I know there are many depressing movies like House of Sand and Fog, Requiem for Dream, Turtles can fly, I've Loved You So Long, Boy A though they didnt really have that strong effect personally on me, I felt quite sad after watching, but Lilya tops them, other heartbreaking movies I can think of would be I guess Three Colors: Blue, Ordinary People, My Brother Tom, sort of also The Fountain works (I guess you can see some trend here with the D word :-)). Other movie I can think of which really moved me to the extreme, but in different way (more like raised my adrenaline level to max from anger) was Jagten, was extremely angry during watching.
(repost from Lilya 4-ever individual forum for higher visibility)
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Reply by tmdb57932021
on February 24, 2017 at 3:59 PM
Well Leaving Las Vegas is pretty hard to top, in my opinion.
And my own personal favourite, the movie with which I discovered that di Caprio is, in fact, a genius - The Basketball Diaries. Have only seen it once, don't have balls to watch it again, i might kill myself.
Reply by Dawn Of The Ed
on February 24, 2017 at 4:12 PM
The Boy In The Striped Pajamas. This was very powerful and heartbreaking. Excellent film.
Reply by alias
on February 24, 2017 at 4:45 PM
Never Let Me Go. Heartbreaking from start to finish . Children with no future but death.
Reply by Midi-chlorian_Count
on February 24, 2017 at 4:54 PM
Another Robin Williams one: The Fisher King.
Reply by Marr 🇳🇱
on February 24, 2017 at 4:57 PM
I saw that movie (Requiem for a Dream) during my Film Studies course (Along with The Big Lebowski and The Truman Show -- and as m free choices I watched Gone Girl and The Imitation Game). Of all those movies I only loved my own choices, and Truman Show was okay, but The Big Lebowski (a movie that has 100 times "fuck" in it and is just about nothing at all....) and Requiem for a Dream (some heavy shizzle, message received loud and clear: drugs are bad, and don't even think about trying it out.) were just awful.
But The Boy in The Striped Pyamas that made me cry and not because I thought it was awful.
I read a book for English literature with that title. I wonder if that's a movie based on that book... If so, I should watch it.
Reply by Markoff
on February 24, 2017 at 6:00 PM
Ah yeah, I really like LLV (although these days it's quite difficult to find time to watch it with appropriate bottle of alcohol in hand), although I never really considered it that depressing, he is doing what he wants, so not much reason to be very sad about it.
Reply by Markoff
on February 24, 2017 at 6:14 PM
I personally think Requiem for a dream was great movie (technically/objectively), but overrated just because of shocking value - sure music and acting is amazing and we can watch downward spiral of doing drugs and get the message, but way too unconventional and trippy for me (plot itself is pretty simple) and regarding drugs it's after all exaggeration, you would really need to have zero self control to end up in their place, Trainspotting was in this regard more realistic. All in all I remember maybe 3 scenes - A2A action, amputated hand and crazy TV shows, which speaks for itself - just shocking, The Fountain was much better if I had to choose something else from Aronofsky.
I was not impressed by Boy in the striped pyjamas, besides the touching ending (which is very short and not surprising, after all the book is pretty popular) it ain't that good and I am kind of sick of this WW2/Jews emotional blackmailing, already grown very thick skin after so many movies trying to (ab)use this topic especially past big success of Schindler's List, because they are too lazy to make something relatable from present time and they know Jews/Holocaust theme still works on critics (which is beyond my understanding).
Reply by Marr 🇳🇱
on February 24, 2017 at 6:37 PM
I remember that fridge. And all those sequences with pupils and syringes and stuff when they did the drugs.
Reply by vishal8492
on February 24, 2017 at 8:23 PM
Grave of the Fireflies (1988) is really touching , Requiem for a Dream is phenomenal.
Reply by SaltyGirl
on February 24, 2017 at 9:35 PM
All of Michael Haneke films are really good, but they are also really bleak, dark and depressing!
Reply by luthien
on February 25, 2017 at 1:18 AM
It most probably is. Was the book depressing? It was a depressing read for me and the movie equally so. The book in which the movie is based on is by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Reply by tmdb57932021
on February 25, 2017 at 4:47 AM
I see.......
Sera: So... why are you killing yourself?
Ben: I don't remember. I just know that I want to.
Reply by Jana
on April 29, 2017 at 7:44 PM
A few movies that broke my heart and a few that left me flabbergasted, some both.
Babel
Dancer in the Dark
Mysterious Skin
Dogville
The Book of Stars
Elephant
In the Bedroom
Festen (The Celebration)
What Dreams May Come
Some will leave you crying your heart out but others like Elephant are more shocking really. Added because it breaks your heart in an entirely different way. I hope you can find a gem or two
Reply by somesunnyday
on April 29, 2017 at 9:30 PM
The Elephant Man. I weep every time I watch it.
Reply by Markoff
on April 30, 2017 at 12:55 PM
i haven't seen only the book of stars, so added to watchlist, though wasn't really destroyed by any of these, maybe In the bedroom was the strongest for me