MC Wednesday Inventory #2: Your Five Most Devastating Films

[dreamdead]

Here's week two of the inventory. We're halfway through Take Shelter and it's perhaps the most harrowing subjective film of the past few years. So... what are the top five films that, thematically/filmically/what-have-you, just absolutely devastate you?

[Watashi]

Why are you only halfway through it?

[Spinal]

1. Breaking the Waves/entire Lars von Trier oeuvre
2. The Sweet Hereafter
3. Ikiru
4. The Bicycle Thief
5. Boys Don't Cry

Also ... Tokyo Story, The Virgin Spring, Dead Man Walking, High School

[dreamdead]

Why are you only halfway through it?

End of semester grading/dealing with students' plagiarism issues. Really sucks the energy out of life. It's seldom that Sarah and I complete a film in one go anymore.

[Watashi]

1. Dancer in the Dark
2. It's Such a Beautiful Day
3. Secret & Lies
4. Cries and Whispers
5. The 400 Blows

[Raiders]

I'm going to avoid documentaries as they would probably make up the entire list (Shoah, Titicut Follies, Heart and Minds, etc...)

1. Come and See
2. The Life of Oharu
3. The Sweet Hereafter
4. In a Lonely Place
5. Werckmeister Harmonies

[elixir]

l'enfance nue
safe
mysterious skin
code unknown
make way for tomorrow

[Raiders]

safe
make way for tomorrow

We'll call these my #6 and 7, mmk?

[Gizmo]

Off the top of my head:

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Grave of the Fireflies
Amour
The Bicycle Thief
Mean Creek

[Skitch]

First one that popped in my head was Grave of the Fireflies.

Schindlers List
The Isle
Oldboy
Irreversible

...more...

Bloody Sunday, Legend of 1900, American History X...

[Ezee E]

Dear Zachary
Dancer in the Dark
The Virgin Spring
Kramer VS. Kramer
Two Lovers

[ledfloyd]

Hmm, I like a lot of the ones listed, but there really aren't any I would hesitate to put on again. I'll have to think on this.

[Pop Trash]

I'm going to avoid documentaries as they would probably make up the entire list (Shoah, Titicut Follies, Heart and Minds, etc...)


Agree. Don't think documentaries should count. There are probably dozens of docs that ruined my week.

[dreamdead]

1. Naked
2. Ordet
3. The Son
4. Come and See
5. Secret Sunshine

HM: Oslo, August 31st, Breaking the Waves, It's Such a Beautiful Day

Lee and the Dardennes seem like the best contemporary filmmakers at this tradition.

[Pop Trash]

1. Breaking the Waves
2. The Bicycle Thief
3. The Sweet Hereafter
4. Lilja 4-Ever
5. Requiem for a Dream

Something like that...

[B-side]

1. A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes, 1974)
2. Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier, 1996)
3. Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh, 1996)
4. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
5. Twentynine Palms (Bruno Dumont, 2003)

[Milky Joe]

Annie Hall
JFK
Paths of Glory
Rosemary's Baby
The Straight Story

First few that came to mind.

[Yxklyx]

Is Vertigo on too many lists already to make it here?

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Nights of Cabiria
Hiroshima mon amour
Swedish Love Story
A Woman Under the Influence
Coup de Grace

HMs: The Naked Island, The Virgin Spring, Lilya 4ever, Posession, Another Woman, Ivan's Childhood, Ballad of a Soldier, Import/Export, A Brighter Summer Day, The Mouth Agape, The Piano Teacher, The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover

[Yxklyx]

Specifically films in which a main character is devastated at the end.

1. Requiem for a Dream
2. Vertigo
3. Lilya 4-Ever
4. Scarlet Street
5. Being John Malkovich

[elixir]

Nights of Cabiria
Yeah, this is absolutely crushing. I used to think otherwise, too.

Though of some them mentioned, I really do find them the opposite of devastating (though I suppose there can be different ways of reading that word!). I also thought about just saying Pialat in general.

[Ezee E]

How could I forget De Sica? Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D should be in this list.

[Melville]

1. Requiem for a Dream
2. Mulholland Drive
3. In a Lonely Place
4. It's a Wonderful Life
5. Two Lovers

[wigwam]

I get it about Dancer in the Dark but the rest of LvT's movies all have happy endings, don't they?

I cry in most movies so I'm only talking about profound, lingering resonance with dark devastating feelings I always carry:

1. A Christmas Tale
2. Anti-Clock
3. Berlin Alexanderplatz
4. Woyzeck
5. Notre musique

The only devastating thing about Pialat is having to sit through his absence of artistry...

[elixir]

The only devastating thing about Pialat is having to sit through his absence of artistry...
*rimshot*

I would substitute in LvT there, though. The idea of people finding DitD genuinely devastating, lolz.

[wigwam]

How's it not? Especially compared to your #2 - which character ends up with what she deserves/wants/needs? I think that's also a happy ending. She's safe!

[Raiders]

How's it not? Especially compared to your #2 - which character ends up with what she deserves/wants/needs? I think that's also a happy ending. She's safe!

I assume this is sarcasm (regarding the Haynes film)? It's the opposite of happy, though I'm not sure "harrowing" and "devastating" are the same, so I am glad I neglected to include it because thinking about it now I find it more of a frightening horror film opposed to a devstating (emotional) film, which is more where I was taking this.

[elixir]

I just took the thread as something that left me gutted somehow. It's rare that I'm, like, actually devastated. I agree it's not "harrowing" but I kinda just ignored that word.

[elixir]

Gutted is different from devastating!

[Winston*]

Don't know how to rate devastating, but here's five films that really got to me and I still think about.

Fateless
Another Year
Nobody Knows
The Seventh Continent
Keane

[Winston*]

I get it about Dancer in the Dark but the rest of LvT's movies all have happy endings, don't they?


No?

[Winston*]

The idea of people finding DitD genuinely devastating, lolz.

What an obnoxious thing to post.

[Spinal]

I get it about Dancer in the Dark but the rest of LvT's movies all have happy endings, don't they?


He said, dropping the bait, and hoping that he would be asked to expound upon his iconoclastic viewpoint.

[wigwam]

No?

reconcile with sis
successfully defend your thesis
dad rescues you (twice?)
miraculous recovery+prove existence of God

I forget how Idiots ended but it was happy too

like with Safe, maybe it's not the audience's conventional ideal, but for the characters they all achieve a satisfying fulfillment and/or concluding acquittal to their frustrations


He said, dropping the bait, and hoping that he would be asked to expound upon his iconoclastic viewpoint.

I guess, but I don't think I'm alone in this opinion or iconoclastic, hasn't LvT said the same thing about his work?

[Russ]

reconcile with sis
successfully defend your thesis
dad rescues you (twice?)
miraculous recovery+prove existence of God

I forget how Idiots ended but it was happy too

like with Safe, maybe it's not the audience's conventional ideal, but for the characters they all achieve a satisfying fulfillment and/or concluding acquittal to their frustrations



I guess, but I don't think I'm alone in this opinion or iconoclastic, hasn't LvT said the same thing about his work?



Forgive me if I come off as simplistic, but can't "devasting" also relate to the character's journey, and not necessarily their destination? I still don't know how you get happy endings out of LvT's films, but, there you go.

[wigwam]

yeah, great point Russ - my 5 definitely don't have to do with any ending but more the overall tone and emotional arcs, and I can see that in most of the other titles people have chosen

I was just honing in on DitD's ending being devastating as opposed to its musical sequences or sacrifice/friendship aspects versus all of the BtW mentions on other lists, since that's a very invigorating and inspirational film to me (it was my all-time favorite until last year) and has never devastated me

[MarcusBrody]

In no order:

Hunger
The Bicycle Thief
Breaking the Waves
Viridiana
Jock of the Bushveld (while I saw this as a child, it's still the last movie that made me absolutely bawl)

HM: City of God

[Raiders]

like with Safe, maybe it's not the audience's conventional ideal, but for the characters they all achieve a satisfying fulfillment and/or concluding acquittal to their frustrations

As Russ said, the journey can be the "devastating part" but regardless of that, there is no way this description matches Haynes' film. The ending is anything but "satisfying" for us or the character. She's more lost and disturbed than ever.

[wigwam]

that's your judgement on her (and mine, and her family's) but it's not hers, she's in a place where what was causing her pain before is no longer causing her pain, she wasn't happy or safe before and now she is

[Russ]

she's in a place where what was causing her pain before is no longer causing her pain, she wasn't happy or safe before and now she is

Um, been awhile since I've seen it, but isn't 'safe' the place that she was desperately seeking, while it was revealed that no such place really existed?

[Derek]

Um, been awhile since I've seen it, but isn't 'safe' the place that she was desperately seeking, while it was revealed that no such place really existed?

That's my memory. The ending still left her in a state of heightened paranoia attempting to convince herself she was safe. Either way, since we're the ones watching the film, not the character, it's a pretty moot point. An ending can certainly be tragic or devastating even if the character doesn't see it that way.

[Watashi]

Not all form of "devastating" needs to be sad, grim, etc.

[wigwam]

agreed we can read the ending and be affected differently than the characters, but I was arguing Safe as another happy ending movie on elixir's list when he was scoffing at others' being affected by Dancer in the Dark (a non-happy ending movie) in terms of endings being the "devastating" part (as is - mostly - the case w/ DitD).

I don't see paranoia at the end (nor paranoia anywhere before the movie - are you not taking her illness at face value?) nor any indication that she isn't safe. She's in an ideal Eden which she was attempting to create earlier in the film while still part of society.

If her reaction can't be trusted for the audience's take-away then the opposite "devastated" reading is simply that of her family or her friends back in society. It's such a hopeful movie that if your life isn't how you want then you don't have to accept it just because others idealize it, you can make your own reality. I ee that finale as awkward due to her saying something to herself she's never truly said to anyone else or heard herself or said to herself but her look is proud and serene and beautiful. Nothing devastating there! (http://youtu.be/59cHP4jkr-Y?t=1h54m42s)

[Russ]

wigwam, I'm not going to respond directly to your post except to say that, even with such polarizing (yet well-reasoned) opinions, a consensus to the greatness of [safe] seems to have been reached.

Bravo. Because it is a terrific film.

[Irish]

Not all form of "devastating" needs to be sad, grim, etc.

Huh? How so? That's pretty much the definition of the word!

[Watashi]

Huh? How so? That's pretty much the definition of the word!

I view it as something that overwhelms you with a punch of emotion that leaves you stunned. It doesn't necessarily have to be a death or grief. I find moments of It's Such a Beautiful Day devastating mostly because of how profound and beautiful it is.

[Pop Trash]

I love Safe but I also don't find it particularly 'devastating.' The ending is pretty ambiguous.

[Skitch]

HM: City of God

YES.

[Dukefrukem]

Requiem for a Dream
Martyrs
A Serbian Film
Ken Park
Kids

[Raiders]

The ending is pretty ambiguous.

(some spoilers, though we may be beyond worrying about that...)

Not really. I don't want to keep harping on this, but hell, look at the clip wigwam linked to (though he apparently reads it differently). She looks as sickly as she has all film (look at the malnourished bruises on her face), she's in a dark, isolated room monotoning an incantation to convince herself she is "safe" and "better" when every context clue in the film tells us differently. The sanitized, "feel good" environment of the clinic has only isolated her and made her even more dependent upon their unproven philosophies and removed her entirely from any norm of society. The film is most obviously a satirical horror film, and that ending is grotesque and disturbing in the complete annihilation of Moore's character.

"Devastating" is a good word for what happens to her character, though like I said, I was going more for "emotionally devastating" in how it left me personally, and while I was horrified by Haynes' film, it doesn't quite fit that bill after all.

[Pop Trash]

"Devastating" is a good word for what happens to her character, though like I said, I was going more for "emotionally devastating" in how it left me personally, and while I was horrified by Haynes' film, it doesn't quite fit that bill after all.

True. I sorta forgot how it ended. Its been about a decade since I last watched it. Everyone's definition of 'devastating' is going to be different but I remember it being very Kubrickian so a bit too clinical maybe to be extremely devastating. I mostly listed movies that ruined my day or week.

Incidentally, Safe might be my #1 "why isn't there a Criterion edition of this?" movie.

[MarcusBrody]

YES.

The ending of the Rocket plotline kept it from being completely and totally devastating for me, but the way it suggested that the violence wasn't necessarily a product of the individuals but rather a function of the system and so will continue in a perpetual cycle makes it just flooring.

It really should be on the main list, but I wanted to acknowledge "Jock" and I had listed it last. ha

[baby doll]

The Brave Little Toaster.

[Kurosawa Fan]

The Celebration
Paths of Glory
Touching the Void
Requiem for a Dream
The Vanishing (1988)

[chrisnu]

Mulholland Dr.
Brazil
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Mikey and Nicky
In Cold Blood

[Mysterious Dude]

1. Testament (1983)
2. The Elephant Man (1980)
3. The Bicycle Thief (1948)
4. Children of Men (2006)
5. Broken Blossoms (1919)