I saw “Dogtooth” a few months ago. Wow, that was weird, and seeing it referenced is especially unsettling because of the Cleveland story.
For me, it was “Death and the Maiden”.
Bad Lieutenant. Right about the time he pulled over two girls and made them show him their asses while he masturbated against their car door, I was wondering if maybe I shouldn’t be in the theater.
“The House of Sand and Fog” - the anti-thesis of “happy endings”. Despite awesome performances by all, just felt like slitting my wrists at the end.
** Buried**. And I was angry at myself for watching it.
Gummo is the first movie that popped into my mind for bleakest. There are no wars or apocalyptic themes…just a small town of simple people with nothing to do except deal with the boredom.
+2
Also, Martyrs. Not exactly what I would call an “uplifting” movie. Lots of pain and death and a complete absence of hope.
Blancieves is pretty damned bleak. Spoiler tag, since it’s still in theaters:
Thanks to the power of Twue Wuv, Snow White is mostly dead at the end, though inexplicibly not rotting, and used as a freak-show exhibit for a traveling carnival. But she’s just barely alive enough to shed a single tear when the dwarf who loves her crawls into her coffin to sleep.
A documentary, Dear Zachary. Left me depressed for days. I even choked up while trying to describe it to someone the day after I saw it.
Ironweed. So depressing no one ever even shows it any more.
I haven’t seen Dogville, so I’ll just go with Dancer in the Dark. An amazing movie, but “bleak” is a polite way of describing it.
Watching a simple-minded immigrant woman who’s trying desperately to save her son’s eyesight get trapped into a corner from which the only escape is murder, for which she will pay the ultimate price?
If you think Breaking the Waves is a downer, don’t go anywhere near Dancer in the Dark!
United 93, for me.
J.
Manos: Hands of Fate
I saw the MST3K version, and I still was depressed.
City Of God is one of the only movies I’ve ever had a hard time watching. Blood, gore, violence, sex…doesn’t get to me, but this movie had so much of that directed at kids it really hit me.
Mosquito Coast
Another vote for this one. I’ve seen some of the other nominees in this thread, and Dancer in the Dark and House of Sand and Fog do not exactly make you feel good about yourself, but everything about the outcome of Requiem is so horrible that it’s akin to having an Abrams tank repeatedly drive over your soul except less fun. It makes a hell of an impression even though I have no idea why it was made.
By comparison, Dancer in the Dark has some uplifting musical scenes that at least give you a break from the protagonist’s horrible life, and House of Sand and Fog is so contrived that somewhere near the end it becomes merely unbelievable, which reduces its ability to really depress you.
If we’re talking about bleak movies that MST3K has tackled, there’s I Accuse My Parents. Jimmy’s circumstances are pretty depressing, but the movie is so bad and he’s so dumb you can’t care much.
Remains of the Day. That movie almost turned me into a Marxist.
Requiem For A Dream and Grave Of The Fireflies probably pretty much tie for this, although Antichrist has to be up there somewhere.
The thing with Grave Of The Fireflies is, unlike most films of this type, it’s worse on a rewatch. Still one of the greatest films ever made, though.
Thank goodness the book at least had William Kennedy’s writing, which was the only way I got through that story.