most depressing movie you have seen

[lester1/2jr]

   I was really into independent films when I was in college.  At some point though I said to myself "  you know this movie is going to have some old vietnamese guy riding a crappy schwin bike through a village and he is going to get to his mud hut and open the door and his whole family is going to be dead.  I know this is "reality" but why am I paying to see something that makes me feel so awful?" 

    So I am torn on these types of movies.  Sure they are important and often quite good but aren't movies simply light entertainment on some level?


Anyway,  I started wondering about this because I recently caught Lilya 4 Ever,  the most depressing movie I can recall ever seeing.  The poor girl lilya,  if it weren't for bad luck she wouldn't have any at all.  It's almost like "long weekend" when the whole force of mother nature is conspiring against her.  The berlin wall fell for the sole purpose of her having to survive and be horribly exploited.  Now I feel bad for making light of her predicament.  So you can see my dilema.


      So Lilya 4 ever that's mine.  How about you.  any "Closer" fans? haters?

[Psycho Circus]

Mysterious Skin.

A Gregg Araki film, and easily his best work to date. My ex-girlfriend made me watch and it was really, really uncomfortable. It's about two young boys who are sexually abused when they are 9 years old by their baseball coach and meet again 10 years later, having led very different lives. One boy has grown up gay, prostituting himself to older men and is still dealing with what happened to him. The other boy lives an asexual life with his mother and has blocked out the ordeal, thinking that he was abducted by aliens. It was a very powerful film, but unpleasant to watch with most of the sex scenes as I nearly had to switch it off several times. Had my ex in tears too. 

[lester1/2jr]

what a great way to spend an evening after working all day   

[Doggett]

The Mist
Forest Gump
Philadelphia

[Rev. Powell]

Well, the psychological theory behind depressing movies is that they provide catharsis.  You feel a little worse immediately after watching them, but you feel better in the long run, because they help you deal with unresolved feelings of tragedy you experience in your own life.  

BAD LIEUTENANT comes to mind as a film that's extremely depressing even despite the supposedly positive religious message.  

Among movies I've watched recently, GUMMO sticks out as easily the most depressing.  It's just utterly ugly, and the overall message seems to be that life is pointless.  It really feels like the kind of movie a depressed teenager would make.  

[ChuckSplatt]

March of the Penguins

I'm a big tough guy and don't usually CRY during movies.
But that movie punches you in the gut.

'Twas depressing to learn what they endure, or try to endure.

[D-Man]

For me it would have to be Roland Joffe's "The Mission".

The wonderful music of Ennio Morricone provides only more emotional fuel to the ultimately doomed fate of the Jesuits and the Indians they try to protect.  I'm not sure what this film is trying to say about god, or religion, but it doesn't seem to be a very inspiring message. 

[MilkManPictures]

Grave of the Fire Flies... It's an old anime film... ugh... good but depressing.

[Torgo]

A recent French horror film called Inside is easily the most depressing film that I've seen to date.  It's a brilliant film though but it'll make you feel like you like complete crap for watching it.

[Raffine]

Grave of the Fire Flies... It's an old anime film... ugh... good but depressing.

Yep, when the topic of depressing movies comes up I think of that one first.

[Ash]

For me it would have to be The Bridge.

Check out this short trailer for it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwl-Pa_QT0M

It's a documentary about people who are drawn to the Golden Gate Bridge...to commit suicide by jumping off of it.
When I first heard about it, it sounded fascinating.
One thing's for sure, it is depressing.
It's well made and all that, but it wasn't fascinating like I thought it would be.
It left me feeling sad.  

[InformationGeek]

An American Tail, the first and second.

I have never watched such a depressing, sad, and heart tearing animated movie before.  At one point, I just assumed the movie creator was just trying to make me depressed.

[RCMerchant]

REPULSION by Roman Polanski is pretty dam depressing...I felt bad for the girl. She was really f#cked in the head. Don't get me wrong it's an EXCELLENT film...but...ugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP-2AKBzn_g

Another one is the IDIOTS...some very depressing nonsense from Lars Van Trier....something about trying to find your inner idiot....a real bummer...I saw an english subtitled version...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuvMl291c7A

[Fausto]

A recent French horror film called Inside is easily the most depressing film that I've seen to date.  It's a brilliant film though but it'll make you feel like you like complete crap for watching it.

Brilliant on some levels but it made me want to punch the screen in.


SPOILER ALERT!





I usually applaud downer endings in some films, just because always knowing that the good guys will win kind of makes the whole moviegoing experience pointless. However, in this case, having it end that way felt like being stabbed in the gut, especially after sitting through an hour of possible saviors getting killed off. I refuse to watch it again, and that's coming from someone who's sat through multiple viewings of pink flamingoes.

[JaseSF]

1984
Brazil
Requiem For a Dream
Pi
Most sci-fi from the late 60s-early 70s

Interesting, these are also some of my all-time favourite films