One True Thing is one depressing flick.
More animated depression: Grave of the Fireflies. Follows a Japanese boy and his little sister following WWII. Major downer.
I just saw the Anthony Hopkins movie Titus, and it’s unreal what Titus had to endure in his life. But, that’s a Shakespearean tragedy for you.
I thought Chasing Amy was a downer, and so personal it’s painful to watch. Sure, it has funny moments, but for the most part I was identifying with Affleck and just plain hurtin’.
Even more depressing animation: The Plague Dogs.
Good luck finding it because this beautifully animated film is long since out of print but it’s one of the saddest films I’ve ever watched. If you don’t want to know the ending (or be depressed), scroll down now to the next post.
Two dogs, Rowf and Snitter are in a research lab having varous tests performed upon them. They get the chance to escape and decide to become wild animals after they fail to find a “master” who isn’t cruel. In the meantime, it is leaked to the press that (a) two dogs escaped from the lab and (b) one of the things being tested in the lab was bubonic plague. The media makes a field day of it claiming that the dogs may be carrying plague (they’re not – plague carrying fleas don’t feed on dogs) and eventually public pressure gets the military into it, performing a sweep of the area to find and destroy the dogs. The dogs are chased down to the shore and with no other choice, swim out into the sea. Snitter convinces Rowf (who is deathly afraid of water since his tests involved repreatedly drowning and reviving him) that there was an island out there, an island where they would have kind masters and be free.
Snitter: “Rowf, I’m tired… I don’t… think I can swim… anymore…”
Rowf: “Don’t… stop… we must be near… the island by… now…”
Snitter: “I… lied… Rowf… There is… no… island…”
Pull back and fade into the credits and end song as the screen shows the lapping waves.
*River’s Edge[i/] was pretty gloomy.
oops.
Dead Ringers
I know it wasn’t supposed to be that way, but <b>Muriel’s Wedding</b> depressed the hell out of me. Is there anyone in that movie with any redeeming qualities?
The worst, most depressing movie I’ve seen recently was “The Story Of Us”. Anyone who is divorced and can sit through this movie without their heart being torn out is a stronger person then I. It actually left me depressed.
“Message in a Bottle” was very depressing, and I’ve always had trouble trying to sit through “Steel Magnolias”.
Zette
Totally devastated me when I first saw it. Still tears me up on the rare occasions it shows up on cable.
Boy, I’m feeling blue just reading the descriptions.
First, Welfy, I hated My Best Friend’s Wedding for the opposite reason - a whole movie about the “heroine” trying to break up an engaged couple for her own selfish purposes - wow, what fun!
I tend to avoid sad movies, because they always make me cry, and I hate to cry. For what it’s worth, I nominate In Dreams because it is depressing on the plot level and in the (lack of) quality.
SPOILERS
Daughter is kidnapped and murdered, mother drives car into lake in suicide attempt, is hospitalized and treated as crazy when she dreams what the killer is doing, slits her wrists, arrives just in time to see her husband’s dead body being gnawed on by the family dog, etc.
It is also mind-numbingly bad, and if you don’t break down in tears when you see Robert Downey, Jr. with long red hair, you’re just not human.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned any Chinese films yet. I have yet to see one that wasn’t depressing. The one that I think takes the cake is “Xiu Xiu the Sent Down Girl”. I saw that one with my mother while home for break, and she thought it should have come with a warning about how depressing the ending is.
1984, starring John Hurt as Winston Smith and (in his last performance, and a GREAT one) Richard Burton.
It’s just like the novel. A bleak beginning, a bleak middle, a bleak ending. It was filmed in color, but everything is so grey and depressing, it may as well have been filmed in B&W. I don’t know if it’s on video, but if it is, get it. It’s one of the best film adaptations of a novel ever. It will make you glad you don’t live in such a world.
The end of “Das Boot” was pretty depressing, I thought.
The most thoroughly depressing movie:
Koyaanisquatsi (this is probably spelled somewhat incorrectly).
Incredible movie, the depressing part is it reminds you how unimportant you, other people, and just about everything actually is. Next to that awful truth, how can any other movie be depressing?
Actually, that was another aspect of the movie that I found terribly sad. I was thinking, “Poor Julia, she doesn’t get to be with her best friend.” but at the same time I was like, “but then again, isn’t that kind of mean of her to try to break up two happy people?”
Ever see China Cry? That movie made me tear up quite often. The sad thing is that it’s a true story.
Anything with Billy Jack.
I’ll second 8mm. I wanted to go watch wholesome kids cartoons after that one.
And for some I haven’t seen here:
Very Bad Things: This movie is just painful for me to watch. Every thing that can goes wrong does. It’s a comedy of errors, but it’s still depressing.
A Simple Plan: Like the above, it’s a comedy or errors, except there’s nothing funny about it. It’s just depressing. Billy Bob Thorton is just incredible in this movie. The monolouge he has about how lonely he is, and about how he’s only kissed one girl in his life (he’s a rather goofly looking guy in the movie) is easily one of the most depressing things I’ve seen. It’s really like Macbeth in that the wife starts a lot of the bad ideas.
Boys Don’t Cry: The fact that it’s based on a true story makes it rather unbearable.
Hey, Max, I agree with you on Chasing Amy. It’s Kevin Smith’s best, but damn did that movie depress me. Sad love stories do that. With that in mind, I can’t forget Romeo and Juliet. Yes, the recent one with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. Hey, I thought it was good (but still very depressing, as it’s supposed to be).
Max and Kupek are both dead on with Chasing Amy. God, I love that movie. I’d also have to nominate The Elephant Man, even though it did lead to a terribly funny moment after I watched with some friends. One of the guys asked my ever-innocent friend Raeesa if she would sleep with the Elephant Man based on his personality. Her response: “But… but he can’t lie down!” (Maybe you had to be there, but we still tease her about it.)
Legend of the Fall with Brad Pitt.
Everyone is miserable, everyone kills themselves or dies in some fashion. At the end you think… well, ok… Brad Pitt <his character> will at last be happy… Nooo he goes off into the woods… and gets munched by a bear. SSIIGGHHH