the film topic

[Hades]

in the mean time, some of my tips :

I don't think I'm into the typical tearjerker films, as with most of the music I admire the most, I'm into sublte emotions

"Closer"
2 couples' lives connect/intertwine
they break up, get together with each other's partners, break up again,
It's Mike Nichols, and he's one of the very best directors I know,
and it's with 4 of the best actors of our current times, and a wonderful soundtrack.
1 of the main actors is Natalie Portman, rrrrrrrrrrrr...... always a reason for me to see a film !!!

"Remains Of The Day"
look it up, superb performances by Hopkins and Thompson. A classic, really. You've probably seen it ages ago...

"The Age Of Innocence"
superb film, superb book, excellent performances and great ending.
Whenever I have the opportunity to cheat on my mrs with some other lady, I think about this film...

"The Sweet Hereafter"
how does a smalltown cope with a horrible bus accident that killed a whole class of children ?
It's Atom Egoyan, and Egoyan is (almost) always in superb shape !

"After Life"
approx 20 people are in "the place after death" (in this case a small abandoned elementary school), and before the "after life" (they never even say what that is).
they have 1 single week to select 1 single memory (they will forget the rest), then they have to re-enact it, so that they are allowed to pass to the "after life".
a team of people helps them decide which memory they want to take.
sounds a bit cheesy, but is wonderfully made !
if you have any kind of soul, you will find this is one of the very best films you'll ever see in your whole life !
if not, I'll pay you dinner and beers.

"Yi Yi"
a whole family deals with normal life shit, sometimes small shit, sometimes big shit, while their grandma is in a coma and they are advised to talk to her to get her out of the coma.
Pretty long film, but totally worth it, from start to finish.
Again, one of the very best films I've ever seen from one of the very best directors I know (who died far too soon, but then again, this was absolutely the very best film you can end your career (and life) with)

"Exotica"
4 people : guy who has a shop with exotic animals, DJ in a stripbar, taxman, owner of the stripbar.
their lives come together, and there's a big clue at the end...
Atom Egoyan, again...
Beautiful film...

"Happiness"
yep, considered to be a comedy, but is such a superb film, and in it's heart/story a truely heartbreaking film.
At times one is allowed to laugh with the sad people in this world (it takes all kinds !!), and there is no one who does that better in his films than Todd Solondz
You'll never see any film quite like it !


Most of these films I have discussed earlier in this topic, so you'll have to excuse me if I don't want to waste another hour going into massive detail.
Look them up through subsekt search or read imdb reviews and you'll see why these are great films.

3 directors I'd advise you to look up : Atom Egoyan (see the 2 films I mentioned above), Hirokazu Kore-eda ("Maborozi", "Still life", ... !!!) (no one makes more subtle films about human emotions, absolutely fantastic director), and John Sayles (almost like an American version of Kore-eda, if that's even possible, humour combined with every day drama).

I could go on and on,
but the main thing with me and "sad" films is that they have to be subtle.
No obvious tearjerkers for me.

[Hades]

hmm, I partly agree.
but looking at the different opinion me and Steve have on what is horror and what is not,
I'm not so sure this is always a good thing.
I mean, Steve watches tons of films, and I watch tons of films,
and yet half the films he mentioned as horror tips I had seen and don't really consider to be horror at all.
So I don't know.

Before I go off with mytips, I still repeat my question : mention a few films you liked, I'll mention a few others.

I prefer to hear what you consider as sad actually, don't want to influence what your could bring!

well, I've given my "tips" by instinct in my previous post,
so you can happily give a few films you liked now, so I can go on from those films to think about what you might like !

[Dust Layer]

Yes thanks for that list!

As i said before million dollars baby was quite sad
forrest gump (some parts)
the green mile
full metal jacket (parts)
requiem for a dream (parts again)
fish tank

Not easy to tell actually!

And ah yes how could i forgot this one : LOVE (gaspar noé) !!!

[Lost to the Void]

Oh god, I forgot about exotica.
Atom egoyans best film.

The way it all weaves together is like the dancing in the strip club, this inward spiral that arrives at such a sad conclusion but touchd with beauty. I bought the soundtrack.

Beautiful looking film, really wonderful acting, and it introduced me to Mia Kirshna who is yum.

Every actor in this is at the top of their game.

Good call on this Hades, very very sad, few people know it, it's In my top 10 best.

[Hades]

Yes thanks for that list!

As i said before million dollars baby was quite sad
forrest gump (some parts)
the green mile
full metal jacket (parts)
requiem for a dream (parts again)
fish tank

Not easy to tell actually!

And ah yes how could i forgot this one : LOVE (gaspar noé) !!!

aha ! you, my dearest sir, have seen the new film by Gaspar Noé !!
My mrs informed me he had a new film (I'm at least 2 years behind with watching new films because I was so busy with every day life),
and that it had rather bad reviews.
please, by all means, tell me : was it any good ?
and what's it about, really ?

and besides that : do go and watch "Irréversible" and (even more so !!!) "Enter the void", superb films !!!

ok, back to your list...
Well, stuff like "the green mile" and "forrest gump", hmmm, entertainment, not bad, but yeah.

If you liked "Fish Tank", I sreiously think you should watch Andrea Arnold's debut "Red Road", which is far better than "Fish Tank".

I've been thinking about this one film with Molly Parker,
and I don't remember the name exactly, but after going through all her films on imdb, I'm pretty sure it's called "Suspicious River".
Read some of the reviews. It only has 17 reviews on imdb, I guess that says enough...
Most of them appreciated the film, the ones that didn't are obviously the people that only want happy happy joy joy films.
The fact that I still remember the film maybe 7 years after I've seen it (rough guess) means something...

Another one with Molly Parker I'd highly recommend is "Kissed".
I saw this one completely stoned in the cinema when I was at my 1st or 2nd year in univ.
It's about a woman who's into necrophelia. (and no you won't see any gory details)
Let's be honest, how many films do you know like that ???

And finally another Molly Parker film : "Marion Bridge", another one with only 16 imdb reviews...
My god, how people only want the same crap films time and time again...
Great little film, and definitely not uplifting.

The main problem I have is that I forget so many films I've seen.
I mean, I've looked around my DVD collection to see which films I considered sad films, and I discovered that I seldomly bought sad films,
probably because my general mood is already enough down as it is...

Oh yeah, Steve's gonna say "quite indeed sir" on this one : "Biutiful"
Didn't plan on seeing it originally (my list is already far too big as it is),
but got convinced by others here (Steve recommended it I remember) to see it, and absolutely loved it !
definitely not an uplifting film, but paints such a good picture of our current society.
Pay attention to the way Bardem holds the hands of his kids when he brings them to school, it's only a minor detail, but I think that is a true symbol of how he's trying everything he can to protect his kids from anything happening to them...

Maybe "la haine" (also earlier discussed in this topic) ?

And if you really want to see something truely depressing : "Shoah" by Claude Lanzmann (again, see earlier in this topic).
It's a documentary, and it's 9 hours long, but fuck me, I'm gonna force my kids to watch this one from start to finish when they get old enough.
It doesn't get any more heartbreaking than this...

Ow, and "Zusje" from Robert Jan Westdijk (yep, discussed before), truely heartbreaking at the end when you discover what "it" was all about...
One of the most original films I've ever seen. Really made me cry...

"La Meglio Gioventu" : almost 40 years of Italian history packed into a family's story, told in approx 6 hours of film.
I started watching this when I was on the come down of a massive high after a serious night out...
I thought I'd watch only 1 hour, and ended up watching it all way into the early morning (almost noon).
Not all of it is perfect, but it is definitely one of the best chronicles I've ever seen, and definitely contains some truely heartbreaking elements...

That's pretty much all I can think of for the moment...

[Hades]

Oh god, I forgot about exotica.
Atom egoyans best film.

The way it all weaves together is like the dancing in the strip club, this inward spiral that arrives at such a sad conclusion but touchd with beauty. I bought the soundtrack.

Beautiful looking film, really wonderful acting, and it introduced me to Mia Kirshna who is yum.

Every actor in this is at the top of their game.

Good call on this Hades, very very sad, few people know it, it's In my top 10 best.

I can never hear "Everybody Knows" without thinking about this film.

I've seen most of Egoyan's films, but yeah, Exotica...
I'm pretty sure I mentioned it really early in this topic since I consider it to be in my top 10 as well.

Did you ever see any Kore-eda film Steve ?
I seriously think you would love his films.
I think he barely made any bad films, but if you want to start with his films, try "After Life", "Maborosi" or "Still life", or hell, even "Like Father, Like Son".
I don't think anybody is better at showing the flaws in the ways humans deal with each other in our current society than Kore-eda.
I'd love to hear your opinion on his films. (or anyone else's if they happened to see any of his films)

[Dust Layer]

Yes i suggested some mainstream movies but i couldn't really find a sad one, it's not the most represented feeling on screen i guess.
Or it's because when i search something i can't find it

I'm mixed about the new noé, i'm a huge fan of his previous films and maybe i was waiting this one too much.
Anyway it has some great sequences, it's something very special from a visual point (the 3d is really interesting!!) the photography is amazingly beautiful...
Problems are about the story for me and the cut (could easily remove 25-30mn). Sometimes it just goes nowhere, repeating.
But there are really great moments (the scene with this track from john carpenter is so huge and visually perfect : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS7k3G_6IjE )

And yes it's a sad movie in a lot of ways for me, it's all about that best time of your life you wasted and will never have again.
With a lot of explicit sex sequences (which are beautiful too and depressing, not like a porn)
The idea of suicide is never very far.

It's worth a watch for sure, the visual experience justify it and if you are a gaspar noé fan you will find something to like.

Will check your suggestions, thanks!

[Lost to the Void]

I love Noe.

I really got Into The Void (obviously). I`ve done a lot of entheogens in my time, I meditate regularly (pretty hardcore Dzogchen based meditation) and have a good knowledge of the Bardo and the Tibetan Book of the Dead (have been a student of the occult for some 18 years now), so this film was essentially just mapping this all out, even with the colours and so on, it`s literally like a drive through tour of the Bardo.
A weird film to make for the "mass market" as most of the stuff he is talking about will literally just not be in the knowledge base of a vast amount of the viewers. But I thought it was utter genius.

Look forward to Love.

[Dust Layer]

Yes enter the void is a true masterpiece for me, his best movie.

[Hades]

Did you ever see any Kore-eda film Steve ?
I seriously think you would love his films.
...
I'd love to hear your opinion on his films. (or anyone else's if they happened to see any of his films)

I'm just quoting myself, hoping for an answer...

[Lost to the Void]

I`ve not checked his films yet. Apart from the fact I just have no time at the moment, I`m not in the emotional space for anything too heavy right now.

His stuff never appealed to me for some reason, I love films, but for me it is a visual medium first and foremost and the style should match the substance.
For some reason I always thought the cinematography would be quite plain and functional. Does it also have good visual artistry?

[Hades]

I`ve not checked his films yet. Apart from the fact I just have no time at the moment, I`m not in the emotional space for anything too heavy right now.

His stuff never appealed to me for some reason, I love films, but for me it is a visual medium first and foremost and the style should match the substance.
For some reason I always thought the cinematography would be quite plain and functional. Does it also have good visual artistry?

Ow but the style certainly matches the substance.
His films are about normal people dealing with emtions and/or situations that could happen to any of us.
It's the total anti-dote to Hollywood.

You know how the Japanese can be all about zen ?

please, Steve, you are heavily into meditation...
I admire the people that can do this.
I need tons of beer or other stuff to get me relaxed, day after day after day.
I'm a duracell-rabbit with solar panels installed on its back...
But give me a Hirokazu Kore-eda or Edward Yang film, and I am completely relaxed and just blown away by the sheer beauty.
Same goes for films like "Poetry" by Chang-dong Lee, for example.

Take him as a personal tip from me, and take the right film from him,
I'm 500% positive you will love him.

[Hades]

also, his films are not at all "heavy".
they are usually about serious topics, but he is so subtle at bringing the heavy topics in,
and he puts in so much subtle humour...

his films truely show how humble human beings can be,
and when the characters in his films do fail, you will feel nothing but sympathy for them, and you will totally understand where they come from...

he's a true master in portraying the human species, I swear !


You saw "Happiness" and liked it, didn't you ?
Well, Todd Solondz is a master at portraying losers and weirdo's, and yet bringing up painful subjects.
Hirokazu Kore-eda is a master at showing the soft side in all of us, whether this side is responsible for pain or suffering, or gives us remorse/joy/ or any other kind of typical human emotion...

[Lost to the Void]

Once I`m in a better place I`ll start making my way through his films..

right now I`m just watching easy stuff. Living life on a knife edge right now

[Hades]

right now I`m just watching easy stuff. Living life on a knife edge right now

tell me about it...

but let me assure you Hirokazu's films have nothing but a highly comforting effect on its viewers...

[Lost to the Void]

It`s an issue of focus, I just don`t have any at the moment, so I`m just catching up on some anime series, watching some really stupid movies, popcorn shit.

[Dust Layer]

You guys go to cinema or watch at home most of time?

[Lost to the Void]

Both. I was going to the cinema once a week until the start of the summer when life got really chaotic.

[Dust Layer]

Once a week is a lot! I should go more...

[Lost to the Void]

Depends how much you like film really, I`ve always been in to it.
I graduated from university with a degree in film and animation (and then promptly abandoned the film industry for a life of music) so it`s in my bones.