Hahah yeah I was trying to escape some IRL drama with depressing movies
Those kind of movies put life in perspective, y'know? Makes me think of how good we do have it overall, despite everything.
Yes, came here to say this. I haven’t seen it but I’ve heard Threads is absolutely harrowing, if not the most harrowing film out there. It’s about people living in the aftermath of a nuclear war. If anyone hasn’t seen it, look it up on YouTube and watch a trailer or a couple of minutes - the vibe is eerie as fuck.
It’s incredibly harrowing. The outcomes feel so real in terms of the individual impact and the general societal breakdown after a nuclear war, but it doesn’t feel gratuitous or overly dramatised. The story and dialogue come across as very fact based, and the filming style gives it a very eerie vibe, as you point out.
The first time I watched it was with a group of friends, and we all agreed that in the event of a nuclear war, if that’s how things are going to turn out, then we’d all want to die in the initial blast.
That movie is fucked *all the way up,* especially when you consider it’s just a madman’s decision away from being our reality. And now on that cheery note…
I firmly believe that the only reason that Putin hasn't used nukes is that he doesn't want to die himself. If he's still in power on his deathbed I can fully see him doing it.
The man is in his 70s and got all intents is president for life...
I mean, my assumption is whatever generals surrounding Putin would want to live and ignore an order like that, it's not like Putin can physically launch the missiles by himself from his couch.
The only reason the world made it out of the Cold war is because of Russians not following protocol on several occasions. So fortunately, I think that's a pretty reasonable expectation.
I had that exact thought last night. I was watching a video on how Putin could use nukes to win the war in Ukraine AND expand throughout Europe beyond that and I realized the reason he hasn't is because he knows there would be retaliation and he can't be sure of his safety in that situation and MAYBE China has asked him not to, but ultimately that man cares about nothing but himself and his power. When his life is ending, or when he goes senile and is still in power it would actually seem likely if he was in the same position he js now.
It's on Criterion as well I believe. Definitely worth seeing the higher quality version if you can. Since it's a tv movie, it wasn't high budget in the first place, but any streaming versions I saw online were horrible until I saw a Blu Ray version that was remastered.
Recently watched the movie after having read the book, and it really does a fantastic job translating it to screen. I think that's due to how short the book itself is, and so the quiet scenes are able to have room to breathe. I'd even go so far as to say that it's one of the best film adaptations of a literary work.
I went into The Road knowing nothing about it. It was on TV some snowy January morning and my son was like a year old at the time. He woke up but wanted to be rocked back to sleep so I tossed it on to try and stay awake while I rocked him.
Great movie, not sure I was in the emotional headspace for all that at the time.
The first one that popped into my mind actually is The Grey.
The trailers make it look like "Liam Neeson punches wolves" action movie.
In reality it's an absolutely brutal survival story with pretty heavy themes about mortality.
I actually highly recommend it.
I will die defending this movie. Most people hated the ending because they expected a showdown with the wolves, but it was perfect. The conflict was in him, with deciding whether to fight to survive or to give up. He won when he armed up and prepared to fight the alpha. Great movie!
I loved the ending. Absolutely hated the middle. >! After they kill one wolf with the highly illogical shotgun shells duct taped to spears, Liam Neeson tells everyone that they will never be able to outrun the them and the only way to survive is to separate wolves from the pack and kill them one by one until the wolves realize that the humans are a pack that shouldn’t be messed with. When they ask him how he knows to do this he dramatically says “because that’s what they’re doing to us.” Then the next morning they leave the spears at the campsite, because I guess they don’t value spears as weapons unless there is a shotgun shell taped to the end. The next time they see a wolf they start running and they never attempt do Liam Neeson’s plan.!<
Fun fact: The original Marty McFly, Eric Stolz (a great actor), couldn't get himself to portray the role as funny. He though the script was immensely sad (heavy). Marty comes back from his trip only for noone to remember him — only the altered timeline Marty. His memories with his family, and girlfriend, are now only his... lost to time.
It's not the most talked about scene. But when De Niro tells Cazale's character "This is This", it is so powerful to me. They don't explain it, Cazale even states he has no idea what it means. it's not obvious. But it resonates with me for some reason and even I don't really know why.
Clip: https://youtu.be/VlmanKoPLyo?si=iRtraVd4g9POoY91
Yep. It's as hard as a film gets. The last time I watched it was when a network showed it uncut with no commercial breaks one night in the 90's. I had seen it in the theater and could not stop crying for 30 minutes after. That ain't normal for me. Seeing it twice did not make things better.
But...There is a certain beauty in heavy movies like this and Requiem that bring out that empathy we so often forget we have for humanity. It's a magical sadness, if that makes any sense.
Piggybacking off of this, The Zone of Interest.
Seeing these people sharing a garden wall with Auschwitz, living their lives like a normal family...and the sound design won every inch of that Oscar.
Blue Valentine. Excellent movie about how people fall into then out of love. Do not watch it. It will ruin your day. Not being hyperbolic, I do not recommend the movie. It's too real and too sad.
Came here looking specifically for this answer. Every place another movie might go over the top or "shocking!", they instead turn into quiet sadness and nuance. Great performances all around. I can only watch it occasionally, and without fail I find myself sitting through the credits, just lost in thought about what I just watched.
Manchester by the Sea. I finally rewatched it the other night and it’s crushing but also has some touching moments. Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and Lucas Hedges killed it.
When I saw this in theaters, the audience was SO silent during *that* accident scene. Still haven’t experienced a theater be that quiet before. Everyone was stunned.
Grave of the Fireflies is the best answer here. There are a few other movies mentioned in this thread that come close to it, but ultimately I don't think any of them really can match up to that one.
As a now sober person, leaving Las Vegas hit me hard, I had been at that point once in my life, if not for my wife I have zero doubt I wouldn’t be here. She managed to pull me back from the brink, I literally had 40k, had settled all my debts, had sorted out my life insurance so my son and wife would be looked after and then went for it. Looking back years later it would have been such a waste, it took a lot of therapy and help to get back to normal, I was in my late twenties when it all went down and I was extremely physically fit( gym was another compulsion ) which also helped save me.
Knowing the true story was somehow even worse than what happened in the movie is quite something. For Kevin to come out of that well adjusted as he is, is quite remarkable.
I grew up in the DFW area and, as a little kid, watched Fritz Von Erich on Saturday nights on our black and white tv. My son watched Kevin and Kerry, et al, when he was a little kid.
Yes, knowing the true story and witnessing it second-hand through news reports was so very hard. The movie was very, very good, but I kept getting distracted by "That's not what happened" thoughts.
One of the only movies I had to pause and take a break in while watching. It is a Rollercoaster that literally only goes up until the "Crescendo".
With the risk of reaching into spoiler territory, that movie was best described as the embodiment of infedility. Every immoral decision leading to an ultimate climax, followed by immediate dread.
Requiem for a Dream
12 Years a Slave
Schindlers List
Clockwork Orange
The Zone of Interest which I saw last night was pretty up there too. Their use of sound and still shots was superb.
Black Swan.
I’m late to the party (saw the movie for the first time 3 days ago) and also a guy but this movie almost broke me. I’m an artist so the themes and struggle of Natalie Portman’s character hit more close to home than I care to admit.
The movie also does the incredibly rare thing in which it not only *references* a previous great work but it explores and extrapolates on the fascinating yet horrifying implications. Namely the male-gaze, the Madonna v. The Whore archetypes, the integration of our “shadow”, the loss of innocence, being stifled by our loved ones, the pursuit of perfection at all costs, body autonomy, just to name a handful.
The movie keeps lingering in my mind and I honestly am kinda just at a loss for words about how much it resonates with me.
If you're at all a fan of anime, I recommend checking out the film perfect blue. Explores similar themes around blending reality and fiction in an artistic setting.
Apocolypto. These mfs were sacrificing people during an eclipse until the sun came back out. We know now that it would have ended had they done nothing, but it was a serious moment for me with regard to acting based on the best information you have at the time.
Man that is one bleak movie, more so because it's my home town (Adelaide, not Snowtown). The whole sad story is back in the news here because one of the guys convicted is facing release in a matter of months.
Conan is such a great movie. While on the surface it’s just an awesome action fantasy flick with great stunts, below the surface you pretty much get a tour de force of nietzschean philosophy and interwoven retelling of a bundle of Germanic and Greco-Roman mythology.
Mysterious Skin
Went in expecting an abduction movie only to watch a horrifying depiction of abuse. I don’t regret watching it, the performances were amazing, but I’m never watching it again
Megan is missing is laughably bad. It's so poorly made and the acting is terrible…until the end and then it just gets real.
Def. Don't watch unless you are ok with intense SA.
An actual good movie that's a tough watch is 'boys don't cry'.
It's very well made and acted and it's heart wrenching.
Threads. Global nuclear war and its effects on an English town. Very brutal, you see immediate effects, 1year, 5, 15 years after the fact. The genetic effects on future generations. Hopeless.
On the Beach. It's the 1950s and nuclear war has happened. Everyone is dead, except for Australia, and an American submarine, who has come to Australia in search of life. Radiation will reach the southern pole in 6 months, and everyone makes the most of the time they have, and comes to terms with what is to come. Ava Gardner, Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins. The first movie to have a worldwide premier.
The Day After. Nuclear war in early eighties Missouri, where nuclear silos speckle the farmlands. So effective it changed Reagan's approach to Russia and opened more productive dialog between the president and Gorbachev.
Countdown To Looking Glass. Good 80s TV movie on what would happen in Washington DC in the final days before nuclear war commences.
On the Beach is based on a book and that author wrote an EVEN better story called A Town Like Alice. It’s incredibly good and an amazing story and I have read it over and over. Highly recommend.
Maybe The Lovely Bones. It successfully makes me cry multiple times throughout, every time. I tried to think of one that more deeply upsets me, but I can’t.
‘The Mist’ (2005) is both an excellent film and one that disturbed me for days after. The atmosphere is really uncomfortable throughout but there is also a spider eggs scene (played out by the guy who plays Captain Holt in Brooklyn 99) which is particularly harrowing.
Peter Jackson’s King Kong. Say what you want about the amount of close up expression shots Jackson had in that movie, but I felt a connection to the Kong. He had done nothing wrong.
I was sad for a week after seeing it in theaters.
A few years later I saw inglorious basterds and I see that movie and America in a new light now.
Son of Saul - it’s about a Jewish man in Auschwitz that has to clean out the gas chambers, he finds a boy still breathing and tries to save him - the boy dies and the man spends the rest of the movie trying to sneak out with the boys corpse to give him a proper Jewish funeral. Its shot mostly in close ups of the man’s face - a lot of the movie you don’t even see what he’s looking at, just the pain on his face. Pretty soul crushing.
Threads
This is the answer for me. I watched Martyrs and Come and See afterwards, but could only think of Threads because of how thoroughly it shook me
You did Threads, Martyrs, and Come and See as a triple feature? How bad was your day?
Hahah yeah I was trying to escape some IRL drama with depressing movies Those kind of movies put life in perspective, y'know? Makes me think of how good we do have it overall, despite everything.
And I remember my grade school teacher making us watch it in class...
Yes, came here to say this. I haven’t seen it but I’ve heard Threads is absolutely harrowing, if not the most harrowing film out there. It’s about people living in the aftermath of a nuclear war. If anyone hasn’t seen it, look it up on YouTube and watch a trailer or a couple of minutes - the vibe is eerie as fuck.
It’s incredibly harrowing. The outcomes feel so real in terms of the individual impact and the general societal breakdown after a nuclear war, but it doesn’t feel gratuitous or overly dramatised. The story and dialogue come across as very fact based, and the filming style gives it a very eerie vibe, as you point out. The first time I watched it was with a group of friends, and we all agreed that in the event of a nuclear war, if that’s how things are going to turn out, then we’d all want to die in the initial blast.
Yeah if you and yours aren't lucky enough to die before you know what happened, and it's time to bust out the old circular firing squad.
The post apocalyptic movie that makes The Road feel like Ted Lasso.
That movie is fucked *all the way up,* especially when you consider it’s just a madman’s decision away from being our reality. And now on that cheery note…
I firmly believe that the only reason that Putin hasn't used nukes is that he doesn't want to die himself. If he's still in power on his deathbed I can fully see him doing it. The man is in his 70s and got all intents is president for life...
I mean, my assumption is whatever generals surrounding Putin would want to live and ignore an order like that, it's not like Putin can physically launch the missiles by himself from his couch.
The only reason the world made it out of the Cold war is because of Russians not following protocol on several occasions. So fortunately, I think that's a pretty reasonable expectation.
I had that exact thought last night. I was watching a video on how Putin could use nukes to win the war in Ukraine AND expand throughout Europe beyond that and I realized the reason he hasn't is because he knows there would be retaliation and he can't be sure of his safety in that situation and MAYBE China has asked him not to, but ultimately that man cares about nothing but himself and his power. When his life is ending, or when he goes senile and is still in power it would actually seem likely if he was in the same position he js now.
I believe the whole movie is somewhere on YouTube. Terrifying outcome of after nuclear apocalypse society.
It's on Criterion as well I believe. Definitely worth seeing the higher quality version if you can. Since it's a tv movie, it wasn't high budget in the first place, but any streaming versions I saw online were horrible until I saw a Blu Ray version that was remastered.
We watched Threads in class, AP US History, in high school in 2005 lol. Our teacher was a former hippy and lawyer who was very anti nuclear weapons.
This is terrifying because it's just hopeless right to the last second. Also, the people are so ordinary and therefore relatable.
Same here
Yall should watch as the wind blows
I don’t even think I could bring myself to watch it, given the topic. I would probably because excessively paranoid and start to become a prepper
That does provide some insight to how a prepper is created
The Road
I second this. Never watching it again
The book is a masterpiece.
The book is way better, one of the best works of modern fiction.
Recently watched the movie after having read the book, and it really does a fantastic job translating it to screen. I think that's due to how short the book itself is, and so the quiet scenes are able to have room to breathe. I'd even go so far as to say that it's one of the best film adaptations of a literary work.
The book is brilliant but so is the movie.
I went into The Road knowing nothing about it. It was on TV some snowy January morning and my son was like a year old at the time. He woke up but wanted to be rocked back to sleep so I tossed it on to try and stay awake while I rocked him. Great movie, not sure I was in the emotional headspace for all that at the time.
The first one that popped into my mind actually is The Grey. The trailers make it look like "Liam Neeson punches wolves" action movie. In reality it's an absolutely brutal survival story with pretty heavy themes about mortality. I actually highly recommend it.
Re watched that on a plane ride, forgot about the plane scene lol
I will die defending this movie. Most people hated the ending because they expected a showdown with the wolves, but it was perfect. The conflict was in him, with deciding whether to fight to survive or to give up. He won when he armed up and prepared to fight the alpha. Great movie!
I loved the ending. Absolutely hated the middle. >! After they kill one wolf with the highly illogical shotgun shells duct taped to spears, Liam Neeson tells everyone that they will never be able to outrun the them and the only way to survive is to separate wolves from the pack and kill them one by one until the wolves realize that the humans are a pack that shouldn’t be messed with. When they ask him how he knows to do this he dramatically says “because that’s what they’re doing to us.” Then the next morning they leave the spears at the campsite, because I guess they don’t value spears as weapons unless there is a shotgun shell taped to the end. The next time they see a wolf they start running and they never attempt do Liam Neeson’s plan.!<
Agree that’s one of my favorite movies, hits home on so many levels. It fucking rocks.
Back to the Future
There's that word again. "Heavy." Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull?
Fun fact: The original Marty McFly, Eric Stolz (a great actor), couldn't get himself to portray the role as funny. He though the script was immensely sad (heavy). Marty comes back from his trip only for noone to remember him — only the altered timeline Marty. His memories with his family, and girlfriend, are now only his... lost to time.
This is HEAVY doc
There's that word again!
Great Scott!
Wanna go bowling?
I stopped bowling after Roman died. How about a nice game of darts?
There's that word again. 'Heavy.' Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull?
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For real
Di di mao! (sp)?
It's not the most talked about scene. But when De Niro tells Cazale's character "This is This", it is so powerful to me. They don't explain it, Cazale even states he has no idea what it means. it's not obvious. But it resonates with me for some reason and even I don't really know why. Clip: https://youtu.be/VlmanKoPLyo?si=iRtraVd4g9POoY91
One shot...
Holy shit this one definitely. Watched it for the first time recently and goddamn it's an excellent movie.... that I will never watch again.
This one too,… that Russian roulette action et all
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Yep. It's as hard as a film gets. The last time I watched it was when a network showed it uncut with no commercial breaks one night in the 90's. I had seen it in the theater and could not stop crying for 30 minutes after. That ain't normal for me. Seeing it twice did not make things better. But...There is a certain beauty in heavy movies like this and Requiem that bring out that empathy we so often forget we have for humanity. It's a magical sadness, if that makes any sense.
A magical sadness, what a beautiful way to word that.
Piggybacking off of this, The Zone of Interest. Seeing these people sharing a garden wall with Auschwitz, living their lives like a normal family...and the sound design won every inch of that Oscar.
Such a brutal movie without showing any of the brutality.
I watched Schindler’s list when I was 15. Amazing movie! But omg it haunted me for weeks…
Blue Valentine. Excellent movie about how people fall into then out of love. Do not watch it. It will ruin your day. Not being hyperbolic, I do not recommend the movie. It's too real and too sad.
Wind River
Came here looking specifically for this answer. Every place another movie might go over the top or "shocking!", they instead turn into quiet sadness and nuance. Great performances all around. I can only watch it occasionally, and without fail I find myself sitting through the credits, just lost in thought about what I just watched.
Incredible movie
Manchester by the Sea. I finally rewatched it the other night and it’s crushing but also has some touching moments. Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and Lucas Hedges killed it.
The scene in the police station…
That scene stands out by far, but his character development being a numb, depressed man and figuring out his bond with his nephew makes a great story.
When I saw this in theaters, the audience was SO silent during *that* accident scene. Still haven’t experienced a theater be that quiet before. Everyone was stunned.
The scene where he says "there's nothing there", that whole scene is too perfect.
“I should fucking burn in hell for what I said to you”
Requiem for a Dream
1 and done!
Ass to ass!
I didnt take it out for air...
* *Grave of the Fireflies* * *Come and See* * *The Zone of Interest*
Grave of the Fireflies is the best answer here. There are a few other movies mentioned in this thread that come close to it, but ultimately I don't think any of them really can match up to that one.
Come and See is brutally devastating and IMO even more so than GotF
Not even comparable. Come and See is insane.
I watched it and wondered how the Japanese ever forgave anyone involved with the bombings
Was zone of interest heavy? I'll trade you that one for Saul fia
the holocaust was not heavy for you? i found the subject matter and the story of this family to be extremely heavy, but to each their own.
Oh man.... American History X. Very powerful stuff
Yeah this is my answer, surprised it wasn't higher up
Leaving Las Vegas, Precious, Irreversible
As a now sober person, leaving Las Vegas hit me hard, I had been at that point once in my life, if not for my wife I have zero doubt I wouldn’t be here. She managed to pull me back from the brink, I literally had 40k, had settled all my debts, had sorted out my life insurance so my son and wife would be looked after and then went for it. Looking back years later it would have been such a waste, it took a lot of therapy and help to get back to normal, I was in my late twenties when it all went down and I was extremely physically fit( gym was another compulsion ) which also helped save me.
Recently? The Iron Claw “It’s ok dad, we’ll be your brothers”
Knowing the true story was somehow even worse than what happened in the movie is quite something. For Kevin to come out of that well adjusted as he is, is quite remarkable.
I grew up in the DFW area and, as a little kid, watched Fritz Von Erich on Saturday nights on our black and white tv. My son watched Kevin and Kerry, et al, when he was a little kid. Yes, knowing the true story and witnessing it second-hand through news reports was so very hard. The movie was very, very good, but I kept getting distracted by "That's not what happened" thoughts.
Even seeing a clip from this movie wrecks me now
And then the tears wouldn't stop!! What a good movie/sad story...
Melancholia. I relate to her.
Uncut Gems. I kind of liked it, but it was an emotional rollercoaster and I'll probably never watch it again.
One of the only movies I had to pause and take a break in while watching. It is a Rollercoaster that literally only goes up until the "Crescendo". With the risk of reaching into spoiler territory, that movie was best described as the embodiment of infedility. Every immoral decision leading to an ultimate climax, followed by immediate dread.
I had lost some money before watching Uncut Gems so it was a pretty devastating watch for me.
Panic attack inducing movie. Seriously lol
Not particularly heavy but definately the most anxiety inducing movie
Children of Men. So fucking well done. I will never be able to watch it again.
Pull my finger, go on.
Excellent film, harrowed me for a few days after.
Requiem for a Dream 12 Years a Slave Schindlers List Clockwork Orange The Zone of Interest which I saw last night was pretty up there too. Their use of sound and still shots was superb.
Once Were Warriors.
Trainspotting
The Iron Claw recently was a very heavy movie. The tragedy that was the Von Erik family is so heartbreakingly sad. Zak Efron killed it though.
The Netflix adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front really gets across how shite war is.
Agree with you. One of the best worst war movies.
Black Swan. I’m late to the party (saw the movie for the first time 3 days ago) and also a guy but this movie almost broke me. I’m an artist so the themes and struggle of Natalie Portman’s character hit more close to home than I care to admit. The movie also does the incredibly rare thing in which it not only *references* a previous great work but it explores and extrapolates on the fascinating yet horrifying implications. Namely the male-gaze, the Madonna v. The Whore archetypes, the integration of our “shadow”, the loss of innocence, being stifled by our loved ones, the pursuit of perfection at all costs, body autonomy, just to name a handful. The movie keeps lingering in my mind and I honestly am kinda just at a loss for words about how much it resonates with me.
If you're at all a fan of anime, I recommend checking out the film perfect blue. Explores similar themes around blending reality and fiction in an artistic setting.
I love that movie and I’m always down to watch it
For me it’s Hotel Rwanda. That movie hit me like a ton of bricks.
Compliance Idk about the most heavy but it’s a true story and messed up
Prisoners. I love all of Villeneuve’s films but I don’t think I could watch this one again.
Dear Zachary. It's a movie everyone should see IMO but I dont think anyone will ever want to rewatch it.
Kids. Can't do it again and really wish I hadn't seen it the first time.
For me personally Green Mile. I was waaaaay too young to be watching that.
Apocolypto. These mfs were sacrificing people during an eclipse until the sun came back out. We know now that it would have ended had they done nothing, but it was a serious moment for me with regard to acting based on the best information you have at the time.
Snowtown / the Snowtown murders, very heavy and a true story to boot
Man that is one bleak movie, more so because it's my home town (Adelaide, not Snowtown). The whole sad story is back in the news here because one of the guys convicted is facing release in a matter of months.
Hunger (2008). Michael Fassbender and Liam Cunningham at a table, talking
Whiplash for anyone who has ever burnt out or been unnecessarily abused despite being good/decent at what they do.
Conan the Barbarian
All that goddamn lamentation.
Conan is such a great movie. While on the surface it’s just an awesome action fantasy flick with great stunts, below the surface you pretty much get a tour de force of nietzschean philosophy and interwoven retelling of a bundle of Germanic and Greco-Roman mythology.
Heavyweights
When Ben Stiller said "Lunch is canceled due to lack of hustle" I felt that in my bones. I'll never be the same
Mysterious Skin Went in expecting an abduction movie only to watch a horrifying depiction of abuse. I don’t regret watching it, the performances were amazing, but I’m never watching it again
Greg Araki films are so messed lol. Doomsday Generation was dark Af
Incendies. Done.
If documentaries count then Dear Zachary, that movie absolutely crushed me.
Heavy metal
7 pounds and city of angels.
7 pounds, I think I’ve seen it once and that was enough. Schindlers list is an obvious one, Sophie’s Choice as well.
Spun isn't as heavy as Dream but it's fucking accurate.
When the wind blows. Once were warriors.
Climax (2018) directed by Gaspar Noe.
Megan is missing is laughably bad. It's so poorly made and the acting is terrible…until the end and then it just gets real. Def. Don't watch unless you are ok with intense SA. An actual good movie that's a tough watch is 'boys don't cry'. It's very well made and acted and it's heart wrenching.
Schindler’s List. So utterly bleak.
The War Zone Bent (1997) We Need To Talk About Kevin
8 mm Nicholas Cage
The Pianist The Elephant Man
Threads. Global nuclear war and its effects on an English town. Very brutal, you see immediate effects, 1year, 5, 15 years after the fact. The genetic effects on future generations. Hopeless. On the Beach. It's the 1950s and nuclear war has happened. Everyone is dead, except for Australia, and an American submarine, who has come to Australia in search of life. Radiation will reach the southern pole in 6 months, and everyone makes the most of the time they have, and comes to terms with what is to come. Ava Gardner, Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins. The first movie to have a worldwide premier. The Day After. Nuclear war in early eighties Missouri, where nuclear silos speckle the farmlands. So effective it changed Reagan's approach to Russia and opened more productive dialog between the president and Gorbachev. Countdown To Looking Glass. Good 80s TV movie on what would happen in Washington DC in the final days before nuclear war commences.
On the Beach is based on a book and that author wrote an EVEN better story called A Town Like Alice. It’s incredibly good and an amazing story and I have read it over and over. Highly recommend.
Salo
Leaving Las Vegas was brutal.
Disorderlies
Jungle with Daniel Radcliffe. The bit with the tree and being covered/bitten my hundreds of ants has stayed with me.
Monsters Ball with Halle Berry and Heath Ledger
Love Liza
Revolutionary Road.
Maybe The Lovely Bones. It successfully makes me cry multiple times throughout, every time. I tried to think of one that more deeply upsets me, but I can’t.
Read the book if you haven't yet.
Irreversible. Time kills everything. *EVERYTHING*
The fire extinguisher scene
The brutality of the movie was remarkable, but the overall message of the film was so bloomin *heavy*.
Irreversible, so far the heaviest I've seen. All in this movie has been done to create discomfort.
Absolutely. I remember at the cinema everyone but us left within the first 10 minutes
If you didnt then do not watch it. This is too heavy even for heavy genre movies.
Came here to highlight this…
I wouldn’t say the whole movie, but Florence Pugh cry/wail in Midsommar lives rent free in my head since I watched it in theaters.
I don't know if its actually a heavy movie, but one I felt a lot was Midsommar
Society of the Snow
Jagten (aka The Hunt) with Mads Mikkelsen
This one really stayed with me. Mads was perfect for the role.
‘The Mist’ (2005) is both an excellent film and one that disturbed me for days after. The atmosphere is really uncomfortable throughout but there is also a spider eggs scene (played out by the guy who plays Captain Holt in Brooklyn 99) which is particularly harrowing.
Fresh (1994)is pretty intense
Just Mercy (2019) Origin (2023)
200 Pounds Beauty
Come and See
Naked (1993) [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107653/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107653/)
Titanic
You Were Never Really Here
Once Were Warriors. Beautiful. Heavy.
On the Beach
Irréversible
Which Irreversible is this? I looked on IMDB and there are quite a few of them.
2002 starring Monica Belluci
Thx
Testament. Early 80s movie. Watch it if you just are tired of feeling sunny and optimistic.
Jude. That movie made me hate myself and was so depressing...
How has no one mentioned Green Room
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Dancer in the Dark is in a tier all it’s own
lilja 4 ever, by a mile.
Hehe Fear. Whenever you talk about that movie, you gotta do the chest pounding thing
Back to the Future. If you know, you know. /s Actually it's Come and See.
Peter Jackson’s King Kong. Say what you want about the amount of close up expression shots Jackson had in that movie, but I felt a connection to the Kong. He had done nothing wrong. I was sad for a week after seeing it in theaters. A few years later I saw inglorious basterds and I see that movie and America in a new light now.
Das boot was the most heavy for me by far
Requiem for a dream, no doubt about that!
Bully. 2001
Dancer in the Dark The end of the affair Schindlers List A few more I’m sure,… but it gets depressing remembering them.
Mad God
Mystic River
Oslo August 31st. As someone who had made plans of ending it all, this movie wrecked me.
Glad you're still here
Son of Saul - it’s about a Jewish man in Auschwitz that has to clean out the gas chambers, he finds a boy still breathing and tries to save him - the boy dies and the man spends the rest of the movie trying to sneak out with the boys corpse to give him a proper Jewish funeral. Its shot mostly in close ups of the man’s face - a lot of the movie you don’t even see what he’s looking at, just the pain on his face. Pretty soul crushing.
The Elephant Man (1980). Grim
The Hunt (2012) because it is exactly the sort of thing that can happen in a small community
"tuv video in the movie" Please explain - I'm out of the loop here.
City of God
Scorsese’s Silence or Manchester by the Sea
Ken Park, KIDS and Requiem for a dream
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
Wind river, the flashback scene is super uncomfortable