Silent Running. Gorgeous SFX and cinematography, but damn it’s a downer. That damn song by Joan Baez doesn’t help either.
It certainly has one of the most depressing songs ever…
‘Betty Blue’ - Betty Blue (1986) - IMDb
Great film, super-depressing ending.
Pretty much any movie based on a Eugene O’Neill play, but most especially Long Day’s Journey into Night (three hours with a dysfunctional family) and The Iceman Cometh (four hours of pipe dreams being crushed).
This may be tempered by having seen it as a child, but Fanny and Alexander.
I’m of two minds about A Home at the End or the World. It is one of my favorite movies, and there are a lot of moments of joy or wonder, but there is a running undercurrent of dealing with deep trauma, and the ending isn’t exactly happy, except in a sort of poetic way.
The Reader. Especially because it keeps teasing a potential redemption or forgiveness theme, but never quite manages it. It probably would have been less sad if it just committed to a depressing theme.
Some good nominations here.
Life is Beautiful (1997)
The Wages of Fear (1953) or the 1977 “remake” Sorcerer.
Yes, then ending is depressing; but the rest of the film is funny, beautiful, etc.
I saw it in the theatre when it was released in the states. (Funny thing, about that: First date with a girl I’d met. I didn’t know about the beginning…) I was having a lot of fun watching the film. Great music, great characters, lots of laughs… and then came the ending. I was like, 'Wait… When did that happen? :eek: ’ I wouldn’t call it a depressing movie. Vagabond is closer.
FWIW, if anyone hasn’t seen it yet, watch the theatrical release of Betty Blue. The director’s cut does provide some more information; but I don’t think it’s really necessary, and I thought the additional scenes really bogged the movie down.
Depressing:
Glengarry Glen Ross, They Shoot Horses Don’t They and my wife would say Lonely are The Brave
For my money though it’s Glengarry Glen Ross hands down.
Bad Lieutenant
One that I recently watched: An American Crime. Depressing story that is even more depressing when you learn it is based on a real story. Humans are terrible. :mad:
Since “Requiem for a Dream” has already been mentioned, I’ll throw out just about any of Clint Eastwood’s directorial efforts. “Mystic River”. “Billion Dollar Baby”, and “Grand Torrino” are all worth seeing once.
I’m going to nominate Irreversible. That one is horribly depressing with its extremely light and airy ending.
I was thinking about “Life is Beautiful”, but 1) there are so many happy scenes in the first half, and 2) it ends (very ending) on an upbeat.
I nominate “Gallipoli”.
This to me is the perfect example of a film which is worth seeing but only once.
It took me about three months to watch it on dvd. I’d put it on, watch 5 minutes then switch it off.
What is of note is that it is supposed to be that horrible. The camera shifts and pitches, flips over and trys to make you feel sick. The soundtrack also contributes. There are some gruesome and appalling scenes.
It is a masterclass in a “horr(ible)or” movie.
This remains the one and only movie I have ever walked out on in the theater. I just couldn’t take it anymore, and I have never seen the film in it’s entirety since.
My thoughts pretty much. Extremely glad I saw it but don’t need to again.
Manos: Hands of Fate
The original The Out-of-Towners. This alleged comedy has nothing to recommend it.
The movie itself isn’t depressing as much as the realization that your time/life has nothing better going on other that to watch it.
World, meet Kim Ki Duk, controversial, misogynistic, frightening and the director of some of the greatest films I’ve seen. His characters rarely smile, much less laugh and sometimes don’t even speak (The Isle, The Bow, Moebius, 3-Iron, but are somehow more real than the majority of on-screen characters. Dip your toes in with Samaritan Girl or 3-Iron and work your way up to The Isle, Pieta and Moebius.
Warning: The Isle contains the infamous ‘fishhook’ scene and real animal cruelty and the central theme of Moebius is an involuntary castration.
Triiva: I didn’t realize at first, but the lead actress of The Isle Jung Suh went to do a completely different role in the brillant Green Chair.
Edit: Never make a Ki Duk film a single feature. You’ll need to watch else after to clear your mind.