Movies to watch alone
This is inspired by a recent delphicdays post. I wanna know what your top 5 most depressing movies are. Here are the movies that I cannot stop myself from watching even if I know I will end up sobbing uncontrollably:
1. And the Band Played On. (Matthew Modine, playing a personal hero of mine, Dr. Don Francis: "How many people have to die before it'll be cost effective for you people to do something about it? A hundred? A thousand? Give us a number so we won't annoy you until the amount of money you start losing on LAWSUITS makes it more PROFITABLE for you to save people than to kill them!")
Longtime Companion almost made this list. And, although I despise it, Philadelphia. In college, I wrote a thesis paper on AIDS representation in film.
2. Malcolm X. (I can almost get myself to change the channel at the end, when he gets up to speak on the stage... but then I realize I'd miss the "I'm Malcolm X" part which really tears me up.)
3. Terms of Endearment. (Be with me on this one. When Shirley MacLaine is begging the hospital staff for her daughter's pain medication?? "It's past ten. My daughter is in pain. I don't understand why she has to have this pain. All she has to do is hold out until ten, and IT'S PAST TEN! My daughter is in pain, can't you understand that! GIVE MY DAUGHTER THE SHOT!" Oy vey!)
4. Amelie.(I understand that most people view this as a happy, uplifting film. And yet, sometimes the amount of beauty is the world is just too much for me to handle.)
5. Stella Dallas. (1937 Barbara Stanwyck version. Here's a bit from the plot summary: "Working-class Stella Martin marries high-end Stephen Dallas and soon they have a daughter named Laurel... and Laurel becomes the focus of Stella's life and love. Nothing is too good for Laurel as far as Stella is concerned. Determined to give her all the advantages... After an embarrassing incident, Stella realizes that her daughter would go farther in life without Stella as her mother. Her subsequent sacrifice is shattering." OH GOD!!)
1. And the Band Played On. (Matthew Modine, playing a personal hero of mine, Dr. Don Francis: "How many people have to die before it'll be cost effective for you people to do something about it? A hundred? A thousand? Give us a number so we won't annoy you until the amount of money you start losing on LAWSUITS makes it more PROFITABLE for you to save people than to kill them!")
Longtime Companion almost made this list. And, although I despise it, Philadelphia. In college, I wrote a thesis paper on AIDS representation in film.
2. Malcolm X. (I can almost get myself to change the channel at the end, when he gets up to speak on the stage... but then I realize I'd miss the "I'm Malcolm X" part which really tears me up.)
3. Terms of Endearment. (Be with me on this one. When Shirley MacLaine is begging the hospital staff for her daughter's pain medication?? "It's past ten. My daughter is in pain. I don't understand why she has to have this pain. All she has to do is hold out until ten, and IT'S PAST TEN! My daughter is in pain, can't you understand that! GIVE MY DAUGHTER THE SHOT!" Oy vey!)
4. Amelie.(I understand that most people view this as a happy, uplifting film. And yet, sometimes the amount of beauty is the world is just too much for me to handle.)
5. Stella Dallas. (1937 Barbara Stanwyck version. Here's a bit from the plot summary: "Working-class Stella Martin marries high-end Stephen Dallas and soon they have a daughter named Laurel... and Laurel becomes the focus of Stella's life and love. Nothing is too good for Laurel as far as Stella is concerned. Determined to give her all the advantages... After an embarrassing incident, Stella realizes that her daughter would go farther in life without Stella as her mother. Her subsequent sacrifice is shattering." OH GOD!!)