Something that I run across a lot is the notion of heroism inspiring tears. When people are being really heroic, standing up to impossible odds, or dying to save another it really gets to me. A big example of this is the following, probably the most emotional scene I've ever come across.
The final duel between Luke and Vader in Return of the Jedi. Luke loses it completely, giving into his fear and anger about his loved ones being threatened. They he gets punked by the emperor, and you just watch someone who is almost the pinnacle of heroism (refusing to kill Vader) being destroyed by pure evil. Then the heroism of Vader, killing the emperor to save his son. Writing this is kinda choking me up, and I get misty-eyed when I hear the music from that scene.
That's kind of sad/happy/badass and it has the side effect of being really nerdy.
In a similar vein to this, one thing that always really strikes a chord with me is when someone in a story achieves something through sheer force of will and persistence, when the only advantage they can claim is when they refuse to give up. The idea of someone getting the shit beat out of them then struggling to their feet for more is just really powerful to me.
B.) What does crying have to do with it? Endings are only memorable if you cry?
No, that's not precisely what I meant.
I was more talking about how a powerful, happy moment can have the same kind of crippling, overpowering emotional effect that a traumatic, tragic one can have.
Give me a moment or a day to really try to think of a solid, good example.
Easy. Miyazaki's Spirited Away, when
Haku arrives at Zeniba's house. Also, when Chihiro remembers who Haku really is.
Moments full of such joy that they make me cry every time.
Pretty much the whole movie is a downer, but I love Broken Flowers. There's just something about his hopless search that really resonates with what a lot of people go through. It's the same with Lost in Translation. Bill Murray is one of the best actors at portraying a sad guy just toughing it out.
I think Saint2e is spot on. Sorrow is an emotion that a lot of people don't feel too often. To get that emotion out in a safe setting, where you can put the tragedy out of your mind afterwards, is an excellent way to experience feelings you otherwise wouldn't. The whole catharsis thing.
Seeing Bill Murray in Broken Flowers or Lost in Translation is a good kind of sadness, I think. The saddest movie ever, Grave of the Fireflies, is just plain old soul-crushingly sad. I'd much rather have a minor twinge of happiness in my entertainment.
And then there's Voices of a Distant Star, a rather artsy anime about mecha star combat...
But it's actually about an increasingly long-distance relationship, as communication takes longer and longer as one of the two people goes deeper into space to fight off the alien scum, and it's clear that they're never going to get back together, but every week, then month, then year they get to send a message...
Oh, wow. That's really good. In a sad kind of way, but it's good. Original. I don't think I've ever seen or heard of that particular factor ever really been explored. Nice.
I don't want to sound heartless, but movies like Bridge to Terabithia, Shawshank Redemption, The Last Castle, Forest Gump, Jurassic Park... Wait, Jurassic Park? Where was Jurassic Park a major tear-jerker?
In any case, those movies are all very good. But they never... They never affected me. I never spent days in some kind of terrible morose over the fate of the characters. Maybe that's why sad endings have that kind of power. It's a matter of regret/remorse and "they deserved better." A happy ending is satisfying, it's complete. A really good sad ending though is almost by its nature an incomplete story trapped into a complete state. He hasn't gotten the girl, but... that's 'cause she's dead.
He never saw his son, but.. Oh, he's blind.
He never found his daughter, but... oh, she never existed.
Matchstick Men comes to mind as a movie that had both kinds of endings, or could have. If you've seen the movie, you know. Take out that very last furniture store scene. Terrible, haunting ending. Right?
That's probably my favorite tear jerker. The part with his dad at the end, yes. And also the part where Graham walks off the field to save Costner's daughter but cannot return to the field afterwards, and it's made explicitly clear that he can never return again. Which to me was absolutely heartbreaking at first, but upon later reflection I came to the conclusion that the gift that Graham was given was never meant to be the field, but rather freedom from regret (ie: Graham confirmed that he had made the correct choices in life, and understood that if given the chance to do things over again he would have made essentially the same choice).
That's probably my favorite tear jerker. The part with his dad at the end, yes. And also the part where Graham walks off the field to save Costner's daughter but cannot return to the field afterwards, and it's made explicitly clear that he can never return again. Which to me was absolutely heartbreaking at first, but upon later reflection I came to the conclusion that the gift that Graham was given was never meant to be the field, but rather freedom from regret (ie: Graham confirmed that he had made the correct choices in life, and understood that if given the chance to do things over again he would have made essentially the same choice).
Reminds me of the How I Met Your Mother episode.
Barney: ~misty eyed~ Can we talk about something else guys?
Grave of the Fireflies and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance are two that stand out for me. I saw both for the first time within the past few years and I've vowed to never watch them again. They're both excellent movies, but I just can't.. ugh.
(Graham is played by Burt Lancaster by the way, the low-quality of the second video does not do justice to the emotional nuance of his performance here)
You know what ending really makes me sad, every time? Seven Samurai.
It's bad enough that Gorobei has to die, but when Kikuchiyo bites the bullet...I was so angry and sad. I don't know why, but Kikuchiyo immediately became my favorite character in the movie. It sucks that Kyzuo dies, too, even though he isn't a very deep character. And those final lines..."So. Again we are defeated. The farmers have won. Not us." It really drives home the distinction between samurai and everyone else, and how alone they feel after their job is done.
EDIT: And fuck Bridge to Teribithia. It was supposed to be a children's fantasy movie, not a drama!
"Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human."
Yes. Sulu's voice breaks when he stands everyone to attention, and Uhura and the gang are all misty-eyed in the background and then Scotty starts playing the bagpipes and ... please excuse me, I have something in my eye.
That's probably my favorite tear jerker. The part with his dad at the end, yes. And also the part where Graham walks off the field to save Costner's daughter but cannot return to the field afterwards, and it's made explicitly clear that he can never return again. Which to me was absolutely heartbreaking at first, but upon later reflection I came to the conclusion that the gift that Graham was given was never meant to be the field, but rather freedom from regret (ie: Graham confirmed that he had made the correct choices in life, and understood that if given the chance to do things over again he would have made essentially the same choice).
Yeah, that gets me too. Field of Dreams is like an insidious machine designed to wrench tears from the eyes of men everywhere. The only other one I can think of that's as effective probably won't be familiar to anyone outside the UK, but the end of The Railway Children usually lays waste to every family in the land when it's on.
Some of the characters in Valkyrie Profile have pretty terrible stories regarding their death. It's sort of a two-way street. These great and noble (mostly) people have to die tragic and heroic deaths in order to fight for you. You kind of want them to die so they can fight for something greatrer, but at the same time it really sucks for the people they know and love. I think one of the issues in the game is the pain of those who knew the einherjar in life, and that they too might as well be dead.
Off the top of my head: Llewelyn, Janus, Lorenta, and Yumei. I almost shed a tear for the last one.
When I was a little kid, I always pretended I was the hero,' Skip said.
'Fuck yeah, me too. What little kid ever pretended to be part of the lynch-mob?'
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KalTorakOne way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered Userregular
edited February 2009
The end of "Big Fish" kills me every goddamn time.
Also, I forget what it was for, but the commercial with the Japanese guy in the hospital and his wife having their son... god, it only lasts like 60 seconds but shit...
The end of "Big Fish" kills me every goddamn time.
Also, I forget what it was for, but the commercial with the Japanese guy in the hospital and his wife having their son... god, it only lasts like 60 seconds but shit...
i didn't think big fish had a sad ending at all. i thought it was kinda uplifting actually.
The end of "Big Fish" kills me every goddamn time.
Also, I forget what it was for, but the commercial with the Japanese guy in the hospital and his wife having their son... god, it only lasts like 60 seconds but shit...
i didn't think big fish had a sad ending at all. i thought it was kinda uplifting actually.
Yeah, it was a happy/sad crying ending.
Edit: And I know this isn't what Armored Gorilla was talking about, but the movie "The Visitor" - it's powerful all the way through, and I almost made it, but the final shot broke me.
Another vote for Bridge of Terabithia. That movie is worse when you know what is going to happen from reading the book. That rain scene is torture
Oh God, the rain scene
Also, I agree with Glal about the Iron Giant. Cut off the last thirty or so seconds and I can understand everyone crying, but that last scene just tore out any reason for anyone to cry... not to mention the
sacrifice of the giant
Rohan on
...and I thought of how all those people died, and what a good death that is. That nobody can blame you for it, because everyone else died along with you, and it is the fault of none, save those who did the killing.
1) End of "Saving Private Ryan". After the scene at the bridge then it cuts to Matt Damon and morphs him into an old man at the gravestone. I started shedding tears and stood up and saluted right with him. That got to me.
2) This took me by surprise. Watching Naruto during the chuunin arc at the end of Lee vs Gaara fight. Lee put his all into it, but has his leg and arm crushed by Gaara. After the fight it's revealed that he can't be a ninja ever again due his injuries, thus his dream is shattered.
While whole thing was going there was this damn guitar music they had playing in the background. It got to me. I was just muttering to myself, "damn you, guitar."
The final episode of Babylon 5 really gets to me. Mostly the conversation between Sheridan and Delenn about Sunday and then Ivonava's voice over at the very end. The final shot makes me weep uncontrollably.
The wife and I watch it whenever we have the welled up feeling and just need the release.
The final episode of Babylon 5 really gets to me. Mostly the conversation between Sheridan and Delenn about Sunday and then Ivanova's voice over at the very end.
I can't really summate this into a select number of scenes because everything that happens is important. The whole fucking movie is tragic.
Ryu is a deaf mute working a factory job trying to support his sister, who is in desperate need of a kidney transplant. Ryu is more than willing to donate one of his own, but his blood type doesn't match that of his sister. To complicate matters, Ryu gets laid off from his job by the factory boss, Dong-jin. Everything pretty much goes downhill from here. Ryu gets scammed out of 10,000,000 won and one of his own kidneys by a black market organ dealer, and a few weeks later, his doctor contacts him to tell him a suitable donor has been found but the operation will cost, you guessed it, 10,000,000 won. Together with his girlfriend, Yeong-mi, a radical leftist, Ryu kidnaps Yu-sun, Dong-jin's daughter, and holds her for ransom. As he's collecting the money, Ryu's sister (who has been looking after Yu-sun) discovers his scheme and unwilling to be involved or burden her brother anymore, kills herself. Ryu, together with Yu-sun, travels into the countryside to bury his sister by a riverbed. As he's mourning her death, Yu-sun slips into the river and, being unable to swim, drowns. The kicker is that Ryu couldn't hear her calling for help because he's deaf.
Hours later, after Yu-sun's body has been recovered and her kidnappers' identities discovered, Dong-jin heads to Yeong-mi's apartment (after finding Ryu's empty) to confront them. But Ryu isn't there; he's out exacting his revenge on the organ dealers who scammed him out of the money he could have used to help his sister. Instead, Dong-jin finds Yeong-mi, whom he interrogates. Yeong-mi apologizes for Yu-sun's death, admitting that her death was an accident, but warns him that she is also a member of a terrorist organization, who, upon her own death, will track him down and kill him. Dong-jin, unfazed by her apparent bluff, tortures her to death. Ryu returns to find the police removing Yeong-mi's body and begins pursuing Dong-jin. Eventually, the two meet up, in Ryu's apartment, after both had been staking out each other's home. Dong-jin manages to slip in and knock Ryu unconscious, and he takes him back to the riverbed where Yu-sun drowned. After binding Ryu's hands, an emotional Dong-jin acknowledges that Ryu is a good man but that he has no choice, and slashes Ryu's Achilles tendons, forcing him underwater. Later, as Dong-jin is burying Ryu's corpse, a group of men arrive, surround him, and stab him to death. They leave a note on his body identifying them as the terrorist organization Yeong-mi spoke of.
I don't think any movie has hit me as hard as the end of A Scanner Darkly. The subject matter of the movie is uncomfortably close and the dedication from Dick at the credits cinches it.
I think bittersweet or depressing entertainment can be enjoyed for the richness of the emotion itself, but there's also something to be said for it as an act of exorcism and confrontation of our own darker feelings.
Scanner Darkly hits me hard because they literally sacrifice this poor guy who won't even remember the good he may or may not even do. he didn't even have a choice, he was railroaded from the start. Not the most hopeless ending ever though, I felt like shit for two days after watching an indie film called The Great Wall (World?) of Sound. It's about a straight out and out scam involving a music recording contract. It's so brutally realistic honest and harsh...
Iron Giant.... I am superman... it had a room full of grown men crying when we watched it the first time. I still get teary.
A Walk to Remember - I watched this alone, in a foreign country, on christmas in a country that doesn't celebrate, for my first christmas alone... I thought it was a comedy! That was nice. No cry, just sadness.
An episode of Joan of Arcadia where her friend dies. My best friend had just died in real life. I watched it twice in the same week and balled like a baby both times. And it's not the death scene, it's the strangely realistic and impressive acting afterwards by the teen stars on the front lawn. That and the really clever side-side story where the one kid was remembering an entire shakespearan play to earn a date with her - something she hadn't even agreed or thought he would do.
I dunno, when I watched A Scanner Darkly something about it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I can't really even describe what I didn't like about it, but it felt like if there was just... something different, or added, or removed from the movie I would have completely loved it.
I dunno, when I watched A Scanner Darkly something about it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I can't really even describe what I didn't like about it, but it felt like if there was just... something different, or added, or removed from the movie I would have completely loved it.
I dunno, when I watched A Scanner Darkly something about it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I can't really even describe what I didn't like about it, but it felt like if there was just... something different, or added, or removed from the movie I would have completely loved it.
keanu reaves
I thought he did a fantastic job in it. Or is it just popular to dislike Reeves... ?
Posts
http://www.audioentropy.com/
Easy. Miyazaki's Spirited Away, when
I think Saint2e is spot on. Sorrow is an emotion that a lot of people don't feel too often. To get that emotion out in a safe setting, where you can put the tragedy out of your mind afterwards, is an excellent way to experience feelings you otherwise wouldn't. The whole catharsis thing.
Seeing Bill Murray in Broken Flowers or Lost in Translation is a good kind of sadness, I think. The saddest movie ever, Grave of the Fireflies, is just plain old soul-crushingly sad. I'd much rather have a minor twinge of happiness in my entertainment.
Oh, wow. That's really good. In a sad kind of way, but it's good. Original. I don't think I've ever seen or heard of that particular factor ever really been explored. Nice.
Exactly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGQVX8iGbgk
In any case, those movies are all very good. But they never... They never affected me. I never spent days in some kind of terrible morose over the fate of the characters. Maybe that's why sad endings have that kind of power. It's a matter of regret/remorse and "they deserved better." A happy ending is satisfying, it's complete. A really good sad ending though is almost by its nature an incomplete story trapped into a complete state. He hasn't gotten the girl, but... that's 'cause she's dead.
He never saw his son, but.. Oh, he's blind.
He never found his daughter, but... oh, she never existed.
Matchstick Men comes to mind as a movie that had both kinds of endings, or could have. If you've seen the movie, you know. Take out that very last furniture store scene. Terrible, haunting ending. Right?
That's probably my favorite tear jerker. The part with his dad at the end, yes. And also the part where Graham walks off the field to save Costner's daughter but cannot return to the field afterwards, and it's made explicitly clear that he can never return again. Which to me was absolutely heartbreaking at first, but upon later reflection I came to the conclusion that the gift that Graham was given was never meant to be the field, but rather freedom from regret (ie: Graham confirmed that he had made the correct choices in life, and understood that if given the chance to do things over again he would have made essentially the same choice).
Reminds me of the How I Met Your Mother episode.
Barney: ~misty eyed~ Can we talk about something else guys?
Doc Graham's wish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqqFvAb-dSY
And the tear-jerking scene in question.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNNsNOtR1gM&feature=related
(Graham is played by Burt Lancaster by the way, the low-quality of the second video does not do justice to the emotional nuance of his performance here)
EDIT: And fuck Bridge to Teribithia. It was supposed to be a children's fantasy movie, not a drama!
Did the doctor get a chance to wink at the pitcher and hit a triple before he got old again?
Oh god, just remembering that one makes me mist up...
Yes. Sulu's voice breaks when he stands everyone to attention, and Uhura and the gang are all misty-eyed in the background and then Scotty starts playing the bagpipes and ... please excuse me, I have something in my eye.
Yeah, that gets me too. Field of Dreams is like an insidious machine designed to wrench tears from the eyes of men everywhere. The only other one I can think of that's as effective probably won't be familiar to anyone outside the UK, but the end of The Railway Children usually lays waste to every family in the land when it's on.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Shawshank Redemption is a good example of an every emtion roller-coaster. The ending, oh God, the ending!
Superman...
*Bawls uncontrollably*
Off the top of my head: Llewelyn, Janus, Lorenta, and Yumei. I almost shed a tear for the last one.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
that was one of the best episodes though...
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFr3BkrjGhU
Also, I forget what it was for, but the commercial with the Japanese guy in the hospital and his wife having their son... god, it only lasts like 60 seconds but shit...
i didn't think big fish had a sad ending at all. i thought it was kinda uplifting actually.
Should have known there was no way to be in before Jurassic Bark.
So hey, how about The Visitor on DS9?
Yeah, it was a happy/sad crying ending.
Edit: And I know this isn't what Armored Gorilla was talking about, but the movie "The Visitor" - it's powerful all the way through, and I almost made it, but the final shot broke me.
Oh God, the rain scene
Also, I agree with Glal about the Iron Giant. Cut off the last thirty or so seconds and I can understand everyone crying, but that last scene just tore out any reason for anyone to cry... not to mention the
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
1) End of "Saving Private Ryan". After the scene at the bridge then it cuts to Matt Damon and morphs him into an old man at the gravestone. I started shedding tears and stood up and saluted right with him. That got to me.
2) This took me by surprise. Watching Naruto during the chuunin arc at the end of Lee vs Gaara fight. Lee put his all into it, but has his leg and arm crushed by Gaara. After the fight it's revealed that he can't be a ninja ever again due his injuries, thus his dream is shattered.
While whole thing was going there was this damn guitar music they had playing in the background. It got to me. I was just muttering to myself, "damn you, guitar."
The wife and I watch it whenever we have the welled up feeling and just need the release.
PSN : Bolthorn
Aye, that gets me too.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Yeah.
I mean, goddamn.
Also, Big Fish.
I think that's about it for me. I don't tend to cry at happy moments, I just get on with having a great day.
Also, loss of parents: The Family Stone ... and I guess I'll admit this, the beginning of The Land Before Time.
I can't really summate this into a select number of scenes because everything that happens is important. The whole fucking movie is tragic.
Hours later, after Yu-sun's body has been recovered and her kidnappers' identities discovered, Dong-jin heads to Yeong-mi's apartment (after finding Ryu's empty) to confront them. But Ryu isn't there; he's out exacting his revenge on the organ dealers who scammed him out of the money he could have used to help his sister. Instead, Dong-jin finds Yeong-mi, whom he interrogates. Yeong-mi apologizes for Yu-sun's death, admitting that her death was an accident, but warns him that she is also a member of a terrorist organization, who, upon her own death, will track him down and kill him. Dong-jin, unfazed by her apparent bluff, tortures her to death. Ryu returns to find the police removing Yeong-mi's body and begins pursuing Dong-jin. Eventually, the two meet up, in Ryu's apartment, after both had been staking out each other's home. Dong-jin manages to slip in and knock Ryu unconscious, and he takes him back to the riverbed where Yu-sun drowned. After binding Ryu's hands, an emotional Dong-jin acknowledges that Ryu is a good man but that he has no choice, and slashes Ryu's Achilles tendons, forcing him underwater. Later, as Dong-jin is burying Ryu's corpse, a group of men arrive, surround him, and stab him to death. They leave a note on his body identifying them as the terrorist organization Yeong-mi spoke of.
Scanner Darkly hits me hard because they literally sacrifice this poor guy who won't even remember the good he may or may not even do. he didn't even have a choice, he was railroaded from the start. Not the most hopeless ending ever though, I felt like shit for two days after watching an indie film called The Great Wall (World?) of Sound. It's about a straight out and out scam involving a music recording contract. It's so brutally realistic honest and harsh...
Iron Giant.... I am superman... it had a room full of grown men crying when we watched it the first time. I still get teary.
A Walk to Remember - I watched this alone, in a foreign country, on christmas in a country that doesn't celebrate, for my first christmas alone... I thought it was a comedy! That was nice. No cry, just sadness.
An episode of Joan of Arcadia where her friend dies. My best friend had just died in real life. I watched it twice in the same week and balled like a baby both times. And it's not the death scene, it's the strangely realistic and impressive acting afterwards by the teen stars on the front lawn. That and the really clever side-side story where the one kid was remembering an entire shakespearan play to earn a date with her - something she hadn't even agreed or thought he would do.
http://www.audioentropy.com/
keanu reaves
Jurassic Bark!
I thought he did a fantastic job in it. Or is it just popular to dislike Reeves... ?