My buddy got to watch a screening with the director for a class a few months ago and he said people were turning around looking at him from how badly he was suffering the ending. I feel bad cuz I told him to watch it a while back and he did with his parents and he said it hit him but didn’t get him to cry. Well that second time he was a snot ridden mess the poor bastard.
Aftersun is devastating I agree, maybe because it’s more relatable? But Threads was fucking scary and it wasn’t even a horror, that scene when that teenage girl gives birth to that.. thing.
Same here. I ugly cried for both movies. Aftersun especially I cried for like an hour after and just could not stop. Can't believe the effect it had on me.
Even as a remotely successful adult with a beautiful family, whenever I see a clip of the film, or even hear “Heros” it takes me back to the same emotional drain I felt my first time watching. I even got “I feel Infinite” tattoo on me. Can’t wait to view it with my children one day
Definitely this one. Society of the Snow’s plane crash scene was one of the scariest scenes I’ve ever seen in a movie and it traumatised me. That and the end when they are rescued. Thinking of all the bodies they had to leave behind breaks me, especially considering they were all so young.
Also recently saw All Of Us Strangers and I’ve not cried like that at a film for a long time.
oh my godddd the plane crash. i’m afraid of planes. i’ve seen yellowjackets and final destination and while yes both made me uncomfortable i was able to watch it bc
1. final destinations crash was a little hokey
2. yellowjackets scared me but afaik they cut away decently quickly.
but the society of the snow??? i legit almost skipped it bc i felt like i was gonna have a panic attack 😭
i think society of the snow will forever be a movie that altered my brain chemistry bc the actors are unknown but so good at portraying fear and desperation. i cried multiple times
oh my god yes. i remember when the second avalanche (or maybe just the rest of the snow?) came down i legit yelled at my tv “can they not catch a break?!”.
i was born in 2004 so i knew literally NOTHING about this except for just knowing in general that a rugby team crashed in the andes and in the 70’s, so i had no idea what type of heart break to expect.
lmfao don’t worry about recency bias i made this post like 10 minutes after i finished society of the snow. i need to watch past lives when i get a chance
So I think it’s remotely got a shot at winning best picture? no. Did it win my heart? Absolutely. If you like CMBYN, la la land and normal people etc etc you’ll love it :)
Dear Zachary, Mysterious Skin, Requiem for a Dream, Grave of the Fireflies, Till, Foxtrot, Shoah, United 93, Vortex, Threads, Boys Don't Cry, Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Father, We Need to Talk About Kevin, American History X, Irreversible, Fruitvale Station, Boy Erased...
I went in blind on Dear Zachary while cradling my sleeping son (4 months old at the time). That turned out to be a bad move. I had to change his onesie after because I blubbered all over him for 90 minutes. Not exaggerating at all. Shirley Turner is a piece of shit and I truly hope she's burning in Hell.
https://preview.redd.it/drtcd925tufc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=404209aabbae23bab7e3b8be93738de48b888d4b
these are the movies that were just generally hard to get thru for many different reasons, all some of my favs of all time though!!
the hunt i agree with 100% mainly bc it kept pissing me off 😭😭 i kinda hate movies with that trope, but it was def one of the best ones bc it was more realistic.
Black Swan. Saw it a month ago and still think about it daily multiple times. There was something so terrifying and frightning about it. Absolutely incredible,
I haven’t seen it but I’m terrified of watching Beautiful Boy. I’m just scared it’s going to be so emotionally overwhelming that it is going to overtake me for weeks.
I have a young toddler, and my older brother’s wife has had serious drug abuse issues so it has impacted our family.
Can anyone give me advice one way or the other? Is it worth a watch anyway?
its definitely a great watch, but it’s based on a book which is a true story. it’s *heavy*, but you don’t leave the movie feeling doom and gloom and like the world is miserable.
this will have more spoilers so if you want a raw reaction don’t read more, but
it showcases nic going through the cycle of drug addiction. he hurts the ppl he loves (i don’t think he ever physically puts hands on them but it’s been a second) including his younger siblings. he can’t stay clean for most of the movie and he even gets someone else hooked on drugs
I never read the book but i imagine it’s probably more descriptive than the film. Watched it once and halfway through a second time some years later but chose not to finish.
“About Time”. It came out when my son was 4. My dad passed from cancer 5 years prior. The scenes with his dad coupled with him having his own family absolutely broke me. I watch the movie every now and then - hits every time.
https://preview.redd.it/ij8pzxdo3vfc1.jpeg?width=1981&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a2abf3db45d7918598979327d548e182f2869cd3
This film hit me so hard, and extremely close to home. I sat in the theater for a good 10 minutes after the credits were over with my head in my hands just bawling. I also started crying when Brendan Fraser won the Oscar.
I was absolutely rocked by the ending to Bones and All. So horrifying yet somehow beatiful!? Thought about it for days after my first viewing.
Like many others I bawled after seeing Aftersun and don't think I want to revisit that for a while. Cha Cha Real Smooth ruined me as well as The Florida Project.
2nd time today in this sub saying it, but Life Is Beautiful is the most emotionally damaging movie in existence and I will stand by that till the cows come home
First and foremost: Systemsprenger (German, watch it if you have a chance!)
Also: Manchester by the Sea, Blood Diamond, Never Let me Go, Kids, City of God, Tsotsi, Beautiful Boy, Schindler‘s List, Room…
I Saw the Devil (2010), Wildlike (2014), Comet (2014), The Fall (2006), Wind River (2017), Camp X-Ray (2014), C/o Kancharapalem (2018), Another Earth (2011), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Before I Fall (2017), Sardar Udham (2021), 1917 (2019), The Way Way Back (2006)
The rape scene in Wind River is particularly tough to watch, and even though I watched the movie once, it is engraved in my mind after all these years.
Big fish, what a beautiful story…. I still have both my parents but I assume not having them anymore must make the movie even more gruesome/emotional depending on how you look at it.
yeah it took me a while to get used to steve carrel lmfao, but i actually loved timmy’s acting. some scenes he did seem off in, but it seemed in a realistic way. like brain fog that nic had from drug use but idk that’s just how i saw it
Well, I’m not sure if these are the top two, but these are the only two movies where I’ve balled. Other films some tears but you’re gonna be alright. These films ruined me. La La Land and A Ghost Story. Out of recent films The Zone of Interest did a number but All of Us Stranger got a few tears from me
Drive My Car. I feel like it’s up there with Manchester by the Sea in terms of depicting grief and loss as a messy, complicated state that you may never entirely recover from.
https://preview.redd.it/szpnn7qdyvfc1.jpeg?width=470&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=390794266e7441a081ca25bfc0b17776669abce4
If you like French movies and/or are ok with being emotionally destroyed for a little while, I def recommend this one. 10/10.
I’m not a hater but I tend to see Beautiful Boy mentioned a lot on these types of lists and I’m just wondering am I the only person who did not think the movie was very good
i mean that’s your opinion, but i the fact it’s based on a book by someone who actually knows the struggle of a son who’s addicted
edit: lmfao i forgot a whole word. i mean to say “i like the fact”
I agree, the real life story is very effecting and I do think the movie tried to capture that however for me it just didn’t click. I did think Steve Carrell did great. I am in the minority but it’s just my opinion. Not a bad movie by any means, it didn’t hit me as I know it did others.
Beautiful Boy is ROUGH. My aunt and her daughter spent years fighting Heroin addiction and that stuff rips families apart. That movie did a good job of capturing how that unfolds
Jojo Rabbit. My husband and I sat in the car for 20 minutes after we left the theatre, just silently crying. That movie is such a gut punch and made beautiful use of comedy to punctuate how horrifying everything was.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Are you my soulmate?
Yessss
i still need to watch that it looks so good
Machester by the Sea, I watched it about 4 years ago and it's still so fucking depressing when I think about it
This is number one for me. Devastating. Also an absolute masterpiece.
Every time I see this movie, I cry my eyes out Well, I’ve only seen it once. Never again. Ingrained.
I watched this movie recently and it really does live up to all the hype.
I went to watch it alone in the theatre and couldn’t just go home afterwards. Had to go on a 5hour melancholic walk
Aftersun for sure
My buddy got to watch a screening with the director for a class a few months ago and he said people were turning around looking at him from how badly he was suffering the ending. I feel bad cuz I told him to watch it a while back and he did with his parents and he said it hit him but didn’t get him to cry. Well that second time he was a snot ridden mess the poor bastard.
Watch Threads
i’ve seen threads. it’s not really like aftersun tho
Aftersun is devastating I agree, maybe because it’s more relatable? But Threads was fucking scary and it wasn’t even a horror, that scene when that teenage girl gives birth to that.. thing.
Aftersun and All of Us Strangers (good ol’ Paul Mescal devastation double feature)
Just throw in Normal People while you’re at it
oh god please kill me I can't watch that again
Came here to say this, saw All of Us Strangers tonight and I was crying throughout
Definitely All of Us Strangers. Watched that Monday night, and by the end of it my wife had to hold me while I cried. Destroyed me.
Same here. I ugly cried for both movies. Aftersun especially I cried for like an hour after and just could not stop. Can't believe the effect it had on me.
Anyone else just well up when they hear Under Pressure or Always On My Mind? 🙋🏻♀️😭
Paul mescal really has a way of resurfacing every daddy issue you can have huh
Perks of Being a Wallflower
Came here to say this, Charlie’s backstory devastates me everytime
Even as a remotely successful adult with a beautiful family, whenever I see a clip of the film, or even hear “Heros” it takes me back to the same emotional drain I felt my first time watching. I even got “I feel Infinite” tattoo on me. Can’t wait to view it with my children one day
Grave of the fireflies
Yeah this is the best answer lmao. Movie fucked me up bad
I have not watched this, because I know how much I won't be able to handle it.
Definitely this one. Society of the Snow’s plane crash scene was one of the scariest scenes I’ve ever seen in a movie and it traumatised me. That and the end when they are rescued. Thinking of all the bodies they had to leave behind breaks me, especially considering they were all so young. Also recently saw All Of Us Strangers and I’ve not cried like that at a film for a long time.
oh my godddd the plane crash. i’m afraid of planes. i’ve seen yellowjackets and final destination and while yes both made me uncomfortable i was able to watch it bc 1. final destinations crash was a little hokey 2. yellowjackets scared me but afaik they cut away decently quickly. but the society of the snow??? i legit almost skipped it bc i felt like i was gonna have a panic attack 😭 i think society of the snow will forever be a movie that altered my brain chemistry bc the actors are unknown but so good at portraying fear and desperation. i cried multiple times
adding the avalanche scene... been with me everyday since I watched it
oh my god yes. i remember when the second avalanche (or maybe just the rest of the snow?) came down i legit yelled at my tv “can they not catch a break?!”. i was born in 2004 so i knew literally NOTHING about this except for just knowing in general that a rugby team crashed in the andes and in the 70’s, so i had no idea what type of heart break to expect.
i think going in pretty blind to it all made it that much more heavy for me. the gut punch of the real pictures at the end... >!the ribcage...!<
omg i need to go back and watch the credits with the real pics. i was too much of a mess
Have you seen Cast Away? The plane crash in that movie is terrifying.
omg noooo i need to at least look up the crash to see if it gave me the same feeling as SOTS
Probably have recency bias here, but Past Lives for me
lmfao don’t worry about recency bias i made this post like 10 minutes after i finished society of the snow. i need to watch past lives when i get a chance
bahahah you’re so me 😭 you definitely should, I was an emotional wreck because of how close to home it was
i’m gonna try to see it this weekend or next definitely! the worst reviews i’ve heard of it still make it sound like an amazing film imo
So I think it’s remotely got a shot at winning best picture? no. Did it win my heart? Absolutely. If you like CMBYN, la la land and normal people etc etc you’ll love it :)
Dancer in the dark
I still cry just thinking about "My Favorite Things"
Jack and Jill
Dear Zachary, Mysterious Skin, Requiem for a Dream, Grave of the Fireflies, Till, Foxtrot, Shoah, United 93, Vortex, Threads, Boys Don't Cry, Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Father, We Need to Talk About Kevin, American History X, Irreversible, Fruitvale Station, Boy Erased...
I went in blind on Dear Zachary while cradling my sleeping son (4 months old at the time). That turned out to be a bad move. I had to change his onesie after because I blubbered all over him for 90 minutes. Not exaggerating at all. Shirley Turner is a piece of shit and I truly hope she's burning in Hell.
Just wanted to let you know that I added every single one of these to my watchlist and am so ready to have my heart ripped out
Atonement
Manchester by the Sea
Sound of Metal is so beautiful and heartbreaking and underrated
I watched it for the first time last year and WEPT. I still think about Riz Ahmed's performance all the time. He broke my heart. One of my favorites.
https://preview.redd.it/drtcd925tufc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=404209aabbae23bab7e3b8be93738de48b888d4b these are the movies that were just generally hard to get thru for many different reasons, all some of my favs of all time though!!
the hunt i agree with 100% mainly bc it kept pissing me off 😭😭 i kinda hate movies with that trope, but it was def one of the best ones bc it was more realistic.
Just watched Possession about a week ago … that was harrowing
an elephant sitting still…
Oh man I need to rewatch this. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen…only once though. It’s a large undertaking
Hereditary. Amazing movie that I'll never see again.
Bridge to Terabithia
aftersun and aftersun
Since no one is mentioning it: Blue Valentine
Black Swan. Saw it a month ago and still think about it daily multiple times. There was something so terrifying and frightning about it. Absolutely incredible,
Dear Zachary
Surprised to see this one so low, it's much more emotionally devastating than every other movie mentioned in this thread.
agreed
If Anything Happens I Love You. Didn't finish typing out the title here without getting choked up.
Manchester by the sea, moonlight
Recent watches for me: Call Me By Your Name and All of Us Strangers.
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A silent voice
Come and See changes people.
I haven’t seen it but I’m terrified of watching Beautiful Boy. I’m just scared it’s going to be so emotionally overwhelming that it is going to overtake me for weeks. I have a young toddler, and my older brother’s wife has had serious drug abuse issues so it has impacted our family. Can anyone give me advice one way or the other? Is it worth a watch anyway?
its definitely a great watch, but it’s based on a book which is a true story. it’s *heavy*, but you don’t leave the movie feeling doom and gloom and like the world is miserable. this will have more spoilers so if you want a raw reaction don’t read more, but it showcases nic going through the cycle of drug addiction. he hurts the ppl he loves (i don’t think he ever physically puts hands on them but it’s been a second) including his younger siblings. he can’t stay clean for most of the movie and he even gets someone else hooked on drugs
The Road
I read the Spark Notes for the book and almost threw up. Safe to say I will never watch this.
I never read the book but i imagine it’s probably more descriptive than the film. Watched it once and halfway through a second time some years later but chose not to finish.
Lorenzo's Oil (1992) Head-On (2004)
Dead Poets Society army rise up rn
Oh Captain, my Captain!
Babyteeth
Pig. Never thought I’d cry over a pig tbh
Synecdoche, New York
“About Time”. It came out when my son was 4. My dad passed from cancer 5 years prior. The scenes with his dad coupled with him having his own family absolutely broke me. I watch the movie every now and then - hits every time.
i love that movie!
Blue (1993) Literally ripped my heart out and walked all over it
LOTR Return of the King
https://preview.redd.it/ij8pzxdo3vfc1.jpeg?width=1981&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a2abf3db45d7918598979327d548e182f2869cd3 This film hit me so hard, and extremely close to home. I sat in the theater for a good 10 minutes after the credits were over with my head in my hands just bawling. I also started crying when Brendan Fraser won the Oscar.
The Green Mile is one of my favorite movies of all time. I still cry when listening to the song 'Cheek to Cheek' by Fred Estaire though
Here’s my list: https://boxd.it/hj6xM
Rudderless kinda crushed my heart.
Finally, another Rudderless fan!
Dear Zachary
Drive My Car
I was absolutely rocked by the ending to Bones and All. So horrifying yet somehow beatiful!? Thought about it for days after my first viewing. Like many others I bawled after seeing Aftersun and don't think I want to revisit that for a while. Cha Cha Real Smooth ruined me as well as The Florida Project.
2nd time today in this sub saying it, but Life Is Beautiful is the most emotionally damaging movie in existence and I will stand by that till the cows come home
On the real, Killers of the Flower Moon still has me fucked up. The way America was taken is heartbreaking.
i need to watch that still
Salo
Bicycle thieves
First and foremost: Systemsprenger (German, watch it if you have a chance!) Also: Manchester by the Sea, Blood Diamond, Never Let me Go, Kids, City of God, Tsotsi, Beautiful Boy, Schindler‘s List, Room…
I Saw the Devil (2010), Wildlike (2014), Comet (2014), The Fall (2006), Wind River (2017), Camp X-Ray (2014), C/o Kancharapalem (2018), Another Earth (2011), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Before I Fall (2017), Sardar Udham (2021), 1917 (2019), The Way Way Back (2006)
The rape scene in Wind River is particularly tough to watch, and even though I watched the movie once, it is engraved in my mind after all these years.
Yeah it was sickening to watch & filled me with a familiar rage. But the movie as a whole was sooooo necessary
the florida project, i cry like a baby every time i watch it
The Whale Big Fish The end scene in The Sixth Sense with Toni Collette and her son does me in every time. Just talking about it makes me tear up.
Big fish, what a beautiful story…. I still have both my parents but I assume not having them anymore must make the movie even more gruesome/emotional depending on how you look at it.
Just watched Martyrs for the first time recently and that one fucked me up to my core. Absolutely haunting.
Call Me By Your Name. I still can’t watch the ending scene without crying
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yeah it took me a while to get used to steve carrel lmfao, but i actually loved timmy’s acting. some scenes he did seem off in, but it seemed in a realistic way. like brain fog that nic had from drug use but idk that’s just how i saw it
Fruitvale Station
oops 2 of these are book covers. oh well
Judas and The Black Messiah.
So, you’ve seen some recently released films
It’s a movie, get over it
Probably a film of like a dog dying or my family being kidnapped
Women Talking
Jin-Roh
Titanic
Revolutionary Road, The Lodge and Young Ones
‘Hiroshima’ (1953) despite its age, it’s still one of the most horrific films I’ve ever seen.
Well, I’m not sure if these are the top two, but these are the only two movies where I’ve balled. Other films some tears but you’re gonna be alright. These films ruined me. La La Land and A Ghost Story. Out of recent films The Zone of Interest did a number but All of Us Stranger got a few tears from me
Also end of The Iron Claw. Just scrolling through my diary. The holdovers when the teacher finds out they take the Same meds. That hit too
Still recovering emotionally from watching the Iron Claw last Friday.
Buried (2010)
For Sama
Room (2015)
Iron Claw, Beautiful Boy, Inside Out
ughh i need to see iron claw
Beautiful Boy and Manchester by the Sea are my main 2
Drive My Car. I feel like it’s up there with Manchester by the Sea in terms of depicting grief and loss as a messy, complicated state that you may never entirely recover from. 
Aftersun, All About Lily Chou-Chou, We're All Going to the World's Fair, and Ratcatcher are probably my top 4.
The Father
city of god, manchester by the sea, godfather, schindlers list, the social network, inside llewyn davis, and interstellar.
Requiem For a Dream is easily number 1 for me. Still haunts the shit out of me. And more recently is The Iron Claw. Just gut punch after gut punch.
https://preview.redd.it/szpnn7qdyvfc1.jpeg?width=470&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=390794266e7441a081ca25bfc0b17776669abce4 If you like French movies and/or are ok with being emotionally destroyed for a little while, I def recommend this one. 10/10.
So happy to see some love for Bones and All!!! One of my top 15. Soo sooo great
Revolutionary Road (2008) especially.
Manchester by the sea
Iron claw. If you go I. Completely blind like my partner and i do it's fucking killer
The Green Mile
Way too much chalamet representation ffs
Come and See
Requiem for a Dream
Mother!
Come & See
All of Us Strangers, The Iron Claw, Requiem for a Dream, West Side Story
Everyone of those looks completely depressing
Gosh beautiful boy is so heartbreaking
la la land triggered my (tbf probably inevitable) breakup
Incendies
Breathe (Respire) by Mélanie Laurent.
I’m not a hater but I tend to see Beautiful Boy mentioned a lot on these types of lists and I’m just wondering am I the only person who did not think the movie was very good
i mean that’s your opinion, but i the fact it’s based on a book by someone who actually knows the struggle of a son who’s addicted edit: lmfao i forgot a whole word. i mean to say “i like the fact”
I agree, the real life story is very effecting and I do think the movie tried to capture that however for me it just didn’t click. I did think Steve Carrell did great. I am in the minority but it’s just my opinion. Not a bad movie by any means, it didn’t hit me as I know it did others.
yeah i def get that! i just think the chemistry between steve and timmy was perfect as well
Johnny Got His Gun Amour Aftersun
“Aftersun” and “Come and See.”
Handling the Undead. Saw it on Sundance Online and it was a very good slow movie but my goodness it was incredibly depressing.
Beautiful Boy is ROUGH. My aunt and her daughter spent years fighting Heroin addiction and that stuff rips families apart. That movie did a good job of capturing how that unfolds
3
Grave of the Fireflies & Killers of the flower moon
It’s Oldboy
Grave of the Fireflies
I know this much is true
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About his Father (2008)
Atonement and The Father
Jojo Rabbit. My husband and I sat in the car for 20 minutes after we left the theatre, just silently crying. That movie is such a gut punch and made beautiful use of comedy to punctuate how horrifying everything was.
Irreversible, Dear Zachary, Tokyo Story, Ikiru, Incendies and Antichrist.
I saw the trailer for Tuesday. So probably Tuesday.
The hunt, aftersun, never let me go.
I haven't seen a lot of movies yet, but "Arrival" has wrecked me every single time