IT MADE ME CRY

Started by Reel, April 13, 2016, 07:18:31 PM

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Reel

Crying as a little tot is primal and annoying, but when you come into your own it gains it's own meaning because you're not supposed to do it. Or else "You're a baby!" ( as a kid ) or "You're a pussy!" ( growing up ) and  "What are you, INSANE?!?!?" ( as a grown adult ). So, it's important to have art in our lives that facilitate tears. There aren't many times in life when we're allowed to cry, except funerals. Movies will often throw you for a loop and you'll find yourself short of breath and you feel your eyes start to moisten as you just let it fall because the second your hand touches your face everyone in the room will know that YOU CRACKED!

These are my top cryers, in chronology:


1: The Lion King

I was 5. A few different families from my neighborhood were at this screening. It was a HUGE event. You get like 20 minutes in, and the kid's Dad dies. How was I supposed to know how to handle this?!?! When you see Moustapha fall off of that cliff with Simba screaming and the score pounding, it crystallizes this feeling of loss that anyone can understand. I remember it being the first moment that art actually brought on this visceral emotion of sadness to me, and I felt embarrassed about it until my older brother was making fun of his friend after for doing the same thing.


2: American History X

I was 12. This movie had a weird impact on me, because I'd actually seen the whole prison sequence and rape scene earlier on TV, out of context. So, to revisit it and get in touch with Edward Furlong's character, who I'd always so admired as young John Connor, meant a lot to me. It's also one of those times in my life where I remember watching a movie and thinking "are they allowed to be this racist?" The inflammatory things coming out of Ed Norton's mouth, but with such conviction, almost caused a young mind to question his own political stance on these matters. Then, you get to that final scene, and everything seems hunky dory. Watching the movie now, I hate it for the most part, but as a kid I would've never seen that guy with the gun coming. It just threw me for a loop, I started balling. I don't know if it was as much for how I identified with Edward's character over how Ed Norton portrayed that feeling of "Shocking grief" at the discovery. It was weird after it ended, actually. Because my one black friend at the time called me on the phone, and I was literally wiping tears from my face like "I just watched this fucked up movie about racism." And then he goes into telling me about all the crazy shit that's been happening on his block since he moved away.


3. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

I was 24. I had read the book in high school solely based on girl's recommendations saying "You're just like that guy" and immediately refuted the notion. "I'm not violent, I wasn't molested, I don't like 'The Smiths'" I thought. Seeing it in the theater was an entirely different experience. I sat in the front row of a packed house on opening night. A bunch a teen and twenty something couples and me, alone. I tell you, I think I might've cried from the very beginning to the end of that thing, face just dripping like an ice cream cone. It makes me pang for having that experience of being welcomed in by the 'cool kids' and them shuttling you through the entire trip of high school. At the same time, everybody is dealing with these deep issues in their own way and look at Logan as some type of vessel to spew everything at. Boy, can I relate.

ono

Amelie.

I was blubbering five minutes in.  That whole opening montage is movie magic.

Inside Out.

Because reasons.  Damn you Pixar.

25th Hour.

That speech at the end.  I have only seen the movie once, so long ago, and it stuck with me.

Lottery

Nothing has made me cry yet. Some have come close. One day.

Quote from: ono on April 13, 2016, 11:12:07 PM
Amelie.

I was blubbering five minutes in.  That whole opening montage is movie magic.

If anything would make me cry from that film, it would be this one.

SPOILERS


Few scenes have made me feel more lonely. It's beautiful but goddamn, goddamn, dammit.

Drenk

This scene in Blue Is The Warmest Color. It's a few minutes after the break-up.

It begins at 39 seconds there:


https://youtu.be/pvVyR4_baho?t=39

Ascension.

Sleepless

Quote from: ono on April 13, 2016, 11:12:07 PM
25th Hour.

That speech at the end.  I have only seen the movie once, so long ago, and it stuck with me.

That's always the one that comes to mind for me too. I remember thinking how incredible it was that this guy had just fucked up his life, everything, so completely and yet he was still surrounded by people who loved him regardless.

Also, The Family Stone. It's a bit of a guilty pleasure, but I always find the ending to provide a cathartic release that's often quite welcome around Christmas.
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

Fuzzy Dunlop

Selma - 5 mins in, and pretty much every 5 mins throughout til the end

Into The Wild - From Chris' second encounter with Catherine Keener pretty much through til the end

Six Feet Under finale - Forget about it, that thing is next level

Parks & Rec - Odd one, but damn it if it didn't get me a few times throughout. I just love how decent they all ultimately are and how hard Leslie tries in order to serve her community. This show made me believe in America.

Mad Max - That big final jackknife truck explosion. Perfection.

Jeremy Blackman

Fun activity: do a search for "cried" with your username.

I don't think I've ever cried over something sad in a movie. What does it for me is emotional resolution (near the climax of a movie) or big emotional moments of genuine moral heroism or catharsis or epiphany.

The movie that's extracted the largest volume of tears from me recently is The Force Awakens. (Don't laugh.) It had nothing to do with nostalgia; in fact it was Rey that brought it out. Daisy Ridley's performance is soulful to the core. Each of her character's turning points basically kicked me in the stomach with emotion. Not sure many other actors could have had that effect.

In the emotional resolution at the end category: Fury Road (the platform rising, so powerful the first time). Across the Universe (tried and failed to hold it back even on the third viewing). Titanic in 1997 in the theater (slow motion dream/afterlife sequence walking down the stairs). Braveheart (when you see Murron in the crowd, holy christ).

With TV, pretty much just the Lost finale — highly manipulative but brutally effective emotional resolutions throughout.