1. never let me go
this movie is the origin of my great admiration for both carey mulligan and andrew garfield. (see andrew garfield in this and then the social network and then...wow. that guy has range.) this is going to sound so vague and weird, but i love movies with scream scenes. like guttural, animal cries/screams. not because i'm a sick sadist. no, because i like how true it is.
how to keep from sinking into an endless depression: remind yourself you don't live in the world the characters live in. also, when you love someone JUST TELL THEM GODDAMMIT.
2. the reader
no words. just tears. but i mean, kate winslet + ralph fiennes? and that brilliant young german man. YEAH THIS ONE.
how to keep from sinking into an endless depression: remind yourself that you are not in post-ww2 germany. or jail. and tell the truth.
3. requiem for a dream
after watching this movie for the first time, my friend and i just...laid there. in the dark, in silence. it's just. so. sad. THE WORLD IS NOT A GOOD PLACE. everything is horrible.
[but it's so, so good.]
how to keep from sinking into an endless depression: remind yourself that you DO NOT USE HEROIN.
4. blue valentine
the scary thing about blue valentine is when it reminds you of a relationship in your life.
how to keep from sinking into an endless depression: remind yourself that it's just a few days. it's just a few days in michelle williams'/ryan gosling's on-screen relationship.
just...a...few...days. notforever, notforever, notforever.
5. dancer in the dark
bjork, bjork, bjork. wanna watch bjork play a hopeful central european woman who thinks america will be happy like a musical? IT'S NOT, BJORK. IT SUCKS.
how to keep from sinking into an endless depression: you can't.
sad guilty girl movies:
-the painted veil (naomi watts! edward norton!)
-tristan and isolde (james franco!)
-moulin rouge (i mean COME ON.)
-remember me (don't laugh. this movie made me cry.)
other considerations:
-what's eating gilbert grape (but if i talk about it i'll die.)
-donnie darko (but it's not so sad. it's more terrifyingly intelligent.)
-der blaue engel
-rabbit hole (but it's way too happy, i just like it.)
-the departed (but i love it so much.)
Requiem for a Dream is scary. Forget horror movies, that shit is *scary*. I felt uncomfortable being a person living in this world after watching it, and I was in Vermont (one of if not the nicest state I've been to) in the middle of nowhere.
ReplyDeleteI get what you mean about scream scenes, and I agree to an extent. I think the context and the scream's meaning is most important. It's very easy to show frustration by having the character scream, but it needs to be more significant than that. Never Let Me Go is a great example of this. They've known what their lives are for a long time now and yet they're very civilized and calm (on the surface) about it. Andrew Garfield's scream is the first time we see one of them let their feelings of anger, resentment, and unfairness take over. It's so powerful because of the contrast. Little Miss Sunshine is another great example of a movie with a powerful scream scene.
I was surprised by how good Blue Valentine was. I thought from the little I'd heard about it that it was a dumb chick flick. But it was one of those movies that tells a very specific story as well as a very general one, in that it holds a lot of truth in it that often applies to the lives of its viewers. I'm always very impressed by movies like that. They tend to be very introspective and honest, like Kramer vs. Kramer and Annie Hall.
As far as the other two movies go, they're going on my list.