jfoobar

Really? I would rank AB as one of the most inspirational films I have ever seen...seriously.

Now, I certainly agree with The Pledge. That's a downer ending if I ever saw one.

jfoobar

Not for me. But then, I'd much rather have a lifetime of hot steamy monkey sex with Lari White than with the anorexic Celine Dion doppelganger than Helen Hunt has turned herself into in the past few years.

baracine

Mike Leigh's Naked, for sure. Also Mike Leigh' Topsy-Turvy, except for the final redeeming aria, reminiscent of a Massenet art song.

But could we rephrase the question to include the most effective tearjerkers? This is too depressing!

BTW, I'm glad nobody mentioned Vagabond, which I bought on DVD a year ago and didn't have the courage to watch yet because I fear it might be too depressing.

inri222

Salo
Mulholland Drive
The Night Porter
Spider
Fireworks
Last Exit to Brooklyn
Midnight Cowboy
Combat Shock
The War Zone

Miyazaki

Dancer in the Dark

Groucho

I don't find movies depressing where the characters have made bad decisions that got them in the situation that they are in. Especially when those situations could be reversed at any time if the character made an easy choice: Dancer in the Dark and Ghost of the Fireflies being too examples.

Jray

I was going to enter this thread to put my vote in for Grave of the Fireflies. It's been awhile since I watched it but what could you possibly say these characters did that would be considered a bad decision? They were children that were left almost to their own resources. They certainly didn't choose for the war to happen around them. I know at one point they left the aunt's but I don't recall the specifics, except that she was a complete b***h.

In any event, this movie is definitely the most depressing I've ever seen... and if they made bad decisions it was because they weren't equipped to make better ones.

chente

21 Grams
Requiem For a Dream

Jalizarin

adding also: The Green Mile

PixyJunket

Hullo

AHHHHH! Anyone heard of Ingmar Bergman? Happen to see his Trilogy? Far more depressing than Alien or 12 monkeys, etc.

Groucho

Ingmar Bergman had a "trilogy"?

As for Grave of the Fireflies:

Hullo

Yes he did. Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light and The Silence. They were his 'chamber' pieces.

planetaire

The first word I ever used to describe Welcome to the Dollhouse was depressing.

smirnoffski

I would also have to say Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter.

That film has such an excellent atmosphere, it grabs you and makes you one of the characters.
It starts jovially but things continue into a depressing spiral.

Quapil

Which one do you mean? I only read the book a few years ago and I really felt like shit when I finished it.

Figured there are 2 movies, a old one (1959) with Gregory Peck and a newer TV production (2000). Would like to see a good adaption of the book to feel like shit once again

Besides that,
American Beauty
Live of David Gale (damn, how frustrated do you have to be to pull off what they did?)
Dead Man Walking

UKingdom

Interesting how the same films come up again and again.

I'll agree with some of the choices:

21 Grams (although it ends on a mixed note, not entirely depressing)

Requiem for a Dream

Dancer in the Dark

Cusm

I agree with many here 25th Hour, American History X, Requiem for a Dream.
My wife thinks that Forrest Gump is the most depressing she has seen.

Derrich

Requiem For A Dream.
If you ever feel the need to just feel bad for a couple of days, watch this movie. I bought it because I remembered how good the performances were. After I watched it I remembered why I avoided buying it for so long.

Grave of the Fireflies.
Simply devestating.


I don't think of Schindler's List as depressing. It's a downer, but I was left with a warm feeling at the end, seeing all the families he saved.

D

rabbit77

Breaking the Waves was really depressing until the last shot of the film which was emotionally exhilirating. I still get chills thinking about it.

Dancer in the Dark, however, ends on such a downer I just wanted to kill myself at the end.

rabbit77

The first Three Seals were a trilogy, but then he went on to make the 4th through 7th Seal. So I guess it's a septology.

iggystar

I immediately thought of Awakenings.

I remember going in to the theater hoping for an inspirational, uplifting movie and leaving feeling depressed.

gmal2003

Muholland DR. (can barely watch it)
Requiem (Cant watch it)
Donie Darko
Antwone Fischer

raven56706

The most depressing movie by far.....


Battlefield Earth.


Depressing because i spent $9 on that dumb movie. I was depressed for a week.

Moefuscious

I'd have to say Boys Don't Cry. I'v seen a lot of other movies that are considered far more depressing but something about this film gets me every single time.