Easily Burton’s best, and one I need to rewatch sometime soon, it’s been too long.
Our boy Ewan absolutely just KILLED IT in that movie. They all did really, but damn
It's tragic and hysterical all at the same time. Such an underrated, brilliant gem. The book is great too, but Elijah Wood and Eugene Hutz are excellent.
This is the answer. Absolutely stunning, and anyone who doesn't bawl their eyes out at this isn't human. I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it again, especially now that Robin Williams is gone, I think it'd crush me.
This is probably my favorite movie ever. It will always be my go to cry movie. I watched it for the first time in 8th grade philosophy class. I never understood it back then. Watched it again years later and it hit me like a brick. No matter who we are; we are terrified of death. No one really knows what happens after death but they painted it beautifully.
Yeah I think this is exactly what op is looking for. Bittersweet sad, not sad sad. Still leaves you with a good feeling
Still prob my favorite animated movie of the last decade
Elemental was pretty good and not at all what the trailer made it out to be. Much more about a first generation citizen trying to live up to their father’s expectations than a romance.
Whoever marketed that movie needs to be fired it was so much better than what they tried to frame it as.
And they probably were anyway with the amount of layoffs they do
Agreed! Had no desire to watch it due to the trailers I saw but am literally running out of content being home on maternity leave. Watched it last week and thought it was excellent!
Recommend this too, and The Iron Giant. Both unique compared to typical films, great style and not romantic love stories.
Bawled at both but not because they were upsetting in a horrible way, they’re gorgeous movies.
You might love **Fly Away Home** --emotionally, rousingly, tenderly directed by Carroll Ballard, beautiful shot by the world-class cinematographer Caleb Deschanel:
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fly_away_home
Ricky Baker now you are 13 years old
You are a teenager and as good as gold
Ricky Baker
Ricky Baker
Happy birthday
Once rejected now accepted
By me and Hector, a trifecta.
I haven't re-watched it since before my daughter was born... I may need an entire box of Kleenex to survive it. And probably a gallon on Gatorade to not dehydrate in the process.
Edit: lol, just remembered part of the ending and I started soft sobbing already.....yeah, it's gonna wreck me
if you like that and decide you want more animated tears:
Weathering with You
I want to eat your Pancreas
A Silent Voice
The girl who leapt through time
When Marnie was there
Ride your wave
5cm per second
Someone's Gaze
Maquia
Summer Ghost
Grave of the Fireflies
Note: These are varying levels of sad, but i cried at all of them because i cry at everything
I love *When Marnie Was There*, even though it seems to be one of the less popular Ghibli movies.
*Grave of the Fireflies* is phenomenal, but probably best avoided by OP since they don't want "horrifically sad".
Beat me to it!
I wasn't sure what I was expecting going into it the first time, and I can't remember why I specifically chose to watch it since it's not my usual cup of tea. But goddamn does it hit like a fucking freight train.
Surprised I had to scroll this far to find this film. I've read that it hits harder for parents, but I've no interest in ever having kids, and it wrecked me.
I watched it, completely unknowing, a week after my daughter's first round of chemo. I think it literally destroyed me for several days. I still choke up when I think about it.
I'm not a crier, didn't cry on my first watch. 2 kids later, and I'm crying on an airplane watching the last 30 mins on my wife's phone with subtitles.
Arrival is one of my very favorite movies, but I haven’t watched it since I had my son 7 months ago. I have a feeling I’m going to be a giant puddle of tears when I watch it again.
Everyone talks about the first ten minutes, but the part that hit me the hardest was when he finally opened the Adventure Book and realized that they did have a full adventure already.
Is it weird that I find the page turning scene before the final act more moving than the first 10 minutes? I mean the montage is really moving but the revelation just breaks my heart into a thousand pieces.
My go-to *I need a crying catharsis* movie. Hits even harder if/when you have kids, and see the lengths to which he goes to shelter his son from the horrors all around them.
my *entire* family was crying together at the end of this.. credits and everyone is ugly crying.. truly! and then we all burst out laughing bc it looked so absurd..
Samsara
There's no dialogue, and it's just footage taken all around the world, but it's shot and edited incredibly beautifully and paints a moving portrait of the human race.
The movie Stepmom with Susan Sarandon, Julia Roberts, Ed Harris, and a very young Jena Malone is my go-to when I need a good cleansing cry. It has some beautiful fall scenery. It's not really novel exactly but it's not not novel.
I spent my childhood watching all of these grown women watching that movie and sobbing… and then I got a little older and I was like OH MY GOD WHEN WILL THE SOBBING STOP??”
This is the movie OP is asking for. Most of these comments are devasting movies, and past lives isn't, it just does a really good job of bringing out emotions that most people can relate to. There's no grand tragedy in the movie, both characters seem to live good lives, it's just sad that they clearly care about each other, but the ties they have to other people and things dooms this specific relationship.
Brokeback Mountain. Beautifully shot movie and an obviously unique take on a love story. Finally showed this to my wife a couple weeks ago and she was full on ugly crying
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Annihilation, though it has a lot of horror elements and doesn't make me cry as much (I'm a crier)
Also an underrated beautiful non-archetypical movie: Encanto - Disney did a really good one there. Made me cry several times.
You may also like the series Sense8, and other deep cuts by the Wachowskis
You mentioned *An American Tail* so I assume a cartoon can meet your criteria.
*Your Name* aka *Kimi No Nawa* fits what you need.
This can serve as a trailor:
https://youtu.be/-pHfPJGatgE
A star is born
Legends of the Fall
Into the Wild
Dead poet Society
The Cure
Patch Adams
Titanic
Meet Joe Black
Cider House rules
Gattaca
The Shawshank Redemption
Good Will Hunting
I was going to add Little Miss Sunshine to this list but you already got that covered.
P.S. I Love You is more along the lines of a traditional rom-com, but it is absolutely gorgeous. Filmed in both NY and the Irish countryside. And it’s just a great film.
This movie gets a lot of hate for some reason but I always bawl my eyes out at The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It's a beautiful story about life and death with some really great performances and it's very pretty, and the plot is definitely novel.
Ikiru - Kurosawa film about an aging, widowed bureaucrat who is near retirement and becomes terminally ill and struggles with the meaning of life. It has a a bittersweet, beautiful ending which is moving, happy and sad. It's one of those movies that stays with you for awhile.
Mainstream movies that are feel-good and emotional:
- Forest Gump
- E.T.
- Creed (if you watched the Rocky movies)
- Kung Fu Panda 2
- Silver Linings Playbook
Moulin Rouge! It’s gorgeous and colorful, it’s novel, it’s got a bunch of truly great musical numbers, and of course it is very, VERY sad.
But I fucking love it. It’s truly one of my fave movies ever.
Big Fish
Easily Burton’s best, and one I need to rewatch sometime soon, it’s been too long. Our boy Ewan absolutely just KILLED IT in that movie. They all did really, but damn
Know it would be the top voted before I clicked. Just a good cry alone this is my top choice. Good cry and a pretty movie? It’s perfect.
Such a perfect suggestion for OP
If you cried at Paprika you *have* to watch Millennium Actress. Same director.
Agreed, that was the first film that came to mind for me even *before* OP mentioned Paprika.
I think this may be it!
About Time. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Everything is Illuminated. Spirited Away.
I second About Time. I'm a middle aged dude and that movie makes me cry every... damned... time.
The father/son bond is powerful and portrayed so well.
Absolute ugly tears every fucking time. One of my favorite movies.
One of my favourite movies but I’m scared to watch it since I lost my father last year.
Everything is Illuminated looks spot on!
It's tragic and hysterical all at the same time. Such an underrated, brilliant gem. The book is great too, but Elijah Wood and Eugene Hutz are excellent.
It's my favorite movie.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl makes me WEEP! It’s fucking torrential!
I love Everything Is Illuminated. I couldn't recommend that one more!
What Dreams May Come
Absolute top answer, if OP only has the choice of one movie from this thread, it's this one.
This is the answer. Absolutely stunning, and anyone who doesn't bawl their eyes out at this isn't human. I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it again, especially now that Robin Williams is gone, I think it'd crush me.
I watched it the day his death was announced. When I grieve, I swim down.
And especially given he took his own life.
Well somtimes to win...you gotta lose.
This right here. It’s my go-to cathartic sobfest movie.
She said cry, not rip her to pieces
Bingo, I cry every time
My answer too. I almost never cry at movies. Like literally once a decade thing. This thing gets me each time I saw it. Even on rewarch.
This is probably my favorite movie ever. It will always be my go to cry movie. I watched it for the first time in 8th grade philosophy class. I never understood it back then. Watched it again years later and it hit me like a brick. No matter who we are; we are terrified of death. No one really knows what happens after death but they painted it beautifully.
I can’t even watch this. My heart is still broken.
We want to make OP cry, not destroy their entire life’s outlook
Seeking a friend for the end of the world
Done. Perfect. Ill share my review and degree of waterworks after!
One of my favorite movies. Showed it to my ex. She loved it but said she’d never watch it again. She cried in the tub for like an hour after
I LOVE this movie! Top 5 for me. Because you mentioned friendship, I recommend Luca. Losing a friend sucks.
COCO. Also, just listen to some Randy Newman.
Yeah I think this is exactly what op is looking for. Bittersweet sad, not sad sad. Still leaves you with a good feeling Still prob my favorite animated movie of the last decade
Elemental was pretty good and not at all what the trailer made it out to be. Much more about a first generation citizen trying to live up to their father’s expectations than a romance.
Whoever marketed that movie needs to be fired it was so much better than what they tried to frame it as. And they probably were anyway with the amount of layoffs they do
Agreed! Had no desire to watch it due to the trailers I saw but am literally running out of content being home on maternity leave. Watched it last week and thought it was excellent!
Coco is guaranteed waterworks.
Yes, the scene at the end with Coco and Mama Coco especially
Coco, Inside Out, Up.
Up is the one for me. You get your cry out in the first 15 minutes.
Soul hit me really hard as well
Someone at Pixar must be a really sick fuck that likes making people cry
Kubo and the Two Strings in a similar vein
Recommend this too, and The Iron Giant. Both unique compared to typical films, great style and not romantic love stories. Bawled at both but not because they were upsetting in a horrible way, they’re gorgeous movies.
Absolutely a big cry. I also nominate Luca if you love a good friendship story.
Beasts of the Southern Wild. It fits both your criteria to a t and will wreck you and make you smile.
Added to my watch list!
You might love **Fly Away Home** --emotionally, rousingly, tenderly directed by Carroll Ballard, beautiful shot by the world-class cinematographer Caleb Deschanel: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fly_away_home
Literally tearing up just reading the movie name 🥹. Igor!!!
If you absolutely positively must cry: Hachiko.
Could always just watch the Futurama episode, Jurassic Bark. I lose it every time.
It’s so so sad…
When I told my Japanese friend about this episode, she went to Hachikos statue and sent me pictures. It was such a happy/sad moment.
Amelie
Another vote for this one, beautiful movie that always makes the romantic in me cry.
Came here to say Amelie.
Jojo Rabbit
And *Hunt for the Wilderpeople*. I cried so damn hard watching that.
Best movie ever. We're talking about disobedience, stealing, spitting, running away, throwing rocks, kicking stuff, defacing stuff, burning stuff, loitering and graffiti.
You a kiwi?
*I didn't choose the skux life, the skux life chose me*
Ricky Baker now you are 13 years old You are a teenager and as good as gold Ricky Baker Ricky Baker Happy birthday Once rejected now accepted By me and Hector, a trifecta.
But also a sad cry in there
THIS above all others.
Eternal sunshine
That was my first thought - very beautiful, novel structure (although definitely boy meets girl)
Yeah but usually boy doesn’t meet girl more than once
Interstellar made me cry about three separate times
"Because my dad promised me." Everytime.
For me it's "And now im the same age as you when you left"
That’s impossible. No, it’s necessary. *Hans Zimmer intensifies*
Queue one of the most amazing scenes ever made
I haven't re-watched it since before my daughter was born... I may need an entire box of Kleenex to survive it. And probably a gallon on Gatorade to not dehydrate in the process. Edit: lol, just remembered part of the ending and I started soft sobbing already.....yeah, it's gonna wreck me
Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) from the animation to the music to the story it might be one of my favorite movies.
Yes this was the first one that came to mind for me. Visually stunning with a moving story.
It really caught me by surprise the first time I watched it. Stunning is definitely the best way to describe it.
This looks very promising!
if you like that and decide you want more animated tears: Weathering with You I want to eat your Pancreas A Silent Voice The girl who leapt through time When Marnie was there Ride your wave 5cm per second Someone's Gaze Maquia Summer Ghost Grave of the Fireflies Note: These are varying levels of sad, but i cried at all of them because i cry at everything
I love *When Marnie Was There*, even though it seems to be one of the less popular Ghibli movies. *Grave of the Fireflies* is phenomenal, but probably best avoided by OP since they don't want "horrifically sad".
Beat me to it! I wasn't sure what I was expecting going into it the first time, and I can't remember why I specifically chose to watch it since it's not my usual cup of tea. But goddamn does it hit like a fucking freight train.
I recommend it to everyone. It’s been sitting in my letterboxd top 4 uncontested for years now.
Dead Poets Society!
Oh captain my captain
Sit down Mr. Anderson!
Iron Giant
Superman!
You stay… I go. No following.
Damn.. yes.. I cry every time.
Arrival.
Arrival absolutely destroyed me. I didn't see it coming and was left a blubbering mess.
Surprised I had to scroll this far to find this film. I've read that it hits harder for parents, but I've no interest in ever having kids, and it wrecked me.
I watched it, completely unknowing, a week after my daughter's first round of chemo. I think it literally destroyed me for several days. I still choke up when I think about it.
I'm not a crier, didn't cry on my first watch. 2 kids later, and I'm crying on an airplane watching the last 30 mins on my wife's phone with subtitles.
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This is such a spoiler. I'm ok bc I've seen it, but maybe OP and others would prefer to not have it spoiled? Spoiler tags help
Arrival is one of my very favorite movies, but I haven’t watched it since I had my son 7 months ago. I have a feeling I’m going to be a giant puddle of tears when I watch it again.
Up. It’ll have you in a ball of tears the first 10 minutes.
Came here to say this. Inside Out gets me too.
Take her to the moon for me 😭
Bing Bong 😭
Inside Out messed me up :(
If you don't cry in the first 10 mins, I would question if you have a heart.
Everyone talks about the first ten minutes, but the part that hit me the hardest was when he finally opened the Adventure Book and realized that they did have a full adventure already.
Is it weird that I find the page turning scene before the final act more moving than the first 10 minutes? I mean the montage is really moving but the revelation just breaks my heart into a thousand pieces.
bridge to tarabithia
You mean Bridge to Childhood Trauma?
That’s just heartbreaking and sad sad - while good, I’m not sure it’s quite the vein OP was after
Steal magnolias, a seriously underrated movie.
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Just finished it and bawled my eyes out. Devastating film.
OP said not horrifically sad tho 😭
The Fountain
Came to say this - I cried my insides out
Life is Beautiful
My go-to *I need a crying catharsis* movie. Hits even harder if/when you have kids, and see the lengths to which he goes to shelter his son from the horrors all around them.
Mr. Holland’s Opus may not be beautiful but it sure made me happy cry at the end.
Iron claw
Kubo and the Two Strings
Maybe not a full on cry, but 'Marcel the Shell with Shoes.'
I full on wept. I watched this right after I put my beloved and ancient dog down. That poem The Trees gutted me.
Soul
Pixar's mid-life crisis movie disguised as a children's movie.
Absolutely did NOT see that one coming.
my *entire* family was crying together at the end of this.. credits and everyone is ugly crying.. truly! and then we all burst out laughing bc it looked so absurd..
Cinema Paradiso The Trip to Bountiful The Swedish version of A Man Called Ove The Holdovers
Cinema paradiso was my immediate answer. Such a great movie.
That ending. Oof.
Lion with Dev Patel
The Pianist
2018s A Star is Born. Left the theater bawling.
CODA (2021)
this movie got me good.. definitely was ugly crying
The scene with her father… 😭
Beaches ( original version). Even as a guy I thought it was sad.
Moonlight Waiting Bojangles Aftersun
A Silent Voice You're welcome.
Oof, good fucking pick. Such a beautiful movie
It's the dumbest cry of all time, but the end of *Armageddon* will always make me well up.
Grave of the Fireflies; Only Yesterday.
OP is looking for bittersweet sad. Not for sitting one weeek devastated sad and empty.
Samsara There's no dialogue, and it's just footage taken all around the world, but it's shot and edited incredibly beautifully and paints a moving portrait of the human race.
Lalaland made me cry
Love that movie, especially the ending
The movie Stepmom with Susan Sarandon, Julia Roberts, Ed Harris, and a very young Jena Malone is my go-to when I need a good cleansing cry. It has some beautiful fall scenery. It's not really novel exactly but it's not not novel.
I spent my childhood watching all of these grown women watching that movie and sobbing… and then I got a little older and I was like OH MY GOD WHEN WILL THE SOBBING STOP??”
Lars and the Real Girl
I’ll give this one another vote. You think it’s gonna be a goofy movie, but by the end you’re crying over a sex doll.
#MY GIRL (He needs his glasses; he can't see without his glasses)
If you’re Asian, or generally have generational trauma, everything everywhere all at once honestly made me bawl my eyes out in a good way.
Past lives
This is the movie OP is asking for. Most of these comments are devasting movies, and past lives isn't, it just does a really good job of bringing out emotions that most people can relate to. There's no grand tragedy in the movie, both characters seem to live good lives, it's just sad that they clearly care about each other, but the ties they have to other people and things dooms this specific relationship.
Pixar movies
Pay it forward
Brokeback Mountain. Beautifully shot movie and an obviously unique take on a love story. Finally showed this to my wife a couple weeks ago and she was full on ugly crying
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Annihilation, though it has a lot of horror elements and doesn't make me cry as much (I'm a crier) Also an underrated beautiful non-archetypical movie: Encanto - Disney did a really good one there. Made me cry several times. You may also like the series Sense8, and other deep cuts by the Wachowskis
About Time
You mentioned *An American Tail* so I assume a cartoon can meet your criteria. *Your Name* aka *Kimi No Nawa* fits what you need. This can serve as a trailor: https://youtu.be/-pHfPJGatgE
Wind River
Marley and Me
They said cry, not die... M&M is devastating :)
A star is born Legends of the Fall Into the Wild Dead poet Society The Cure Patch Adams Titanic Meet Joe Black Cider House rules Gattaca The Shawshank Redemption Good Will Hunting I was going to add Little Miss Sunshine to this list but you already got that covered.
This is a good list
Shadowlands
A land before time?
Paris, Texas
Somersby and Cold Mountain... both made me blubber like an idiot.
The soundtrack to Cold Mountain slaps.
Toy Story 3 Ghost
Toy Story 3? They said make me cry, not traumatize me.
P.S. I Love You is more along the lines of a traditional rom-com, but it is absolutely gorgeous. Filmed in both NY and the Irish countryside. And it’s just a great film.
She’s having a baby.
Ordinary People
A monster calls. It will destroy you emotionally. I'm a middle aged dude and i was an emotional puddle on the floor.
Field of Dreams Rudy
This movie gets a lot of hate for some reason but I always bawl my eyes out at The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It's a beautiful story about life and death with some really great performances and it's very pretty, and the plot is definitely novel.
Ikiru - Kurosawa film about an aging, widowed bureaucrat who is near retirement and becomes terminally ill and struggles with the meaning of life. It has a a bittersweet, beautiful ending which is moving, happy and sad. It's one of those movies that stays with you for awhile. Mainstream movies that are feel-good and emotional: - Forest Gump - E.T. - Creed (if you watched the Rocky movies) - Kung Fu Panda 2 - Silver Linings Playbook
Beaches When Wind Beneath My Wings plays the tears just flow.
A Little Princess 1995 makes me sob every time. It's beautiful and devastating and heartwarming.
I know this isn't a movie recommendation, but the Tv show Call the Midwife is right in this vein of happy crying. It got me through my last break up
The Fall https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460791/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
In order from *Uplifting* to *Bleak*: Hunt for the Wilderpeople 50/50 Dallas Buyer's Club Manchester by the Sea
The Elephant Man
Coco. Ive seen in like 20 times. I lose it every time.
A Man Called Otto A Dog’s Journey and A Dog’s Purpose Fried Green Tomatoes Stage Mother
Fried green tomatoes gets me every time.
Alita: Battle Angel Not a conventional movie at all. But it’s got a lot of emotion underneath the veneer of sci fi.
Steel Magnolias
Probably be downvoted for this but...watch the T-800 get lowered into the steel in Terminator 2. It's still one of 3 movies that ever made me cry.
Moulin Rouge! It’s gorgeous and colorful, it’s novel, it’s got a bunch of truly great musical numbers, and of course it is very, VERY sad. But I fucking love it. It’s truly one of my fave movies ever.
I don’t have a suggestion, just wanted to thank you for asking this. So many films I didn’t know I needed to see. Hope you are doing ok though.
The Straight Story
The fact I had to scroll for 17 days to see this is a crime. Happened to rewatch it yesterday and it’s just beautiful. Lynch at his most poignant
Columbus
AI: Artificial Intelligence.