Movies With Almost Defiant Unhappy Endings(Spoilers)
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Re: Movies With Almost Defiant Unhappy Endings(Spoilers)
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Re: Movies With Almost Defiant Unhappy Endings(Spoilers)
The Beguiled (1971)
Funny Games (2007)
Funny Games (2007)
Last edited by JohnnyMovie; 10-19-10 at 12:05 AM. Reason: add Funny Games.
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Re: Movies With Almost Defiant Unhappy Endings(Spoilers)
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Re: Movies With Almost Defiant Unhappy Endings(Spoilers)
I don't have a problem with unhappy endings if they serve a purpose or fit within the overall tone of the movie. I do dislike when a horrible ending comes out of nowhere though and ruins a happy ending that I thought the characters deserved.
Grave Of The Fireflies needed to have a depressing ending. But, even in the sadness, the brother and sister were reunited, so it was sort of happy. But that movie was all about a realistic portrayal of the effects of war; a happy ending would have been out of place.
Same goes for Requiem For A Dream. A dreadfully bleak and depressing movie and the ending didn't have any sort of redemption for the characters. But that movie was about addiction, and addiction isn't pretty. Showing the characters have a happy ending would have been totally misplaced.
American History X, on the other hand, really bothered me at the end. Derek wasn't that bad a kid at the start, but his dad pushed him to be racist, etc. We saw the worst of him, but we also saw him pay for what he had done and change his life for the better. He also helped steer his brother Danny back on track. However, that ending totally ruined any redemption for the characters and Derek will forever be punished. I mean, it sort of does show the implications of one's actions, but that ending...
Million Dollar Baby was a pretty terrible ending as well. I would've preferred the cliched happy ending.
Memento has a pretty unhappy and depressing ending as well, but I liked the way it ended.
One that I watched recently which comes to mind is Bad Lieutenant. I mean, Harvey Keitel was a scumbag and I didn't really care if he died, but him letting those rapists go was just terrible.
I read that book in high school and couldn't stand the main character/person. I found him selfish, stupid, and annoying. I was glad he died in the end. I haven't seen the movie, but I don't imagine that would change my view of him.
Grave Of The Fireflies needed to have a depressing ending. But, even in the sadness, the brother and sister were reunited, so it was sort of happy. But that movie was all about a realistic portrayal of the effects of war; a happy ending would have been out of place.
Same goes for Requiem For A Dream. A dreadfully bleak and depressing movie and the ending didn't have any sort of redemption for the characters. But that movie was about addiction, and addiction isn't pretty. Showing the characters have a happy ending would have been totally misplaced.
American History X, on the other hand, really bothered me at the end. Derek wasn't that bad a kid at the start, but his dad pushed him to be racist, etc. We saw the worst of him, but we also saw him pay for what he had done and change his life for the better. He also helped steer his brother Danny back on track. However, that ending totally ruined any redemption for the characters and Derek will forever be punished. I mean, it sort of does show the implications of one's actions, but that ending...
Million Dollar Baby was a pretty terrible ending as well. I would've preferred the cliched happy ending.
Memento has a pretty unhappy and depressing ending as well, but I liked the way it ended.
One that I watched recently which comes to mind is Bad Lieutenant. I mean, Harvey Keitel was a scumbag and I didn't really care if he died, but him letting those rapists go was just terrible.
What about "Into The Wild", I know it's an adaptation of a book based on a real story (so no shocking ending here) and there's a huge controversy about what was really in the main character's mind when he decided to make his trip to Alaska, but still there's no denying that ending leaves you with a immesurable sense of sadness.
I know I was blatanly starring at the screen for a good 15 minutes after the movie was over.
I know I was blatanly starring at the screen for a good 15 minutes after the movie was over.
Last edited by kstublen; 10-19-10 at 12:07 PM.
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Re: Movies With Almost Defiant Unhappy Endings(Spoilers)
Ditto on MILLION DOLLAR BABY. That ending was unnecessary.
UNTAMED WOMEN (1952) was one of those low-budget lost-island-with-dinosaurs movies. It had these WWII flyers land there during combat and find a tribe of hot women fending off advances from hair-covered cavemen and attacks from dinosaurs from other movies. This one has that memorable line, "Shoot anything with hair that moves!" The story is told as a flashback by the sole surviving pilot who's in a hospital bed telling this all to a doctor who doesn't believe his story. So in order to bring the end of the movie back to the "present," they have to show every major character get killed off until only the hero is left and winds up rescued at sea, alone, and ends up in the hospital. At the end, he pulls out a rare flower or something that the female lead had given him and it proves his story. So they kill off all these people that we actually like just so they can have that contrived "Twilight Zone"-style ending. (A good 8 or so years before "Twilight Zone," which did indeed have an episode with a similar ending.)
UNTAMED WOMEN (1952) was one of those low-budget lost-island-with-dinosaurs movies. It had these WWII flyers land there during combat and find a tribe of hot women fending off advances from hair-covered cavemen and attacks from dinosaurs from other movies. This one has that memorable line, "Shoot anything with hair that moves!" The story is told as a flashback by the sole surviving pilot who's in a hospital bed telling this all to a doctor who doesn't believe his story. So in order to bring the end of the movie back to the "present," they have to show every major character get killed off until only the hero is left and winds up rescued at sea, alone, and ends up in the hospital. At the end, he pulls out a rare flower or something that the female lead had given him and it proves his story. So they kill off all these people that we actually like just so they can have that contrived "Twilight Zone"-style ending. (A good 8 or so years before "Twilight Zone," which did indeed have an episode with a similar ending.)
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