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Most depressing movies ever.

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teacupcopter said:
Thread was over by the first post, Requiem ftw



?? Translation was kinda depressing but ultimately uplifting I thought.
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I didn't think Requiem was that depressing since 1) it was kind of over the top and a bit hard to take seriously, and 2) that shit was their own doing. That said, I still really liked the movie....that one time I saw it several years ago.


As for Lost In Translation (one of my favorite movies of the decade), I was thinking of listing it when I saw the thread but decided not to. What the characters were going through in their lives must have been at least a little depressing - and I really hate final goodbyes (which the movie ended on) - but ultimately the movie was about a relationship that made two people happier during a short time they would have otherwise been lonely and miserable, and what's so depressing about that?
 
Sumidor said:
Everytime there's a thread like this, I come in here knowing someone has already posted this. Geez, this movie is so good, but at the same time, I don't think I could ever watch it again. I think my girlfriend at the time cried for about 20 minutes after watching it. Great great movie, but such a downer. :(
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The first (and only) time I saw that movie was after I had some troubles with my brother and his wife. I came home and saw this Ghibli movie on DVD I had not seen yet, and thought it would be a good way to spend the rest of the afternoon with an uplifting movie.
Bad, bad, baaaaaaaaaad idea. I spend the whole movie thinking that something good would finally happen to these poor kids...
I hate everything from Takahata since that day :/
 
Requiem for a dream
Dead Mans Shoes
16 Years of Alchohol
Million Dollar Baby (never seen it but so Ive heard)
American History X
American Beauty
Mean Streets
Greenstreet Holigans
 
SolKane said:
Trainspotting was really depressing, because of the ambiguous nature of its message. It's not a clear-cut "If you do drugs your life will be ****ing ruined" movie like Requiem is.
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I found it to be incredibly uplifting. Especially the monologue at the end. It showed there is a return from the darkside of addiction, while still very clearly showing the dangers of drug use.
 
Az987 said:
Requiem for a dream
Dead Mans Shoes
16 Years of Alchohol
Million Dollar Baby (never seen it but so Ive heard)
American History X
American Beauty
Mean Streets
Greenstreet Holigans
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That's a good list.

A Beautiful Mind
 
sublime085 said:
I found it to be incredibly uplifting. Especially the monologue at the end. It showed there is a return from the darkside of addiction, while still very clearly showing the dangers of drug use.
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Yeah. The way it ended was almost the exact oppostie of depressing.
 
Maybe not the most depressing one, but this definitely got to me when I watched it last night:
B000AOEPL6.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1125511303_.jpg

Ending was kinda upbeat and made me giggle, but still, overall got me down.
 
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being_john_malkovich_ver3.jpg


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Love all of these movies. I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones right off the top of my head. Not all of them are depressing all of the way through the movie. But most of them don't have your typical Hollywood "uplifting" and/or "happy ending".
 
I haven't seen much in the way of movies lately, but Requiem definitely deserves to be on that list, but not just because of the drug use. The social statements made about the remains of New York City after its golden age, the treatment of prisoners, the treatment of racial minorities, women as commodities (and the weekend warriors who buy and sell them), it all becomes a dirty mirror for the modern (especially) urban American viewer. Those people live in the City of Doom, and every minute of foreboding footage says so.
 
ronito said:
The Good Girl

Dear lord I can handle depressing, but depressing for no good reason? And on top of that it stinks? No. The whole movie leaves you like an empty husk sitting there all depressed then you think "Wait, why did I even watch that? What was the point?"
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Yeah. It was very existentialist in an unintentional way...like, "Life ****ing sucks. Deal with it."
 
Excellent picks in this thread. Requiem for a Dream would probably be my number one.

One that hasn't been mentioned yet is "Au Hasard, Balthazar". French movie that has this parallel narrative between this girl's childhood and her donkey. They both get mistreated, abused, and generally lead hopeless lives. The final scene in the movie really hits you in the gut, a very draining movie experience.
Balthazar.jpg
 
Happiness - The scene near the end with the father and his son...Damn
Requiem for a Dream
When the Wind Blows
Leaving Las Vegas
The Butterfly Effect
House of Sand & Fog
Hotel Rwanda
The Pianist
 
sublime085 said:
I found it to be incredibly uplifting. Especially the monologue at the end. It showed there is a return from the darkside of addiction, while still very clearly showing the dangers of drug use.
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I think that the monologue perhaps went over your head. I suppose you think A Clockwork Orange is also "uplifting?"
 
robojimbo said:
Most of Kurosawa's movies end on a down note. I haven't seen it, but I hear Ikiru is a serious downer.
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I wouldn't call Ikuru a downer by its ending, which kinda satisfying while remaining in low-key, but the whole atmosphere of the movie was indeed somewhat bleak. Nevertheless, I wouldn't call most movies in this thread depressive, not even Grave of the Fireflies or Requiem for a Dream, but then again I'm a cold-hearted bastard who always hopes for the worst, most twisted, ending for every film he watches.
 
Hotarubi said:
That would've been my pick. Bresson absolutely destroys me.
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I really want to watch his other movies, but I keep putting it off becuase Balthazar was so depressing.

I just thought of another one too, "The Bicycle Thief". That's another movie that twists the knife, and makes you feel queasy. What is it with Europeans and their depressing movies.
 
A lot of you are posting movies with relatively positive endings. To me, the most depressing movies are ones that end on down notes. To that end, I'd include:
12%20monkeys.jpg

chinatown.jpg
 
ratcliffja said:
A lot of you are posting movies with relatively positive endings. To me, the most depressing movies are ones that end on down notes.
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Just because the ending is positive that doesn't mean a film isn't depressing. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, for example, ended with the Chief ultimately overcoming the conflict with the mental institution, but the novel in its entirety is one of the most depressing pieces of fiction I've ever read.
 
Brak said:
I really want to watch his other movies, but I keep putting it off becuase Balthazar was so depressing.
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Oh, certainly watch more! Don't let one put you off; the others that I've seen aren't as draining as Balthazar is, although Pickpocket and Diary of a Country Priest are hardly sunshine and rainbows. A Man Escaped is downright gleeful compared to much of his work. :)

I'm quite excited about the upcoming Mouchette DVD in January. More downers!
 
MrPing1000 said:
ok you're going to have to explain this to me, I thought it was a really uplifting film, especially the ending.
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I didn't really find it uplifting. You know that eventually the relationship is just going to fall apart like it did the first time, yet they're not aware of that. I dunno, maybe that's a good thing? didn't seem like it to me.
 
demon said:
I didn't really find it uplifting. You know that eventually the relationship is just going to fall apart like it did the first time, yet they're not aware of that. I dunno, maybe that's a good thing? didn't seem like it to me.
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I fell asleep towards the end, I didn't know they actually got back together again :/

I just assumed he died in that watery, crumbly house or something. Whatever.
 
demon said:
I didn't really find it uplifting. You know that eventually the relationship is just going to fall apart like it did the first time, yet they're not aware of that. I dunno, maybe that's a good thing? didn't seem like it to me.
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But despite the fact they know it could well end up falling apart they decide to do it all over again anyway. + its not a definite that the outcome will be the same, especially when armed with the knowledge given to them by themselves on the tapes.

Oh and Kate Winslet is hot.
 
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This and Requiem for a Dream are the only movies that have actually made me feel depressed after watching them. For Eternal Sunshine you'd have to watch it after coming off from a long, troubled relationship for it to really..."work". :P
 
jett said:
For Eternal Sunshine you'd have to watch it after coming off from a long, troubled relationship for it to really..."work". :P
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That rules me out then. Ok I'll get a gal, have a troubled relationship, split up, then watch the film again and then I'll get back to you.
 
MrPing1000 said:
That rules me out then. Ok I'll get a gal, have a troubled relationship, split up, then watch the film again and then I'll get back to you.
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:lol well done.

That said, troubled relationship experience does add to the sting of certain movies who know just where to jab and sting you the most. Eternal Sunshine was also one of those movies for me.

Which reminds me... here's another movie that while was very good, really depressed me and reminded me of a messed-up ex of mine at the time. I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet:

Kids_film_poster.jpg


Edit:

sooperkool said:
Kids

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113540/


Especially if you're a parent.
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Damn, beat me to it! :lol
 
I first saw "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" immediately after being dumped out of a relationship I really wanted to work and was really invested in. To that end it really depressed me, and I think I was actually crying like a baby by the time we got to the scene where
Jim Carrey is in another memory sequence and the house is falling apart around him and Winslet, I can't remember the dialogue, but between it and the music I just become a blubbering mess at that point
. So yes, it certainly depends on where you are in life how some of these films affect you.

As for the ending of the movie I sort of relate it to Peter Pan in a way. They're going into the relationship fresh, but no more mature about how to handle it then before, so destined to redo mistakes. I just relate it to Peter Pan, because the entire concept of Neverland kind of is depressing IMO. Sure, you're a kid forever, but that also means not growing emotionally and experiencing deeper sense of commitment and love to another person since you're perpetually adolescent.

Oh, and the only thing depressing about Forrest Gump is how long and boring the damn thing is. I hate that movie with a passion that cannot be matched.
 
teiresias said:
Oh, and the only thing depressing about Forrest Gump is how long and boring the damn thing is. I hate that movie with a passion that cannot be matched.
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David Caruso just called. He says "f*ck yoooou".
 
Ok, Life Is Beautiful sure took a depressing turn towards the end, didn't it.
 
For me it's Steamboy, but for personal reasons.

it was the last thing my mom ever watched, on my dad's psp... dec 27th of last year, he was trying to keep her calm so she wouldn't rip the tubes and shit out of her arms. She said it looked neat... and then she never watched anything else because she never came home. I can't even ring it up at work without it getting to me.
 
my serious top 10 list:

1) Life is Beatiful
2)Schindlers list
3) Hotel Rwanda(big time effect on me)
4)Grave of Fireflys
5) Requiem for a dream
6) The Day After (about nuclear war...good idea...
7) Kids
8) Donnie Darko (unable to change...)
9) The Machinist
10) Leaving Las Vegas
 
Okay, I don't get why Schindler's List is depressing. That movie makes you feel good when it's over. Sure, it's sad as hell, but that's not the same thing as depressing. You're moved emotionally, but are you actually depressed?

Anyway, the only movie I've seen that thoroughly made me sad at the end was ESOTSM, and even there not so much because I've never been in a tumultous relationship like that. Lost in Translation was kinda depressing too because I've always felt alienated and that movie's like 100% alienation, but it has such a nice ending. I can't think of anything.

ooh ohh wait I forgot Big Fish. That movie was ****ing sad at the end.
 
choc_cake said:
This is my #1 pick. I have never seen a movie so depressing.
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I agree, House of Sand and Fog is one of the most depressing movies ever. Requiem for a dream, too. I agree with most of what has been mentioned, except for the obvious manipulative tearjerkers. I'm almost surprised that stupid clown doctor flick with Robin Williams didn't get mentioned yet.
 
hainezy6.jpg


I don't know if you Americans got to see this, but it's one of the reason why my views on modern day society are pretty cynical and bitter.
 
Even more depressing is Matthieu Kassovitz's career since LA HAINE. THE CRIMSON RIVERS was bad, but GOTHIKA was truly a new low. And let's not even get into his roles in JAKOB THE LIAR, ASTERIX OBELIX and AMELIE *shudder*
 
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