Good movies you wish you'd never seen (mild spoilers)

Cafe Society
#1

There are some movies that I cannot deny are good. They are well-acted, written, and directed, with brilliant casts and stunning endings. However, I find them so goddamn depressing that I wish I’d never seen them. They are so unrelentingly dark and lacking in the slightest bit of redemption that I want to erase them from my memory entirely. Perhaps that’s a flaw in me; I’m not saying I need a feel-good ending, but I would prefer an ending that doesn’t make me want to hide all the sharp things in my house when I get home.

For me, the three that comes to mind are: The Pledge, In the Bedroom, and House of Sand and Fog. If you’ve seen any of these, you know what I mean. What are yours?

#2

Most definitely Requiem for a Dream.

#3

Schindler’s List

Some clarification is needed. I wish I’d never seen it the first time. This film was shown as part of our Social Studies class in high school. Since the teacher had several classes in a row to show this movie to, he’d rewind the film 50 minutes after every class (each class was 47 minutes long). Some clueless A/V person would rewind the tape completely at the end of every day. The instructor zoned out with a book while the movie was on, and the students would sleep, do homework, or otherwise quietly goof off. We’d been subjected to the opening 45 minutes of List for about a week before somebody finally got up and fast-forwarded it, almost earning a detention because the teacher didn’t pay attention to the movie and instead just saw that somebody was “being disruptive” by playing with the vcr.

I’ve seen it in its entirety since, but that will always stick with me.

#4

I’m not sure if I’d want to actually erase any good movie from my memory, but Boys Don’t Cry depressed me a great deal.

#5

Grave of the Fireflies upset me deeply. I own it but do not think I could ever watch it again.

#6

American Beauty. That movie was such a pointless, depressing waste of time. How it won an Oscar I’ll never know.

#7

Kramer vs. Kramer
The Crossing guard
Bad Liutenant

#8

The Pledge

Dancer in the Dark

Se7en

All well-made. But no redemption in any of them. All unrelentingly depressing.

I have avoided In the Bedroom and House of Sand and Fog since they seem to be in the same vein. (Thanks to the OP for reinforcing that.)

Movies that offer no redemption are not for me.

#9

Heh. My school decided to make that movie mandatory to all 10th graders. They played it with no breaks on a projector screen in the auditorium. Oh, and since it’s so disturbing and all, we all needed to get our parents to sign permission slips for us to see it.

Of course, me being the wuss I am, it took about a month before I felt comfortable taking showers. I was quite sure the water would turn to poison gas on me.

#10

Cobb, which Tommy Lee Jones should have won an Oscar for. Fantastic movie, but terribly depressing.

I watch great movies over and over, but I’ve never watched that one again.

#11

Todd Solontz’s Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness.

#12

Because of my personal battles with medical bureaucracy, on behalf of my mother, there is one movie that was especially hard for me to watch. “Lorenzo’ Oil” with Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte. The scenes when Lorenzo has difficulty breathing, was gasping and choking, and his mother had to clean and clear his breathing tubes, they just bring me to tears. Wehn i saw it on video, I was hyperventilating by the time the scene was over.

#13

Seven

Woah, man. That movie was GROSS! I think it was sloth that disturbed me the most.
I mean, the movie is excellent - great plot, great acting - but really disturbing imagery. After I saw it the first time I coudn’t stop thinking about it and being grossed out for weeks.

#14

Platoon

Born on the Fourth of July

whatever the first Iraq War film will be :frowning:

#15

Philadelphia - Tom hanks as AIDS patient who dies a prolonged death. More situational than anything else.

I was in my last year of college between semesters and my mother had died after being hospitalized for a week or two with severe breathing problems. I was the only family member visiting her, as my Dad was on vacation and couldn’t be bothered, my brother lived an hour away and thought it’d be too depressing, etc.

So when I got back to the town my college was in a few days later (and maybe even before the funeral) some friends of mine (guy and girl, so can’t blame dumb insensitive guys) decided they shouldn’t leave me alone and decided to take me to the movies. Of course it wasn’t until after they bought the tickets and we were inside that I asked what we were going to see.

I tried to tell them they were crazy, but they didn’t understand. I was going to leave, but I was a half hour from home, wasn’t my car, didn’t want to sit in the lobby the whole time, etc.

Dumbasses. I don’t remember when I stopped crying that night. But then they had to get me home and to my apartment safely, so maybe they learned their lesson. Come to think of it, no, they probably never did.

#16

Night and Fog a documentary about he concentration camps by Alain Resnais. There is footage (from black and white newsreels) that I was simply not expecting. My emotional response was so strong that I almost threw up from the “distress” I felt. I haven’t been able to see any concentration camp-themed film since (with the exception of Bent) because I was, honestly, a bit traumatized.

In many ways I’m glad I saw it, and in many was I wish I had not.

#17

Rushmore – because I cannot stand watching anyone appear that painful and out-of-place dealing with just every day life. Someone’s already mentioned Welcome to the Dollhouse, which would fall into the same category.

I deplored Kids and would give anything to get those moments of my life back.

Lastly, as bizarre as this sounds, I usually LOVE depressing, depraved, twisted movies… like Happiness, The Doom Generation, Spoorloos and Donnie Darko (or would those be considered too tame by comparison?). I mean, if these people’s lives are that bad, mine has to be an improvement.

Right?

And add Crumb to that too. That guy completely and totally creeped me right the hell out. To think there’s lotsa people out there running around like him, who feels no remorse for his brother’s suicide (that he probably kinda sorta contributed to) is beyond icky. Plus, he seemed to be a horrible mysoginist.

Also, to Zsofia: I’ve always wanted to see Grave of the Fireflies, but it hasn’t come up on my NetFlix list. Just like Dancer in the Dark hasn’t either. :frowning:

#18

The title card at the end of Crumb stated that Charles Crumb didn’t commit suicide until the year after filming was completed. How much remorse was Robert supposed to show before his brother died?

Granted. Absolutely no argument there.

#19

Oh, you are absolutely right. I had forgotten about that because it’s been quite sometime since I’ve seen it. I’m a :wally However, he seemed incredibly uninterestedindifferent (if those are the right words) to his brother’s problems and difficulties, almost to the point of ridicule. Eww.

I thought the Crumb! = pig.

#20

This horrifies me. That movie has no business being taught as history.