# Recommend me a depressing movie. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2005, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-depressing-movie/285345 "2005-01-18T10:40:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-depressing-movie/285345/101 "2005-01-21T13:59:04Z")
> [@Gr8Kat](#): > > Oh gosh, all those animal movies they inflict on children: > > _Ol’ Yeller > Where the Red Fern Grows > The Red Pony > The Yearling > The Velveteen Rabbit_ (a stuffed animal, but it still traumatized me as a kid) > _Charlotte’s Web_ (sure, the pig lives, but the spider dies) > I don’t know if _So Dear to my Heart_ belongs on this list because I can’t remember now if the lamb buys it in the end. > > Why do they show these movies to kids? Is it suppose to toughen us up? Get us used to death? It sure didn’t work for me, if anything they made me even more insecure. I cry all the time because I worry about my pets dying. > > Anyway, those are sure-fire tear jerking depressing movies. THE SPIDER DIES?!? Where the hell is the spoiler box? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-depressing-movie/285345/102 "2005-01-21T14:31:31Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > THE SPIDER DIES?!? Where the hell is the spoiler box? 😉 It doesn’t matter if you _know_ the spider is going to die. When she sings her “Mother Earth and Father Time” song one last time and trails off, and Wilbur starts calling her name… I’m getting misty eyed thinking about it. You can’t spoil it, you’re going to cry whether you know it’s coming or not. In fact, that’s the theme of my list and why I hate most of those movies: don’t get too attached to that animal (even the stuffed one!) because someday it will DIE! And guess what! Sometimes it might even be your fault! Live with _that_! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-depressing-movie/285345/103 "2005-01-21T15:08:43Z")
> [@manx](#): > > Blockbuster had neither _Happiness_ nor _Grave of the Fireflies_, so they’re on my ‘to see’ list. Try your local library, & get them for free. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-depressing-movie/285345/104 "2005-01-21T19:16:20Z")
One of my overlooked favorites that no one has yet mentioned is [_A Simple Plan_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120324/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9YSBzaW1wbGUgcGxhbnxodG1sPTF8bm09b24_;fc=1;ft=20). It’s an earlier Sam Raimi film (after the _Evil Dead_ films, before _Spiderman_). It’s one of those noirish-type plots where things just keep going more and more wrong. The story keeps cycling down and down to a completely nilihistic ending, like a Coen Brothers movie but without the quirky characters and gag humor. _Lilya 4 Ever_ is another pretty wrenching one, as are a lot of the films of [Ken Loach](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0516360/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9a2VuIGxvYWNofGh0bWw9MXxubT1vbg__;fc=1;ft=20;fm=1). And, though Bond movies are usually regarded as anything but tearjerkers, the end of _[On Her Majesty’s Secret Service](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064757/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9T04gSEVSIE1BSkVTVFknUyBTRUNSRVQgU0VSVklDRXxodG1sPTF8bm09b24_;fc=1;ft=20;fm=1)_ made my normally non-emotive ex-girlfriend cry. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![RitzyRae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@RitzyRae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitzyRae)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-depressing-movie/285345/105 "2005-01-21T21:54:52Z")
**Love Story** always, always, always makes me cry. And it’s the same with \*\*Out of Africa \*\* and \*\*Little Women \*\* (1994). ---
**Author:** ![RitzyRae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@RitzyRae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitzyRae)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-depressing-movie/285345/106 "2005-01-21T22:01:38Z")
Almost forgot \*\*Raise the Red Lantern \*\* (or Da hong deng long gao gao gua)! Not crying, but serious depression. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-depressing-movie/285345/107 "2005-01-21T22:45:06Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > _Lilya 4 Ever_ is another pretty wrenching one, as are a lot of the films of [Ken Loach](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0516360/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9a2VuIGxvYWNofGh0bWw9MXxubT1vbg__;fc=1;ft=20;fm=1). Just want to point out it wasn’t me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-depressing-movie/285345.md?page=5)