@vlad i agree the road was depressing.
i think the ‘invisible children’ was depressing
The Deer Hunter
I’m making my way through The Human Condition right now. It’s pretty depressing so far.
By far Eraserhead. And it wasn’t an I feel bad for the characters thing. The movie actually made me feel bad.
Life is Beautiful
Without a doubt – Synecdoche, New York!
SANSHO THE BAILIFF, hands down…..
The Japanese black and whites are by far the saddest ever. There is no redemption, only sadness, sadness, and more sadness.
I saw La Grande Bouffe last week. As expected it was hilarious and even had toilet humor but the inevitable ending left me feeling sad and cold. The characters are affluent men, nothing like me, and I should relish in their demise but I didn’t. Ferreri’s Bye, Bye Monkey was also amusing and then depressing but the characters are more up my alley.
My official Most Depressing Films Ever all have been featured on this forum: Sansho, Human Condition, & the most unflinchingly sad animated film not for children, Grave of the Fireflies. I made myself sick from crying after seeing it & had to take the next day off of work. I stayed in bed & watched it again.
As for Synecdoche, New York, it was my favorite DVD from last year. Caden’s struggle is heartbreaking but it’s contemplative for the audience. Multiple viewings & analyzing the film has got to be cheaper than a psychologist.
Slumdog Millionaire and Memoirs of a Geisha. I can’t stand it when a character gets beaten down over and over and over and over and over again. Both movies made me want to slit my wrists in the theatre. Even if it turns out okay in the end, having to sit through 1.5 hours or more of one human being having to experience such incredible cruelty in graphic detail is too much. The cinamatography in Geisha was stunning and I loved the characters in Slumdog. I actually think both movies were good but I don’t like the emotional price I paid to see them.
And yes, Superstirngtheory reminded me – Imitation of Life – Ouch!
Inland Empire and Eraserhead – The ‘vibe’ of those movies stays with you after they’re over and is hard to shake…a general feeling of hoplessness, futility and sadness. People have actually got mad at me for showing them Eraserhead – they said it messed up their heads for days. It’s why I have mixed feelings about Lynch. He’s so creative and compelling, but to what end? To feel stupid and depressed?
Lars von Trier is sad but I don’t find his films depressing. They’re moving and painful because they force you to empathise with people who are going through an absurdly exaggerated version of the human condition – but I don’t find that the same as ‘depressing’.
Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia
The Fire Within
I just watched Night and Fog during my lunch hour at work today. That is one seriously heavy film – hard to shake those images, though I’ve seen it before. The reality of mass manufactured, assembly line death that it contemplates leaves me stunned to consider how Europe actually got to that point.
Leaves me grasping a bit to figure out how I’m going to write about it on my blog…
“Dancer in the Dark”
Make Way for Tomorrow & The Grey Zone & Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. weeps
Make Way for Tomorrow has got to be the saddest film ever made. It didn’t bring tears to my eyes but it did take tiny piece of my soul.
@Snobby Tiny un-retractable pieces?
@ DAVE BLAKESLEE
Yep, NIGHT & FOG is heavy. Then you get some voices nowadays who claim it never happened? Wazzup widdat?
And this incident from the country who brought you Goethe and Bach and Beethoven?
We imagine it couldn’t happen in America. but that’s the way society always is: every now and then, they’ll notice certain problems in society….. then they look around for a convenient scapegoat to pin it on.
Just finished watching SYNECDOCHE, and that was pretty rough. DANCER IN THE DARK: agreed. And yeah, THE ROAD was unrelentingly grim.
Definitely not the most depressing that I’ve ever seen, but I recently watched Happiness and the title is what it’s completely lacking in, that’s for certain.
‘Wendy and Lucy’
Fucking Burn After Reading
Aoaijea, That movie really is depressing.
But I’d have to say A Serious Man is even more depressing.
The Road is candy coated laughter compared to the book. I really think Hillcoat dropped the ball on that one.
I agree full heartedly with Snobbyfilmguy, Make Way for Tomorrow was about as moving as a film can be without makiing me cry.
Grave of the Fireflies, Night and Fog, Requiem for a Dream, Bicycle Thieves, Come and See, Dogville
Drew, I definitely agree with you on A Serious Man. Not only is his life in ruins, but it seems like the God of the Universe is out to get him, too. Coming out of the theatre after that my friend and I just walked and were silent for about ten minutes before I was able sheepishly admit that “I don’t think I like movies anymore.”
Two others that monumentally depressing are Come and See and the Roy Andersson short Wold of Glory.
I think truly depressing films are those are both depressing in the events shown on screen and the ideas in which it suggests.
For this reason I completely understand why CJ put Dogville instead of let’s say Breaking the Waves. Both have depressing subject matter, but one has a message of hope and the other of despair.
This also goes back to why A Serious Man is so depressing. The main character’s life is miserable, but what is more depressing about it is the idea that we have no control over our fate, and some of us whether we do right or wrong are going to be continually screwed in our lives, and all of us are going to be occasionally screwed in our lives.
Paul Andrew
You can add me to the list for Grave of the Fireflies. I agree with what Raymond says further up. I’m not sure I can bring myself to watch it again.
I also found The Road to be considerably depressing.