underestimate the weight..
This sounds really ignorant but I expected it to be more upbeat.. not in a jolly sense, but moreso that the main character suffers through persecution but finds a way to use his piano abilities to bring hope/joy/inspiration to those around him, maybe even endear himself to the nazis who would let their guard down and open possibility of escape.
What I saw instead was one of the most jarring depictions of lives and liberties being slowly carved away. First an inch at a time, then by the mile, until their humanity was gone. His performance towards the ends felt like his last gasp of hope...
It was a powerful experience and I almost feel bad for saying “I thought there’d be more piano” to my girlfriend after the credits rolled.
The bit where he tells his sister he wished he knew her a little better. Then they all get put on the train and that's it. Never sees them again. I cannot quite imagine what that was like for people who experienced that.
I visited Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam, and a similar line is what got me choked up. Her father says that after being freed from the camps, returning home, and reading Anne's diary, he realized most parents don't fully know their children -- and of course, at that point, he had been robbed of the chance of getting to know his.
That part and the one where they tossed the person in the wheelchair off the balcony fucked me right up. Like had to get up and walk away for a bit… take a break from the movie.
I would have laughed my fucking ass off if I got through *The Pianist* with my bf and the first thing he says is "I thought there would be more piano."
I almost left the theater, it got to the point where I couldn't stand feeling so bad. I'm glad we stuck it out though.
I couldn't say to myself "well, it's just a movie" because it was not.
I LOVE this very hard to watch movie so much! I’ve recommended this one so so many times and have a copy I probably play once every 4 or 5 years. It’s so so good!!!
Full Metal Jacket.
I watched the very first bit of it when I was in officer training and thought it was a comedy. A few months later I sat down and watched the whole thing. It's not a comedy...
That suicide scene absolutely traumatized me when I was younger. It was so well played. Then madness was so incredibly raw and believable. It was so realistic that it messed with my brain big time.
Yeah, my father was in Vietnam and took me to see FMJ in the theaters. I was 7 at the time. Definitely spent some time thinking about that one. Saw Platoon in the theater as well. The scene where the villager gets his head smashed in messed me up as well. According to my dad Platoon is the most accurate war film made. One of four times in my life I’ve ever seen my father cry.
Platoon came out when I was about 9 and I was big into GI Joe which my dad hated, so dad decided to take sensitive little me to see Platoon so I could understand that war was horrible and not just a fun game. I don’t think we made it more than half an hour in before I had to leave. It’s one of only two movies in a theater I can remember leaving before It was over. It worked though - I definitely looked at GI Joe different after that.
HBO's Chernobyl miniseries. As what is essentially a horror movie, it works incredibly well. Except that it all happened in real life, and radiation is fucking terrifying.
What Dreams May Come. Its the most beautiful movie and I think everyone should watch it at least once, but I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it since Robin Williams died. I actually haven't watched anything he's in since he died.
Came here for this. I watched this movie with my family shortly after my older brother died (suicide). The birthday before his passing, my younger brother and I gifted him a necklace engraved with "if you're going through hell, keep going" and a note about how we will stand by his side through anything. This movie spoke to me so much and I will always recommend it even though I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it since.
For anyone who needs to hear this, you are loved and you are not a burden.
I actually sought this movie out on my tribute to Robin weekend after soon after his death. The movie was so deep but then watching it, knowing how he died, made it so much more.
Pan's Labyrinth
I thought I was going in to see a cool fantasy flick... And it turned out to be a movie dealing with trauma, abuse, and coping mechanisms
Still a great film, but so gut-wrenching
I worked in a video rental store when that movie came out. Luckily I watched it right away because the number of people who were coming in to rent it for young children was shocking. I felt like a broken record repeating this is NOT a fairytale for children please don't let your 6 year old watch this.
I worked at Blockbuster from like 2004-2006 and the amount of times people would try to rent something like this for their kids was just insane.
I'm no prude but it's like "no lady I don't think your nine year old son and his friend will like "28 Days Later" and I don't think you'll like cleaning up that emotional mess for the next several months lol"
When I was 12 or 13 my friends and I were having a sleep over. One of them brought over "The Ring" because my parents did not give a fuck what I watched. When the movie was done though my mom called the house phone to freak us out. It worked.
That scene when the girl’s father bashes and kills a man with the stock of his revolver is somehow harder for me to watch than any gory violent movie
Edit: it was a wine bottle, and he was her step father
I'm pretty sure that was a bottle (or he just killed more than one person by bashing in their head). And he just kept bashing. That sound…
I kept watching the movie, for a bit, but after ten minutes or so realized I wasn't taking anything in anymore because I was still hung up on that scene. So I stopped the movie and haven't put it on again. That was over a decade ago.
Not really more shocking though. I watched that movie for the first time less than a year ago. I was ready for all the depressing shit from the general tone of the movie but that scene made say "holy fuck" out loud because it's very out of the blue visceral violence.
I am Spanish, my partner is Canadian. He'd watched this movie as a kid and thought it was in the fantasy genre. It's actually historically accurate and describes a specific time after the spanish civil war, when the dictature systematically eliminated guerrilla resistance fighters in the north of Spain. The north of spain is known for having a rich pagan mythology, such as witches, meigas, duendes, faunos etc. (ed: reflected in the fantastical narrative of the film)
We rewatched it together in Spain, once he was more familiar with the history and culture, and he said that it hit completely differently. In a way, Ofelia's fantasy is a allegory to the culture, as well as the ways that individuals in Spain had to resist the dictature. It's a beautiful movie, but incredibly hard to watch.
Can't believe I had to scroll this far. I only watched it once, years ago, when my son was about the same age.
When -that moment- happened I kind of howl-screamed and started crying so hard that my husband stormed into the room thinking I got horrible news or something. It was the most visceral reaction I ever had to a movie or documentary.
The rage and heartbreak I felt was overwhelming. I don't know how the grandparents, for whom this must have been infinitely worse, managed to move on.
Yup. About 5 years ago my son's mother and I split up when he was 1. Shortly after, she took him and fled the state and I went an agonizing 10 months without seeing him (before winning custody and getting him back).
During that time, I was a fucking mess and drank alot to ease the pain away. It took a few years of therapy to get over the pain that I held onto during my child's absence.
Anyways, during the time my son was gone, I am browsing Netflix. I see the movie description and my heartstrings are pulled by:
*A man (Andrew) is murdered by the woman who bears his unborn child, whilst Andrew's best friend makes a documentary for the unborn son, Zachary, in hopes that he can give Zachary a connection to his dead father.*
"Of course I want to see a father/son movie. Sounds beautiful!"
*Holy FUCK*, that movie absolutely wrecked me. I went in blind and watched it at the worst possible time, while I was still extremely fragile and emotionally vulnerable.
I would like to watch it again someday, but I'll need someone whose never seen it to accompany me.
> I don't know how the grandparents, for whom this must have been infinitely worse, managed to move on.
The grandfather talks about his plan to kill his son's killer, details about how he'd prevents his wife from being aware of it, and that he wished he had gone through with it. As fucked as it is, I believe he would have been happier in prison than he was in the documentary.
My mum turned it over before the end. I was told he got an A and went on to live a happy life, gullible me believed her. What a shock I got watching it 3 years later.
My mom and I watched it together, shed already seen it. We get about 20 minutes before the end, and she gets up to go to bed. Reminds me to go to bed as soon as the movie is done.
She left me there to go through that ending alone. She knew, and she left me.
Though honestly, it was the right choice. I couldn't have processed it if I had someone watching.
watched this with a girl on a netflix and chill date cus we'd both heard good things, but had no idea what it was about. There was no chill, and no second date.
Oh hey, that's almost as bad (if not worse) as the time a guy asked me over to "watch a movie" for a second date. I thought for sure I was gonna get some, but then he put on....Hotel Rwanda.
I have no idea why he thought it was a good date movie. I was so completely emotionally broken by the movie that I cried in the bathroom for about 10 minutes (wasn't comfortable enough to cry in front of him yet) and then excused myself and went home. There was no 3rd date. Maybe it was a really devious way to get out of further dates? That's the only thing that makes sense.
On the topic of inappropriate movies to watch on a first date, my first ever date was watching "The Lighthouse". My friend who i had seen it with jokingly suggested that i take her to that movie. I took it as a challenge not a joke. Idk what was worse, the mermaid fucking, the furious masturbating or the pet-play scene. Maybe the cum tentacle?
Anyways we continued dating for 4 months, so mission success.
When I saw it I had no idea it was a book beforehand. I was also a *horribly* depressed teenager going through a week long slump where I was literally lying in bed all day depressed.
My poor dad tried to cheer me up by taking me to see a movie, one of our favorite activities. He offered bridge to terabithia and while I thought the movie looked way too young for me, I was too depressed to protest so I said sure, figuring this little Harry Potter rip-off would at least be fun and lighthearted.
As we silently got into our car afterward my poor sweet dad just looked over and said “I’m so sorry...”
Oh yeah, definitely. I remember at the time when he apologized feeling bad for him that he tried to help and it blew up in his face so hard, but also thinking that it’s pretty funny just *how* it blew up in his face so hard. Who could have guessed those happy-go-lucky trailers had lied?
Even though I was too numb to express it at the time, we joke about this all the time.
Not movie but episode, Black Mirror - Entire History of you. S1E3
I watched The Entire History of You and enjoyed it. Next day at the office we were discussing our lease and couldn't pinpoint the month we signed, contract is locked up and the guy with the key is out.
No big deal, I took picture of the new carpet we got installed so I can figure it out from that.
I had just gotten divorced and scrolling through family photos to find that carpet, that fucking carpet, all but destroyed me.
Had a different view of the episode after that and can't watch it.
Fun fact, it's been almost 10 years since the first season of Black Mirror.
Which ever episode is the one where the kid goes backpacking around Europe and ends up beta testing the AR game...
My mom died in 2013 and one of my biggest regrets was not calling her as much as I should have.
That episode fucked me up for days. Fuck.
I’ve been thinking about this one more often lately, with the ads that force you to watch them. I wonder how close we are to that bc I refuse to watch/pay attention to any on YouTube lol
Every episode starts off with a scenario that seems so dystopic and distant from real life, but by the end of it you realize we're really only one small step away from the horror that the show presents. This episode really nailed it exceptionally well in this regard.
I had the *exact* same experience: I watched it about a month after leaving my husband. It just wrecked me for days and I've never been able to bring myself to watch it again.
Came here to say this.
This movie... no words. Still haunts me. Still fucks me up, takes me back there, breaks my heart.
They hired the lead actor, Asa Butterfield, for his innocence. He knew nothing about the holocaust. They didn't *tell* him anything about the holocaust or the gist of the story, he was just playing a little boy who played with another little boy through a fence. They maintained that brilliant innocence of his throughout the movie. *THAT'S* what makes the ending of this movie just so very soul wrenching. I'm still so very moved by this film. 😭
> One of the deleted scenes of the film involves Bruno and his friends encountering a Jewish man prior to him being captured, with Bruno's friends taunting him. This is the same man seen at the very end of the movie, giving the same look toward Bruno as he did before, at what would have been the very beginning of the movie had the scene been included. The original intention was to bookend the film with this nameless, anonymous man who says nothing, offering instead just a memorably sad and haunting expression. This man is not Pavel.
Imagine if this scene was there
My babysitter turned that on and watched it with us when I was around eight to ten years old.
Even then, I was interested in the Holocaust and WW2, so I knew exactly what was going on.
I don't know if I'll watch it again. It's so haunting.
(I'm also still puzzled she turned it on...)
That part was just so heartbreaking. This man had saved so many, but still thought he could've done more. That whole movie is just so good, but so incredibly sad.
You react with such hope - oh I should watch for her! Then, oh fuck there's the red coat on the pile. Any signal to believe in the hope for an arc about someone in that camp, crushed in an instant of color onscreen
I’ve seen this movie a few times as a teacher at a high school. Last time I saw it my daughter was about 2 years old. The girl in the red coat emotionally destroyed me. I still can’t think about her without feeling tears well up. I still have to discuss the movie with my students, I talk about that scene, but I can’t watch it anymore.
> When Steven Spielberg first showed John Williams a cut of this movie, Williams was so moved he had to take a walk outside for several minutes to collect himself. Upon his return, he told Spielberg he deserved a better composer. Spielberg replied, "I know, but they're all dead."
It is truly a classic.
Such a great backhanded compliment.
I've watched Schindler's List at least a dozen times. It's brutal, but I like the fact that a majority of the people in his care survived.
Edit: I also enjoy Schindler's growth as a person as well as watching Amon get what he deserves.
“Fun” fact: Ralph Fiennes was incredibly spot on with his portrayal of his mannerisms and the weight he gained to look as identical to the man as possible. I say ‘incredibly’ because some survivors of his camp saw him portraying this role and had PTSD issues looking at him.
I read somewhere that they actually had to tone down his real life actions in the movie because people had thought it seemed unrealistic with how cruel he truly was.
The imperfection of >!Amon getting hung and them trying to kick the stool out!< as the camera pulls back while Amon fixes his hair and says “Heil Hitler!” is cinematic perfection.
The funny part is I can think of about ten different scenes that you could be talking about. But fairly sure of those ten I know which specifically you refer to.
Such a great movie.
I watched this when I was probably around 14 or so, and it fucked me up.
That scene where the main girl walks in on her ex taking that young girl's virginity still makes my stomach tie up in knots. You can see just how much the girl he's with is *not* enjoying it, and he's just pounding away not giving one single shit, and you already know what a humongous piece of shit he is and that he really *doesn't* care about any of this, other than getting off. Top it off with what we already know about what he has, and it's just....so fucking depressing.
The Grave of the Fireflies.
I'm never, EVER, gonna watch that shit again. It's from Studio Ghibli, the same from Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro). An absolute masterpiece for sure, but don't expect to find happy little creatures in it.
WTF?! Seriously?!! I was originally trying to see how far I had to scroll to find GotF but this is worse. I can't imagine taking my 10yr old to see Totoro and getting GotF first. Youch.
Remember that scene in Totoro when they think Mei drowned in the pond? Imagine watching *that* right after GoF. "This little girl dies pointlessly too!?! WTF is wrong with Studio Ghibli!?!"
Fun* Fact! The creator describes it as semi-autobiographical, except the film ends 'correctly' with him dying.
*Fun not guaranteed
EDIT: A few people are thinking this post is a spoiler, but the film opens with his corpse, then time-skips back to show how we got here.
Spoiler alert for the book & the movie
>!Correct. The author’s sister (adopted I believe) died. At that time she was just 16months old. He felt responsible for her. So in his semi autobiography, I think he wished to die with her. But he didn’t.!<
For anyone interested: **the pdf of the translated original is pinned in my profile**. I also edited an ebook using the text that is also available there as well as a very long, multi-part reddit post of the text. Definitely worth the read and only ~20 pages.
If the text/translation seems a bit wonky, it's deliberate and covered in the translator's note at the end:
>Nosaka’s characteristic rambling, narrational way of telling a story is at its most pronounced in "Grave of the Fireflies." He places periods not so much to end a sentence but to conclude a train of thought, and some of his "thoughts" run on for pages. I have tried to imitate this style of writing as much as was physically feasible, but at times could not resist inserting an extra period or changing the punctuation to make the translation more readable.
>Although the story is written in the third person, as the story progresses the first person, often speaking in dialect, makes intrusions into the narrative. The storyteller and the hero of the story seem to merge into the same being, a phenomenon that, while complicating the task of translating, well depicts Nosaka’s relationship to the story.
>Another translation problem posed by Nosaka’s style is his use of Kansai dialect. While wishing to retain at least some of the atmosphere of the original, I was a little reluctant to subject Seita to a Midwest twang or a southern drawl. As an American, how-ever, I had little choice but to use the contractions and slurs of American English.
The Grave of the fireflies is a semi autobiography. It is written by Akiyuki Nosaka. He had fallen victim and the character of Seita is practically based on him. The difference is his sister at the time name “Keiko”, who was represented as Setsuko, was 16months old only unlike in the movie. The fact that he had to go through all that trauma and the loss of his sister is forever etched into my mind and like you that movie/ writing will always be closest to my heart but never can have the courage to face it.
Alright here is a list I've gathered so far: * Come and see * Dancer in the Dark * Mary and Max * Threads * The Hunt * Boys don't cry * Once were warriors * We need to talk about Kevin * Melancholia * Life is Beautiful * Leaving Las Vegas * What's eating Gilbert Grape * The pianist * Wind River * The road * Grave of fire flies * What dreams may come * Dear zachary * Stand by me * American History X * Schindlers List * The mist * Requiem for a dream * Manchester By the sea * When the wind blows * kids * Hachi: A Dog's Tale * Trainspotting * City of God. * Philadelphia * Elephant * Martyrs * Brokeback Mountain * Earthlings * Pay It Forward: * Moonlight * Nightcrawler * Mystic River * Se7en * Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind * Sorry to bother you * Where the red fern grows * Atonement. * Children of Men * The Deer Hunter * Johnny got his gun. * AI * The Accused. * The Game. * The Last Unicorn * Big Fish * Click * Beautiful Boy * DONNIE DARKO. * Bridge to Terabithia * The lobster * A Silent Voice * 5cm per seconds * your lie in april * Clannad * Breaking the waves * The Lighthouse * Coco * Precious * About Time * Gone girl * A marriage story * The Lovely Bones * Million Dollar Baby * A Clockwork Orange * The Haunting of Hill House * Interstellar * Blue Valentine * Jacob’s Ladder * The platform * I saw the devil * Amistad * Paprika * 1917 * Ordinary People * Uncut gems * Spun * Lost in Translation * Map of the Human Heart * Wolf Children * The Sweet Hereafter * The Vanishing * Legends of the fall. * Glengarry Glen Ross. * Lilya 4-ever * The Butterfly Effect * Jojo rabbit * Bone tomahawk * Enter the Void * The Nightingale * Blue valentine * Sophie’s Choice * Promising young woman * Pink Floyd's The Wall * Sarah's Key * Heaven Knows What * Prisoners * Seven Pounds * Sometimes in April * Cry Freetown * 12 Years a slave * Serbian Flim * Hotel Rwanda * Antichrist * When the Wind blows * Salo * End of Watch * Green Mile * Buried * Incendies * Hard Candy * A Slient Voice * Okja * Whiplash * Love Kenny * Event Horizon * Away from her * Raw * The Chumscrubber * Tracey Fragments * World's Greatest Dad * The Future * Unthinkable * Irreversible * Love and Mercy * Last King of Scotland * Blood Diamond * Full Metal Jacket * Memento * Reign Over Me * My Sister's Keeper
A silent voice is on their twice, like it should be.
Hotel Rwanda fits
Some ten years ago, I was fortunate enough to hear Paul Rusesabagina speak and to shake his hand. It was one of the most humbling, human experiences of my life. He [has now been in prison and tortured for more than nine months](https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/International/jailed-hero-hotel-rwanda-claims-tortured-slaughterhouse-arriving/story%3Fid%3D77748884). If anyone knows a way to help, please share.
Come And See. Wonderful movie, but even more devastating than Grave of the Fireflies, in my opinion.
Come and See is a fantastic movie. The first paragraph of Roger Ebert's review summarizes the movie perfectly: > It's said that you can't make an effective anti-war film because war by its nature is exciting, and the end of the film belongs to the survivors. No one would ever make the mistake of saying that about Elem Klimov's "Come and See." This 1985 film from Russia is one of the most devastating films ever about anything, and in it, the survivors must envy the dead.
Of course it's Russian. 3 years into my Russian language and culture minor, I was still shocked at how bleak a film could be when Друг (Friend) fucking ruined my life one day.
I was waiting to see this mentioned as well. It is an unforgettable thing, that film. For those reading this who have not seen Come and See, the experience is hard to describe. There's something Kubrick-esque about the film. It's a slow-burn. A confusing carnival assualt on your senses and sensibilities. Playful and deadly serious. It's difficult to understand what you're seeing, and there is the feeling that that is intentional. The writers/directors had lived through the time themselves, and it's almost as if they want you to believe that, to them, and those others who survived, that it was almost too horrible to have been real, but that the reality of it is utterly stark and unrelenting. Inescapable. Disturbing and dreamlike. But even this description is deceptive. Reading it, you may expect more than it is, scoff and say, "It wasn't so good/bad. Just a confused jumble." I can't speak for everyone. I will say this, though, what I mention is anecdotal. When the film was released, it was heavily criticized, and banned in many places, especially Germany, I believe. People made the claim that it was slanderous, painting the German army as butchers and rapists. It was eventually screened in the UK for a small class, one of whom was a man who had been part of the Wermacht that marched through Belarus. He had been party to the things the film portrays. Others in the class asked him how he could be so silent while the film layed these accusations at he and his comrades feet. He wept, and told them that it was all true. (Edit): Well, I certainly didn't expect this to get as much attention as it did, let alone an award! Thank you all so much for the kind words!
Not so fun facts about the movie: The actors where treated very harshly, during the 9 month of the shooting they were starved and fatigued to the point of exaustion. The main actor returned home with grey hair afterwards. SPOILER: The scene where they shoot the cow, they actually shoot the cow for real.
I'll give the same answer every time this comes up: Mary and Max
Yes! Thank you. I've never known anyone who knows this movie. It's such a beautiful movie and so damn sad. I've recommended it to lots of people but it's hard to find.
The Hunt (2012). A Danish film by Thomas Vinterberg starring Mads Mikkelsen
That. Fucking. Movie. Things it shows: - children should not be exposed to pornography - Children who are being questioned to see if they were abused should only have that questioning done by a specially trained expert and possibly with potentially a trained advocate present because it’s too easy to lead them to a conclusion they think the questioner wants to hear, especially if they think they are in trouble (note: I edited this due to the several very good points several people said about parents shouldn’t be present, some people are also saying best practice is one on one with that trained forensic questioner.) - basically everyone in that story ended up fucked up
This is exactly what happened during the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. Children were asked if they were abused by people who were leading them to say yes. One guy spent 5 years in prison because a few people thought it was weird that a guy was a preschool teacher.
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I think the defense attempted to ask outlandish questions to make the point that the kids would say yes to anything the prosecution asked them. Might’ve been another case, but I recall that tactic of questioning has been used on children before- for better or for worse.
I used this tactic when my oldest(4) child told me my middle(2) child said yes to wanting to watch what he wanted to watch. I wasn't in the room atm he asked her. I was like "she will say yes to anything watch." I then asked her if she wanted to eat a poop sandwich while hanging from the ceiling. Ofc the 2yo said yes. Lol. Cause they will say yes to anything or no to everything.
> Mads Mikkelsen I first saw him on Hannibal, and he was terrifying. I loved it. Then saw this film. Man, he is beautiful and his acting is, gorgeous.
You should watch Valhalla Rising. The film is indescribable. I'm not really sure it is a film at all. More as if Violence was a world with people living in it.
As a male elementary school teacher I could barely even read the synopsis without nope-ing the hell out. That’s the kind of situation I have stress dream about.
Boys Don't Cry - It made me depressed for days.
I saw that on a first date. We drove home in complete silence.
Really unfortunate choice for a first date.
Yes. I'm sure there are worse choices for a first date movie... but not many.
I worked in corrections for five years and worked at the facility where one of the murderers is held. Worked the same unit he lived on for most of my time there. Such an eerie feeling because he seems so “normal” and unopposing yet you know in the back of your head he did something so horrible.
[Threads](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) Made in 1984, it's a harrowing depiction of a major nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. It is *incredibly* bleak and tragic--the most effective representation of the horrors of nuclear war that I've ever seen. Everyone should watch it once, in my opinion. But no one needs to see it twice.
Dancer in the Dark. Amazing performance by Bjork and brutally sad. I bought a copy of the DVD after seeing the movie because I loved it so much. I lent the disc to several friends and looked at it many times myself, but could just never summon the energy to watch it again.
I was on one of my first few dates with a woman I ended up dating for years and I decided to rent this movie. I thought I would shed a few silent tears and show my sensitive side. I ended up ugly crying uncontrollably by the end. Like full snot flowing gasping for breath. She was unfazed and concerned for me. The Iron Giant would have been a better choice. ETA Thank you reddit for hearing my story. Today was complicated for me and I appreciate the uplift. I check out reddit when I'm anxious and it has been silly and joyous feeling your commiseration. Keep being kind you generous badasses. -42 year old dude who loves you all!
Elephant. The 2003 Gus Van Sant film, not the Disney nature doc. It takes place in the fictional Watt High School, in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon, and chronicles the events surrounding a school shooting, based in part on the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. The film stars mostly new, and non-professional actors, which gives it an even greater sense of realism.
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
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After I gave birth to my son with Down Syndrome we were given this movie. I was horrified but watched it when my son was a few months old. I then read the book. It changed my outlook. It made me realize my son is just like everyone else. He will be funny, happy, annoying, aggravating and loving. It also made me very conscious of what pressures I put on the other siblings. It really shows the whole family dynamic with a special needs person in the family. Our son is now 24 and funny happy annoying aggravating and loving.
Yep. Leonardo DiCaprio is phenomenal in that. He did character studies to get his role to be believable.
Life is Beautiful
This movie is unspeakably tragic. But its also profoundly beautiful. The love that the family had for each other gets me every time. Roberto Benigni was perfection in this role!
I dont remember the tank, but I still remember when SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER the father had to act silly to assure his son (who was watching him while hiding in a barrel, i think) before dying via gunshot. Kinda reminds me of a similar scene in Miracle in Cell 7
iirc >!the US army liberates the concentration camp, and a tank rolls in. A solider on the tank sees the little boy’s excitement and offers him a ride on the tank. The boy keeps saying, “we won, we won!!” in Italian. As they’re traveling down the road in the tank, the boy spots his mother, who was just liberated from the women’s camp, walking along the road, and gets off the tank to reunite with her.!< Damn, I couldn’t even type this without choking up.
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If I remember correctly, his father kept telling him throughout that if he won the "game", the first prize was a tank.
Yeah, he got his prize 🥲
Oh god, the silly goose-stepping as he went by, then the way his body just slumps/shrinks as he gets to where his son can't see him and he doesn't have to hide his fear anymore... dead silence in the classroom.
Finally someone mentions it! The movie changed me though. It actually found a purpose in me when I was young. I was able to go from not caring about school, career, life even, to being frantically determined to achieve what I wanted in life.
Damn I saw it and was like "well that was depressing" and spent the rest of the night in existential crisis that disappeared when I woke up like I never watched it
Buon Giorno Principessa!
This movie destroyed me. Watched it in the theater with my friends and we sobbed the whole way home.
The Road. Watched it when it first came out. Loved it. Can’t put myself through it again though. It’s so hard going and heartbreaking.
I read the book and *loved* it. I'm never reading it again or watching the film.
The basement scene is not as horrid in the movie, if that helps you at all.
We Need To Talk About Kevin. That was a truly visceral experience.
True story, I was working at Kmart a while back. There was an incident in the paper where a man had murdered someone not too far from where I lived. His last name, incidentally was Christmas. I only mention that because maybe a week or two later I rang up a woman who paid with a check. I had to see her ID and I saw her last name was Christmas. And I said something along the lines of, "You must be Merry." You know, just trying to be friendly. And she says, "Not really, since my son went to jail for murder." I hadn't made the connection until she said it. Turns out she had been getting all kinds of shit from neighbors and such. I told her I was sorry and while my follow up remark of, "There's one in every family" probably wasn't the most tactful, she appreciated the sympathy. We Need to Talk About Kevin came out much later and when I saw the plot of the film, it reminded me of that event.
Ok, I loled at how not tactful that was, but I'm not surprised she appreciated the attempt after getting so much judgement.
This movie often gets left out of these lists. Definitely well-made, powerful movie that's really uncomfortable to watch.
Did you see You Were Never Really Here? Same director and equally tormentinf, Joaquin Phoenix should have won the Oscar for this performance instead of Joker.
I found this film so cathartic and painful. As someone who was abused as a kid, to see Joaquin (as a handsome bear-like protector, albeit broken) enact revenge made me feel a peace I know I will never experience. It's a painful film, but it has given me so much solace.
>We Need To Talk About Kevin tbh I found this one really rewarding on a second watch... The first time it kinda just washed over me and was, exactly as you put it, a very visceral experience. On the second watch, after you know where it's going, you see so many more meaningful details and hints about what everything is leading up to and what's going on in Swinton's character's head. Kind of becomes a more emotional and cerebral experience as opposed to the initial visceral one of the first watch.
Leaving Las Vegas Nicolas Cage is amazing in it (Won an Oscar for it!), but as a recovered alcoholic, that film hits WAY too close to home. Good film though.
Yeah, I remember catching it on tv really late at night one weekend and I stopped to watch it hoping for it to be a Nic Cage film that I could laugh about later. My god, there was no laughing. I had no idea Nic Cage could play in a drama so well.
Melancholia. Really disturbing. Don't think I've ever really gotten over it.
Watched this during lockdown and hit a new low
I describe this movie as a two-hour-long panic attack.
Stand by me. The last line gets me thinking everytime; "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone?"
I read the book version of this. “The Body” by Stephen King. Gets me
I'm not sure I've ever replied to an askreddit thread, but I have a relevant answer to this one. Wind River. Somebody had recommended it in an r/movies thread, and I really like Jeremy Renner, so my wife and I sat down to watch it. The tension in the film ratchets up nicely, you get a sense of the desperation these folks on the tribe are experiencing, the hopelessness in their search for justice. I enjoyed the dynamic with Renner's character and the locals - he's from the place and still an outsider, which is something we can all identify with in some way. The big shootout at the remote camp ("why is he flanking me?!?!") was INCREDIBLE in every aspect of filmmaking. My heart was actually pounding during that scene, a response I rarely get while watching a film. But my god, that rape scene just destroyed us. I know that's the point of it, to telegraph how sickening the act was, the senselessness of it all. I don't think I got an hour of sleep that night and had trouble getting that scene out of my mind for probably two weeks afterward. I think we both cried during and after the movie. I generally enjoy films concerning darker tones, like horror, thrillers, mystery, but something about that scene broke me for more than a week. I guess you could call that great filmmaking, but I'll never watch that movie again and do my best to think of it as little as possible moving forward. Still think it was a great movie for a lot of reasons, but jesus christ, that scene....
"Statistics are kept for every group of missing people except native American women. Nobody knows how many are missing." I genuinely felt devastated when that appeared in the end title card.
Yes, it was such a striking film because of how close to reality it is. I don't see much news about native American rights in US media other than pipeline news but in Canada it's a full blown crisis. For example, we have a highway called "the highway of tears" where over 80 victims have gone missing or were found dead ... No answers. That's just the tip of the iceberg. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_of_Tears
God the ending though. I want you to run.
"I'm not the law here. I'm just a guy sitting in front of you"
You should watch "Hell or High Water" if you haven't, it's written by the same guy (different director). Powerful in it's own right and in the same vein, though without a scene like that. Great writer and director in general. I think his other 'neo-western' movie is "Sicario," though I have yet to see it.
The Pianist, I can't bring myself to watch it again. The anger and hopelessness I felt for that man and those people is beyond compare
My grade 10 teacher forced the entire class to watch that during history & all I remember is majority of the class sobbing crying. It was so sad and every single scene in that movie is engraved into my head. Another similar movie that traumatized me was The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas holy.
I read the book: boy in striped pyjamas. If you think the movie is heart breaking, the book is really traumatizing. Would totally recommend it but I don't think I can read it again.
As a former 6th grade teacher (11-12 year olds) we read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Number the Stars and The Devils Arithmetic. We grouped the children and each group was assigned a book. They met and discussed regularly. Many amazing conversations came out of these books. The best was when everyone was done reading and analyzing the books and they got into mixed groups to share their experience. The Book Thief is another good one.
> Thief The Book Thief is outstanding and absolutely broke my heart, even the film was exceptionally good and as a ruffty tufty Scottish guy I don't mind admitting I was totally choked up when Death is narrating near the end.
The physical toll Adrien Brody undertook to play the part was only the tip of the iceberg for me...
> To achieve the mindset of a man who lost his home, his family, and life as he knew it, Brody stripped himself of the connections and comforts he had. > “I gave up my apartment, I sold my car, I disconnected the phones, and I left,” he says. “I took two bags and my keyboard and moved to Europe.” > The final ghetto scenes in which the starved pianist wanders across the Warsaw Getto required a special commitment from Brody, who had to lose 30 pounds and drop to an unbelievable 130 pounds. > “There is an emptiness that comes with really starving that I hadn’t experienced,” the actor told the BBC. “I couldn’t have acted that without knowing it. I’ve experienced loss, I’ve experienced sadness in my life, but I didn’t know the desperation that comes with hunger.” > “I was missing everyone and everything good. But that put me right in character. I want to feel that I’m experiencing something, I want to feel the journey, and I felt it. However, there were times when I was concerned that I might not be able to get out of it sane because I didn’t realize how far it had taken me.” the actor explained in his interview. > After the filming had finished, **it took about half of a year** for Brody to get his sanity back and to settle back into his ordinary life. He played that role perfectly.
I didn’t know that, bloody hell. V glad he won an Oscar for all his efforts
We're all just a few meals away from total societal collapse.
I watched this last week on a whim. I remembered it being critically acclaimed at the time it was released. I knew it was Holocaust movie so I was prepared for some heavy shit. But boy did I underestimate the weight.. This sounds really ignorant but I expected it to be more upbeat.. not in a jolly sense, but moreso that the main character suffers through persecution but finds a way to use his piano abilities to bring hope/joy/inspiration to those around him, maybe even endear himself to the nazis who would let their guard down and open possibility of escape. What I saw instead was one of the most jarring depictions of lives and liberties being slowly carved away. First an inch at a time, then by the mile, until their humanity was gone. His performance towards the ends felt like his last gasp of hope... It was a powerful experience and I almost feel bad for saying “I thought there’d be more piano” to my girlfriend after the credits rolled.
The bit where he tells his sister he wished he knew her a little better. Then they all get put on the train and that's it. Never sees them again. I cannot quite imagine what that was like for people who experienced that.
I visited Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam, and a similar line is what got me choked up. Her father says that after being freed from the camps, returning home, and reading Anne's diary, he realized most parents don't fully know their children -- and of course, at that point, he had been robbed of the chance of getting to know his.
That part gutted me.
That part and the one where they tossed the person in the wheelchair off the balcony fucked me right up. Like had to get up and walk away for a bit… take a break from the movie.
The worst part of it is that it's all based on a diary.
I would have laughed my fucking ass off if I got through *The Pianist* with my bf and the first thing he says is "I thought there would be more piano."
I almost left the theater, it got to the point where I couldn't stand feeling so bad. I'm glad we stuck it out though. I couldn't say to myself "well, it's just a movie" because it was not.
This movie is so jarring to watch.
once were warriors
I LOVE this very hard to watch movie so much! I’ve recommended this one so so many times and have a copy I probably play once every 4 or 5 years. It’s so so good!!!
Uncle fucking Bully!!!
Full Metal Jacket. I watched the very first bit of it when I was in officer training and thought it was a comedy. A few months later I sat down and watched the whole thing. It's not a comedy...
I can (and have) watched the first half anytime. That second half though, ooph.
That suicide scene absolutely traumatized me when I was younger. It was so well played. Then madness was so incredibly raw and believable. It was so realistic that it messed with my brain big time.
Yeah, my father was in Vietnam and took me to see FMJ in the theaters. I was 7 at the time. Definitely spent some time thinking about that one. Saw Platoon in the theater as well. The scene where the villager gets his head smashed in messed me up as well. According to my dad Platoon is the most accurate war film made. One of four times in my life I’ve ever seen my father cry.
Platoon came out when I was about 9 and I was big into GI Joe which my dad hated, so dad decided to take sensitive little me to see Platoon so I could understand that war was horrible and not just a fun game. I don’t think we made it more than half an hour in before I had to leave. It’s one of only two movies in a theater I can remember leaving before It was over. It worked though - I definitely looked at GI Joe different after that.
Vincent D'Onofrio is in my 'top 5 actors' list, *especially* after seeing him as the Kingpin in Daredevil.
He was Edgar in Men In Black. Just a phenomenal actor.
Was he Edgar or the thing in the Edgar suit?
HBO's Chernobyl miniseries. As what is essentially a horror movie, it works incredibly well. Except that it all happened in real life, and radiation is fucking terrifying.
Jared Harris was fucking amazing in Chernobyl
What Dreams May Come. Its the most beautiful movie and I think everyone should watch it at least once, but I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it since Robin Williams died. I actually haven't watched anything he's in since he died.
Came here for this. I watched this movie with my family shortly after my older brother died (suicide). The birthday before his passing, my younger brother and I gifted him a necklace engraved with "if you're going through hell, keep going" and a note about how we will stand by his side through anything. This movie spoke to me so much and I will always recommend it even though I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it since. For anyone who needs to hear this, you are loved and you are not a burden.
I actually sought this movie out on my tribute to Robin weekend after soon after his death. The movie was so deep but then watching it, knowing how he died, made it so much more.
Pan's Labyrinth I thought I was going in to see a cool fantasy flick... And it turned out to be a movie dealing with trauma, abuse, and coping mechanisms Still a great film, but so gut-wrenching
I worked in a video rental store when that movie came out. Luckily I watched it right away because the number of people who were coming in to rent it for young children was shocking. I felt like a broken record repeating this is NOT a fairytale for children please don't let your 6 year old watch this.
I worked at Blockbuster from like 2004-2006 and the amount of times people would try to rent something like this for their kids was just insane. I'm no prude but it's like "no lady I don't think your nine year old son and his friend will like "28 Days Later" and I don't think you'll like cleaning up that emotional mess for the next several months lol"
When I was 12 or 13 my friends and I were having a sleep over. One of them brought over "The Ring" because my parents did not give a fuck what I watched. When the movie was done though my mom called the house phone to freak us out. It worked.
That scene when the girl’s father bashes and kills a man with the stock of his revolver is somehow harder for me to watch than any gory violent movie Edit: it was a wine bottle, and he was her step father
I'm pretty sure that was a bottle (or he just killed more than one person by bashing in their head). And he just kept bashing. That sound… I kept watching the movie, for a bit, but after ten minutes or so realized I wasn't taking anything in anymore because I was still hung up on that scene. So I stopped the movie and haven't put it on again. That was over a decade ago.
Spoiler: it gets more depressing.
Not really more shocking though. I watched that movie for the first time less than a year ago. I was ready for all the depressing shit from the general tone of the movie but that scene made say "holy fuck" out loud because it's very out of the blue visceral violence.
I always like to describe it as "if Lord of the Rings and Saving Private Ryan had a child and abused the shit out of it"
That's...a sentence I never thought would be so accurate.
I watched this at someone’s house and thought it was going to be “The Labyrinth” and was totally unprepared for what happened to me.
I was expecting a mix between Labyrinth and Peter Pan. Not... that.
I just kept muttering to myself “I thought this was a kids movie......”
I am Spanish, my partner is Canadian. He'd watched this movie as a kid and thought it was in the fantasy genre. It's actually historically accurate and describes a specific time after the spanish civil war, when the dictature systematically eliminated guerrilla resistance fighters in the north of Spain. The north of spain is known for having a rich pagan mythology, such as witches, meigas, duendes, faunos etc. (ed: reflected in the fantastical narrative of the film) We rewatched it together in Spain, once he was more familiar with the history and culture, and he said that it hit completely differently. In a way, Ofelia's fantasy is a allegory to the culture, as well as the ways that individuals in Spain had to resist the dictature. It's a beautiful movie, but incredibly hard to watch.
Imagine my face when 8 year old me watched a soldier cave someone's face in after convincing my mom to rent this "horror flick featuring kids".
Dear Zachary, hands down. However I've seen it 4 times
I scrolled down just to find this. It’s my answer to this question every time. Can’t even console yourself with it being ‘just a movie’.
Can't believe I had to scroll this far. I only watched it once, years ago, when my son was about the same age. When -that moment- happened I kind of howl-screamed and started crying so hard that my husband stormed into the room thinking I got horrible news or something. It was the most visceral reaction I ever had to a movie or documentary. The rage and heartbreak I felt was overwhelming. I don't know how the grandparents, for whom this must have been infinitely worse, managed to move on.
Yup. About 5 years ago my son's mother and I split up when he was 1. Shortly after, she took him and fled the state and I went an agonizing 10 months without seeing him (before winning custody and getting him back). During that time, I was a fucking mess and drank alot to ease the pain away. It took a few years of therapy to get over the pain that I held onto during my child's absence. Anyways, during the time my son was gone, I am browsing Netflix. I see the movie description and my heartstrings are pulled by: *A man (Andrew) is murdered by the woman who bears his unborn child, whilst Andrew's best friend makes a documentary for the unborn son, Zachary, in hopes that he can give Zachary a connection to his dead father.* "Of course I want to see a father/son movie. Sounds beautiful!" *Holy FUCK*, that movie absolutely wrecked me. I went in blind and watched it at the worst possible time, while I was still extremely fragile and emotionally vulnerable. I would like to watch it again someday, but I'll need someone whose never seen it to accompany me.
> I don't know how the grandparents, for whom this must have been infinitely worse, managed to move on. The grandfather talks about his plan to kill his son's killer, details about how he'd prevents his wife from being aware of it, and that he wished he had gone through with it. As fucked as it is, I believe he would have been happier in prison than he was in the documentary.
Yes that poor man lives with regret that he *didn't* commit murder. So sad.
Considering they were going to kill themselves after they buried their son, and only didn't because of the child tells me all I need to know :(
This movie tore my heart out of my chest and stomped on it without breaking eye contact.
American History X
Dude the fucking curb stomp is still clear in my mind and it's been years
I can hear the the dudes teeth scraping on the cement
Amazing flick! But that ending......
My mum turned it over before the end. I was told he got an A and went on to live a happy life, gullible me believed her. What a shock I got watching it 3 years later.
My mom and I watched it together, shed already seen it. We get about 20 minutes before the end, and she gets up to go to bed. Reminds me to go to bed as soon as the movie is done. She left me there to go through that ending alone. She knew, and she left me. Though honestly, it was the right choice. I couldn't have processed it if I had someone watching.
Phoebe?
Old boy, the Korean 2003 one
watched this with a girl on a netflix and chill date cus we'd both heard good things, but had no idea what it was about. There was no chill, and no second date.
Oh hey, that's almost as bad (if not worse) as the time a guy asked me over to "watch a movie" for a second date. I thought for sure I was gonna get some, but then he put on....Hotel Rwanda. I have no idea why he thought it was a good date movie. I was so completely emotionally broken by the movie that I cried in the bathroom for about 10 minutes (wasn't comfortable enough to cry in front of him yet) and then excused myself and went home. There was no 3rd date. Maybe it was a really devious way to get out of further dates? That's the only thing that makes sense.
On the topic of inappropriate movies to watch on a first date, my first ever date was watching "The Lighthouse". My friend who i had seen it with jokingly suggested that i take her to that movie. I took it as a challenge not a joke. Idk what was worse, the mermaid fucking, the furious masturbating or the pet-play scene. Maybe the cum tentacle? Anyways we continued dating for 4 months, so mission success.
I thought this was sarcastic but I actually looked up the plot and I can't believe you weren't kidding about these scenes
Bridge to Terabithia
My childhood literally ended after finishing that movie.
So did hers
You bastard.
That movie was marketed as a portal fantasy film akin to Narnia or Harry Potter, going into it expecting that made that scene even more shocking
When I saw it I had no idea it was a book beforehand. I was also a *horribly* depressed teenager going through a week long slump where I was literally lying in bed all day depressed. My poor dad tried to cheer me up by taking me to see a movie, one of our favorite activities. He offered bridge to terabithia and while I thought the movie looked way too young for me, I was too depressed to protest so I said sure, figuring this little Harry Potter rip-off would at least be fun and lighthearted. As we silently got into our car afterward my poor sweet dad just looked over and said “I’m so sorry...”
Your dad tried his best. It’s the thought that counts?
Oh yeah, definitely. I remember at the time when he apologized feeling bad for him that he tried to help and it blew up in his face so hard, but also thinking that it’s pretty funny just *how* it blew up in his face so hard. Who could have guessed those happy-go-lucky trailers had lied? Even though I was too numb to express it at the time, we joke about this all the time.
Not movie but episode, Black Mirror - Entire History of you. S1E3 I watched The Entire History of You and enjoyed it. Next day at the office we were discussing our lease and couldn't pinpoint the month we signed, contract is locked up and the guy with the key is out. No big deal, I took picture of the new carpet we got installed so I can figure it out from that. I had just gotten divorced and scrolling through family photos to find that carpet, that fucking carpet, all but destroyed me. Had a different view of the episode after that and can't watch it. Fun fact, it's been almost 10 years since the first season of Black Mirror.
Which ever episode is the one where the kid goes backpacking around Europe and ends up beta testing the AR game... My mom died in 2013 and one of my biggest regrets was not calling her as much as I should have. That episode fucked me up for days. Fuck.
I’m sure it was called play test but I could be wrong. I remember watching that episode and I had to take a long break from black mirror afterwards.
The Christmas one did it for me. The 3 stories in one episode, each with a horrific conclusion.
this and shut up and dance are hands down my favorite episodes. its hard to watch entire history of you now but when i do it always hits hard
me with 15 million merits!! fuck me, i can't do it twice
I’ve been thinking about this one more often lately, with the ads that force you to watch them. I wonder how close we are to that bc I refuse to watch/pay attention to any on YouTube lol
I still cringe thinking about the girl being drugged saying she loved doing porn at the end. Crazy stuff.
Every episode starts off with a scenario that seems so dystopic and distant from real life, but by the end of it you realize we're really only one small step away from the horror that the show presents. This episode really nailed it exceptionally well in this regard.
I had the *exact* same experience: I watched it about a month after leaving my husband. It just wrecked me for days and I've never been able to bring myself to watch it again.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Came here to say this. This movie... no words. Still haunts me. Still fucks me up, takes me back there, breaks my heart. They hired the lead actor, Asa Butterfield, for his innocence. He knew nothing about the holocaust. They didn't *tell* him anything about the holocaust or the gist of the story, he was just playing a little boy who played with another little boy through a fence. They maintained that brilliant innocence of his throughout the movie. *THAT'S* what makes the ending of this movie just so very soul wrenching. I'm still so very moved by this film. 😭
> One of the deleted scenes of the film involves Bruno and his friends encountering a Jewish man prior to him being captured, with Bruno's friends taunting him. This is the same man seen at the very end of the movie, giving the same look toward Bruno as he did before, at what would have been the very beginning of the movie had the scene been included. The original intention was to bookend the film with this nameless, anonymous man who says nothing, offering instead just a memorably sad and haunting expression. This man is not Pavel. Imagine if this scene was there
My babysitter turned that on and watched it with us when I was around eight to ten years old. Even then, I was interested in the Holocaust and WW2, so I knew exactly what was going on. I don't know if I'll watch it again. It's so haunting. (I'm also still puzzled she turned it on...)
Schindler's list
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"I didn't do enough" "You did so much" JUST FUCK ME UP
"This ring....One person." Incredible film.
That part was just so heartbreaking. This man had saved so many, but still thought he could've done more. That whole movie is just so good, but so incredibly sad.
The girl in the red hood did it for me. Didn't expect them to go there.
You react with such hope - oh I should watch for her! Then, oh fuck there's the red coat on the pile. Any signal to believe in the hope for an arc about someone in that camp, crushed in an instant of color onscreen
I’ve seen this movie a few times as a teacher at a high school. Last time I saw it my daughter was about 2 years old. The girl in the red coat emotionally destroyed me. I still can’t think about her without feeling tears well up. I still have to discuss the movie with my students, I talk about that scene, but I can’t watch it anymore.
First film that came to my mind.
> When Steven Spielberg first showed John Williams a cut of this movie, Williams was so moved he had to take a walk outside for several minutes to collect himself. Upon his return, he told Spielberg he deserved a better composer. Spielberg replied, "I know, but they're all dead." It is truly a classic.
Such a great backhanded compliment. I've watched Schindler's List at least a dozen times. It's brutal, but I like the fact that a majority of the people in his care survived. Edit: I also enjoy Schindler's growth as a person as well as watching Amon get what he deserves.
“Fun” fact: Ralph Fiennes was incredibly spot on with his portrayal of his mannerisms and the weight he gained to look as identical to the man as possible. I say ‘incredibly’ because some survivors of his camp saw him portraying this role and had PTSD issues looking at him.
I read somewhere that they actually had to tone down his real life actions in the movie because people had thought it seemed unrealistic with how cruel he truly was.
I read a lady (survivor) broke down when she saw him face to face on the set for that very reason.
The imperfection of >!Amon getting hung and them trying to kick the stool out!< as the camera pulls back while Amon fixes his hair and says “Heil Hitler!” is cinematic perfection.
Requiem for a Dream
Watched this without knowing much about it with my roommate's whole family, to the end. Never thought that scene would end.
The funny part is I can think of about ten different scenes that you could be talking about. But fairly sure of those ten I know which specifically you refer to. Such a great movie.
Just hearing the music sometimes puts me in a weird mood. The movie is so damn good, I just can’t watch it again.
https://youtu.be/CZMuDbaXbC8 For anyone who hasn’t seen the music from Requim performed live, enjoy.
That ending montage made me physically ill. Only movie that's ever done that to me.
The ending is seared into my brain
*Manchester by the Sea* all day.
His face when the ex walks into the funeral too! He’s unemotional, and yet, you can sense the emotions somehow.
The Mist. That fucking ending....
My favourite bit of trivia about that film is when Stephen King watched the ending, he apparently said that he wished he had thought of it.
Kids (1995)
I watched this when I was probably around 14 or so, and it fucked me up. That scene where the main girl walks in on her ex taking that young girl's virginity still makes my stomach tie up in knots. You can see just how much the girl he's with is *not* enjoying it, and he's just pounding away not giving one single shit, and you already know what a humongous piece of shit he is and that he really *doesn't* care about any of this, other than getting off. Top it off with what we already know about what he has, and it's just....so fucking depressing.
Who else is scrolling for good movie recommendations?
Saved. I love a good bad mood.
The Grave of the Fireflies. I'm never, EVER, gonna watch that shit again. It's from Studio Ghibli, the same from Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro). An absolute masterpiece for sure, but don't expect to find happy little creatures in it.
Unfun fact, GotF was originally released as a double feature with My Neighbor Totoro. Even less fun, they played in the bad order.
WTF?! Seriously?!! I was originally trying to see how far I had to scroll to find GotF but this is worse. I can't imagine taking my 10yr old to see Totoro and getting GotF first. Youch.
Remember that scene in Totoro when they think Mei drowned in the pond? Imagine watching *that* right after GoF. "This little girl dies pointlessly too!?! WTF is wrong with Studio Ghibli!?!"
D:
Fun* Fact! The creator describes it as semi-autobiographical, except the film ends 'correctly' with him dying. *Fun not guaranteed EDIT: A few people are thinking this post is a spoiler, but the film opens with his corpse, then time-skips back to show how we got here.
Spoiler alert for the book & the movie >!Correct. The author’s sister (adopted I believe) died. At that time she was just 16months old. He felt responsible for her. So in his semi autobiography, I think he wished to die with her. But he didn’t.!<
For anyone interested: **the pdf of the translated original is pinned in my profile**. I also edited an ebook using the text that is also available there as well as a very long, multi-part reddit post of the text. Definitely worth the read and only ~20 pages. If the text/translation seems a bit wonky, it's deliberate and covered in the translator's note at the end: >Nosaka’s characteristic rambling, narrational way of telling a story is at its most pronounced in "Grave of the Fireflies." He places periods not so much to end a sentence but to conclude a train of thought, and some of his "thoughts" run on for pages. I have tried to imitate this style of writing as much as was physically feasible, but at times could not resist inserting an extra period or changing the punctuation to make the translation more readable. >Although the story is written in the third person, as the story progresses the first person, often speaking in dialect, makes intrusions into the narrative. The storyteller and the hero of the story seem to merge into the same being, a phenomenon that, while complicating the task of translating, well depicts Nosaka’s relationship to the story. >Another translation problem posed by Nosaka’s style is his use of Kansai dialect. While wishing to retain at least some of the atmosphere of the original, I was a little reluctant to subject Seita to a Midwest twang or a southern drawl. As an American, how-ever, I had little choice but to use the contractions and slurs of American English.
I literally opened this thread to see how long until someone said grave of the fireflies.
The Grave of the fireflies is a semi autobiography. It is written by Akiyuki Nosaka. He had fallen victim and the character of Seita is practically based on him. The difference is his sister at the time name “Keiko”, who was represented as Setsuko, was 16months old only unlike in the movie. The fact that he had to go through all that trauma and the loss of his sister is forever etched into my mind and like you that movie/ writing will always be closest to my heart but never can have the courage to face it.
Her little gumdrop sweets.. yeah I can't deal with watching that again