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Any suggestions for soul-crushing, extremely depressing movies?


Share some potent stuff.

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Funny Games (1997 original or American remake): a laugh riot

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"The Vanishing" (1988)
"The X Files"'s "Jose Chung's From Outer Space"
"The Twilight Zone"'s "The Midnight Sun"
"The Swimmer"
"The Hustler"
"The Others" (2001)
"Buried" (2010)

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Finally someone else who enjoyed the Austrian AND US remake of this tale!
Cant tell you how many times ive been yelled at for liking both:)
Pleased to meet 'ya...

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Likewise!

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Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines. Two great movies by Derek Cianfrance



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ooohh... Yeah, Blue Valentine... Good choice

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Yes, I think Cianfrance is an underrated genius


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'The Place...' was amazing...watched it twice and its pretty perfect (and yes, pretty sad as well!)
Nice choice

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Thank you. Place is perhaps my favorite movie that has come out in the past 10 years. Even though I feel it doesn't usually get the credit it deserves

Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Dane De Haan, and Emory Cohen are all perfect in it

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Wonderful cast, amazing performances, absorbing story...its pretty weird how certain great ones get overlooked...

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Forgot this one...
'Leap Year'
Another poster reminded me of it on a different thread
Small budget-one set-quiet little film about a sad lady trying to 'find the one...'
Kind of raunchy and NOT in a good way
Really pretty depressing and certainly not for everybody ( im not certain i should have watched it:/)

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The Road. Was really depressing for me.

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Another poster mentioned this earlier but thx AS117
Very depressing to me too
Read the novel twice (the prose is simply brilliant) and saw the movie many times
As sad and sick as the whole affair became by the end i gotta say...it gave me hope and a certain inspiration...
I liked very much how they JUST kept walking until the end...they simply never quit
I think its one of my top favorite stories and it is inspiring to me

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"Happiness" and "Being John Malkovich"

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Happiness-never saw it (was that the cartoon one?)
Malkovich-really enjoyed it...but not 'soul crushing' as the OP requested...

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The ending of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" from '78 is about as soul-crushing as you can get.

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good one - one of my favs

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Mysterious Skin - it’s so dark and evil that many feel screwed up for the rest of the day.

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Yes, that's a very difficult film to watch. Gregg Araki and his cast and crew handled the subject matter with sensitivity, though.

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I was surprised that it got made.

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I haven't read or heard anything about how they managed to get the film made, but in Australia there were two organizations that lobbied to have it reclassified, which would've effectively banned it in Australia. They weren't successful, though, according to Wikipedia; the Classification Review Board voted in favor of maintaining the original rating.

Yeah, it's rare for a film like this to be made and distributed, and I'm glad it's part of our cinema. If a film is going to tackle something as disturbing and real as child sexual abuse, it should be done seriously, with substance and a lot of care, and I think Araki succeeded there.

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just watched it and it is hard to handle - disturbing and depressing.

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I vote for the previously-mentioned "Dancer in the Dark." And just about any other film from director Lars von Trier, including "Breaking the Waves."

Some dark, depressing movies with unhappy endings, though they have some lighter moments here and there:

The Fly (original and remake)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
The Exorcist
Million Dollar Baby
Rosemary's Baby
Planet of the Apes (original)
The Incredible Shrinking Man
The Magnificent Ambersons
14 Hours
Citizen Kane
The Godfather Part III
Caged
Carmen (any version of this tale)
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
Lolita
The Heiress
Closer
Eyes Wide Shut
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Blue Jasmine

Dark, depressing movies that brighten a bit at the end:

After Words
Dolores Claiborne
Flight
Secrets and Lies
Match Point

Sigh. . .I'm too deflated to go on.
;o)

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Yes, I think Lars von Trier is the man for this. "Melancholia" takes the cake for me. I don't know how it gets worse than that.

I don't find bleak or sad movies to be necessarily soul-crushing or depressing, and a lot of my favorite movies are a little dark or downbeat to put it lightly ("Stroszek," "Ran," "Five Easy Pieces," "Aguirre, the Wrath of God..."), but I feel that von Trier has taken it to the level of nihilism and wide-ranging misanthropy, which for me IS soul-crushing and depressing. After watching "Melancholia," I had to append the experience with the great Jeff Bridges line,

https://youtu.be/pWdd6_ZxX8c

"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man."

:)

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your home movies? ;)

(sorry, just been playing Cards Against Humanity)

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I always appreciate good humor, this would have worked if we were in the early 90s.

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The Girl Next Door 2007.

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