1. Breaking the waves
2. Requiem for a Dream
3. 21 Grams
Wednesday, 12 August 2015
Thursday Movie Picks: Devastating Crushing Endings
This weeks theme describes exactly how I feel about quite a few films. Movies with Devastating Crushing Endings that Makes You Want to Weep. Don't forget to check out what Wandering Through the Shelves picked, the blog that started Thursday Movie Picks.
I think there is a difference between depressing endings and depressing films and unsatisfying endings are a whole other problem. I don't believe in the 'Hollywood' edning and that it works all the time, but when a film has been dragging you through the mud the whole way through, a light at the end isn't too much to ask. So follows 3 threes I watched once (except 2, I watched that twice for some crazy reason) and never again. They seem to also follow a pattern, drugs, sexual abuse and death.
I remeber while writing an essay for Uni about Dogme 95 I sought this films out as it was part of the movement and meant to be highly acclaimed. What I saw was one of the most depressing films I had ever seen. A young Scottish woman, Bess, falls in love with and soon marries an oil rig worker, Jan. But while on the rig he is serverely injured resulting him being paralyzed. He asks her to take a lover. She ends up being shunned by her church, then raped and murdered by some sailors. It's just all round horrible. Sorry if that spoilt it for some people but its a sad film, you need to know going in.
I'm not sure how anyone could have read the book, let alone watch this film more than once. I watched it twice and I regret it. It is a well made film but the stories are just so bleak, not to mention the ending, seeing all the characters curling up, each having ruined their lives with herion and pills. One driven crazy by diet pills, one loosing an arm after being infected, one turned to prostitution and the other in prison being absued. This whole film is the best anti drugs campagine and would put anyone off drugs surely. I don't actually remember any happy moments in this film.
The second film in the 'Death Trilogy' and for it was the weakest as it was too down trodden. Three people with strong connections. Recovering drug addict released from prison then accidentally kills the husband and children of another recovering drug addict in a car accident. Dying man whose wife wants a child, recieves the heart of the dead husband only to have the organ reject him. There is a bit about revenge in there but ultimately there is real happy ending, these people are all scarred and will remain that way. The title of the film is interesting though, apparently when we die, we loose 21 grams and it's meant to be our soul leaving our bodies.
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I've only seen Requiem for a Dream and it's a doozy. I've been saying for years that they should play this in schools as an anti-drug PSA.
ReplyDeleteRequiem for A dream and 21 Grams were excellent! I just felt sympathize to their ending though :)
ReplyDeleteHeard nothing but praises for 21 Grams and Requiem for a Dream. I should check these films quickly.
ReplyDeleteInteresting picks but too me they were all TOO sad if you know what I mean. But I think it comes down to interpretation of this weeks theme, a movie with a devastating ending doesn't usually make me want to weep, although I'm not a crier so I rarely do that. A movie that I think of as a weepie is more along the lines of one that is sorrowful but connects on a more emotional level that doesn't leave you with a feeling of despair afterwards something like Imitation of Life say.
ReplyDeleteThat said these are films with good to great acting that evoked despair in me and that I'd never watch again. I thought Emily Watson in particular was brilliant in Waves even though I loathed the film and thought her character was a pathetic fool. Ellen Burstyn in Requiem was equally great but lordy was I depressed when it was over.
All very good picks! I had forgot to consider any of them. I will never forget how heart-wrenching Breaking the Waves was.
ReplyDeleteIt would work. It would surely put them off any kind of drug too. It's hard hitting throughout too with actually no resolution, they're all stuck where they are, no where to go.
ReplyDelete21 Grams I did, but Requiem for a Dream was just difficult to watch throughout.
ReplyDeleteUsually I would say, yes seek them out, but they are pretty darn depressing. So encouragment with caution.
ReplyDeleteI can never watch it again. Its everything after her tragic end too. Can't be buried next to the church where she loved to go and Jan seems better? Its just despairing.
ReplyDeleteI agree, a 'weepie' isn't the same as feeling your heart weighing you down from the crushing sadness. Breaking the Waves is one of those films that stayed with me and I can't shake that crushing feeling when I think about the film. It's the same with any disturbing story or character, you can't get it out of your head despite only seeing the film once, its like a haunting.
ReplyDeleteYES about Requiem For A Dream. Truly the most depressing movie I've ever seen. I too have seen it twice, and never again. I mean, it is a really poignant film, and definitely a great anti-drug message, but wow. It is hard to be happy for a bit after watching it.
ReplyDeleteOh I've heard of Breaking the Waves being very depressing somewhere before...gonna have to check them out. Requiem for a Dream I've watched like half. It wasn't the depressingness that made me not continue, I think it was the manic/druggy effect of the scenes.
ReplyDeleteAll of these are great picks! I wanted 21 Grams to hit me harder than it did. The shifty narrative trick just didn't totally work for me. I cried like crazy at Breaking the Waves. It's the only von Trier I've been able to handle at this point. Requiem for a Dream is purely devastating.
ReplyDeleteYou feel that sinking feeling and need to just take a breather after seeing it. I felt that way after Happiness too.
ReplyDeleteI can see what you mean, the drug effect is off putting. You can probably guess the end from just reading about it. It is a good well made film but the subject isn't something you can enjoy. Oh man Breaking the Waves, if you're heard this, you know what to expect and maybe it won't be such a punch in the gut when you watch it.
ReplyDeleteThanks :) I've had The Boss of It All in my to watch pile for years and that's meant to be a comedy of sorts, but yes, his other work is very, well, melancholic.
ReplyDelete