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Most Depressing Film?
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happeningthang



Joined: 26 Apr 2003

PostPosted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 7:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sure, people make bad choices, but in these sorts of films I don't think it's realistic, when under extreme duress (ie starvation), characters wont suck it up and ask for help. Fireflies would have been so much better if Seita went back and the aunt was gone, or the whole population was starving - then it's depressing and pathetic.

But, I suppose that if your characters always made sensible choices then it'd be a bit harder to create drama.

That's why people in horror movies have an aversion to light switches, and people getting chased always want to run upstairs where they can't get away easily.

But that's the difference between a good film, and a cliche. Creating drama from a forced premise doesn't make an affective film.
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Tiberious aka Sparkles



Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: I'm one cool cat!

PostPosted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 7:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

happeningthang wrote:
Sure, people make bad choices, but in these sorts of films I don't think it's realistic, when under extreme duress (ie starvation), characters wont suck it up and ask for help. Fireflies would have been so much better if Seita went back and the aunt was gone, or the whole population was starving - then it's depressing and pathetic.


The film was based on a true story, although the real Seita (Nosaka) lived.

_*_
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SuperFly



Joined: 09 Jul 2003
Location: In the doghouse

PostPosted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 8:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

cosmicgirlie wrote:
SuperFly wrote:
If you want a really good cry, this is the film to watch:

Nobody Knows; Dare mo shiranai (2004)

About a single mother in Japan that abandons her kids and how they struggle to survive.



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408664/

Trailer
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408664/trailers-screenplay-E24331-14-2


I own that film, it is depressing. All these films mentioned are depressing.

I think the most depressing movie I've seen besides the ones mentioned is The Sweet Hereafter. Everyone's lives sucked in that movie. One secret after another.



His eyes told the story...it was so freakin sad. I'm a sucker for those kinds of movies.
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captain planet



Joined: 18 Jul 2006

PostPosted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 8:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

titanic. i can't believe it sank.

i don't get attached to movie characters much anymore, and i like movies with unhappy endings.
books, on the other hand, are much more real to me. most of the good ones are pretty bittersweet.
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happeningthang



Joined: 26 Apr 2003

PostPosted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 10:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tiberious aka Sparkles wrote:
happeningthang wrote:
Sure, people make bad choices, but in these sorts of films I don't think it's realistic, when under extreme duress (ie starvation), characters wont suck it up and ask for help. Fireflies would have been so much better if Seita went back and the aunt was gone, or the whole population was starving - then it's depressing and pathetic.


The film was based on a true story, although the real Seita (Nosaka) lived.

_*_


Looking into it, seems the author's sister died of malnutrition in 1945, and he blamed himself for her death. The book was written as a personal apology to his sister and to make amends for her death. That's depressing.
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mindmetoo



Joined: 02 Feb 2004

PostPosted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That would be a cross between Born American and Goin' Down the Road.
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rocklee



Joined: 04 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 6:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tiberious aka Sparkles wrote:


But isn't that what's most depressing of all? In the case of Seita (Grave of the Fireflies), he could have, for his sister's sake, swallowed his pride and returned to his aunt's.

But that's realistic. People more often than not make poor decisions, either through pride, vanity, malice, etc., and I find it far more depressing to watch a film in which inherrently flawed characters, particularly adolescents, doom themselves and those closest them than films in which the main characters die or are harmed in pursuit of truth, justice, et al, for at least then there is some level of glory ascribed.

_*_


Or he can choose not to be so stubborn.
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pastis



Joined: 20 Jun 2006

PostPosted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 7:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Kurosawa film "Ikiru" is very sad. The French film "Germinal" (from the book by Zola) about exploited coal miners is rather depressing too.
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Hope



Joined: 22 Nov 2003

PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 3:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I totallly agree Dancer in the Dark is just incredibly depressing....although it's a great flick.

Another close contender is definately Jude. I'm not sure if anyone else has ever seen it.

And no matter how many times I've seen it; the hospital scene in Terms of Endearment makes me bawl.
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jacktar



Joined: 04 Jun 2003
Location: �� �� ��

PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 3:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Trees Lounge. Pretty depressing. Buscemi is just pathetic.
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Mowie



Joined: 28 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 1:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mike Leigh's "Naked"

Sophie's Choice
The Killing Fields
In the Name of the Father
21 Grams, Mystic River (Sean Penn)
My Life As a Dog
Elephant Man
The Bad Lieutenant
The Deerhunter
Kramer vs Kramer
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skinhead



Joined: 11 Jun 2004

PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 1:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Neil Jordan's a bit of a wet blanket. Anyone here seen The Butcher Boy? Bloody great flick, but jaaaayzuz!
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happeningthang



Joined: 26 Apr 2003

PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 1:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

skinhead wrote:
Neil Jordan's a bit of a wet blanket. Anyone here seen The Butcher Boy? Bloody great flick, but jaaaayzuz!


A great flick, no complaints. Watching the insane makes for some great movies - where would Lynch and Cronenberg be without it?
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skinhead



Joined: 11 Jun 2004

PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 1:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very agree. Watching Lynch just... well it makes the pointy metallic instruments one has laying about the room seem so attractive to the eyeballs. Like last night, the Mrs (she's a film student) was watching that Laura Palmer thing, Fire Walk With Me or something, and this insane chick screaming for 15 odd minutes just sent me deep into the headphones for some aural salve - Led Zeppelin as it turns out. Now without those headphones, I may have burned down the house incinerating all occupants. Suffice it to say that Lynch is well named.
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hairy sue



Joined: 18 May 2006
Location: weewee heaven

PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 2:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I first saw Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
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