Hm. I didn’t find some of the films listed here depressing. AI was depressing because it kept going on for 45 minutes after the ending. Had it ended underwater, it would have been a great downbeat ending.
Breaker Morant was sad for the guys involved, but I didn’t find it depressing at all. Ditto Gallipoli.
Cast Away was only depressing because it was so boring.
Of Mice and Men depressing? Not at all! It’s a wonderful film. (I haven’t seen the remake.)
I think there’s a difference between “downbeat” and “depressing”. I think “downbeat” leaves the viewer with a feeling of empathy for the characters, while “depressing” leaves the viewer just feeling bad. (Not that that makes them bad films. There are very good depressing films, such as Johnny Got His Gun.)
Another good, but depressing, film to add to the list: Zentropa.
A couple of weeks ago I rented both The House of Sand and Fog and My Life Without Me on the same day. Both are pretty damned bleak, although I can see some people as seeing MLWM as semi-optimistic.
OF MICE AND MEN definitely (the original, have not seen the Sinise-Malkovich remake yet, have seen the TV Robert Blake-Randy Quaid version & it’s OK, but the Burgess Meredith-Lon Chaney Jr original MUST be seen first)
MOTHER NIGHT, not to be confused with 'Night Mother. MN is by Vonnegut, stars Nick Nolte, Alan Arkin & Sheryl “Twin Peaks” Lee- and is about Howard W. Campbell Jr., a US playwright turned Nazi radio propagandist but is actually a double agent for the Allies. “We must be careful what we pretend to be because what we pretend to be is what we become.”
Another depressing movie featuring Ben Kingsley (since at least a couple have shown up already) Death and the Maiden directed by Roman Polanski with a very close adaptation of the Ariel Dorfman play.
I don’t remember that movie as being particularly despressing, but I’m sick and twisted. For instance, while most would consider Closet Land depressing, I found it somewhat erotic.