Ten Depressing Movies Worth Watching Review

Ads for current movies often rely on the whole "feel good" factor, but some of my favorite movies do anything but make the viewer feel good. I know some people feel that movies ought to be light and easy because they're a form of escapism. For me, though, I'm often more interested in working my way through an engaging, difficult and even depressing story, than in watching a movie that leaves me as soon as the lights go up and the credits roll. Here are my picks when it comes to great movies that are anything but "feel good" films.

Days of Heaven -  A very young Richard Gere and Brooke Adams play lovers travelling around America as itinerant farm workers during the early 20th century. In order to avoid problems, they pose as brother and sister. When a gentle, young and very wealthy rancher, who happens to be terminally ill, falls in love with Adams' character, Gere convinces her to lead the rancher on and convince him to marry her, just so she can inherit his vast fortune. Nothing good can come from such a diabolical plan. Depressing and sad as hell, but gorgeous in every way. Some of the most amazing cinematography, ever. And Richard Gere is strikingly beautiful, even while he's playing a totally corrupt good-for-nothing.

Boogie Nights - Granted, it's not for everyone, but it's an amazing movie. Basically a look at the inner workings of the pre-AIDS porn industry. I love it because the acting is top notch, the script is amazing, the soundtrack is perfect, and the art direction is great. I also like that you get a real sense that these are people whose stories are being told, not just trash, the way a lot of folks tend to look upon anyone involved in this seedy industry.

The Last King of Scotland - Not just depressing, but somewhat terrifying. If Forrest Whitaker's Idi Amin doesn't give you the willies, you've got me beat at chicken. If the final scene with Amin's wife (as played by Kerry Washington) doesn't terrify you, I give up: you must be the devil.

For Your Consideration - This was touted as a comedy, and it does have some very, very funny parts, as do all of Christopher Guest's films. However, this is ultimately a sad, sad movie about actors who aren't even has-beens. They're "never-were"s, and they're in the middle of filming a ridiculous movie no one will see. When there's a slim chance one or more of them will be nominated for an Oscar, a sad, pathetic hopefulness rises in them. We, the audience, know that no good can come of any of this. A total downer. But soooooo good.

Leaving Las Vegas - If the name Nicolas Cage makes you think of stolen historical artifacts, or face-swtiching, or grand theft auto....I'm guessing you haven't seen Leaving Las Vegas. I've got nothing against any of his other stuff (I'm actually a huge fan of National Treasure), but Leaving Las Vegas is the movie that made me really love this guy. Long story short: Nic plays a down-and-out alcoholic who has lost everything that matters: his wife, his child, his job, his friends. Instead of a quick and easy suicide, he decides to liquidate his assets, move to Vegas, and drink himself to a painful death over the source of a few weeks. Elizabeth Shue puts in a stunning performance as the hooker with a heart of gold who befriends him, falls in love with him, and refuses to judge him as she watches him slowly die. Don't look for a happy ending. Do look to be transfixed, moved, saddened, and depressed as all get-out. Look, also, to be haunted by Sting's version of My One and Only Love.

Interiors - The Woody Allen movie you probably haven't seen. Not a laugh to be had, and there's no Woody in sight. Long before making screwball comedies about dysfunctional Americcan families became the Hollywood order of the day (a genre which, ironically, relies heavily on the talents of Woody's ex, Diane Keaton), Woody Allen decided he'd make a serious movie about a serious subject, and he wouldn't pull any punches or lighten the load by injecting humor into it. It's Woody's homage to Ingmar Bergman, and it's stunning. Also devestating, shocking, painful and heart-breaking.

Testament - Almost no one saw this when it was released. Almost no one saw it when PBS ran it. I was lucky enough to catch it the day it opened (and one of the few days it actually played), and it has stayed with me, even after all these years. Imagine one day, like any other day. Except that this day, for reasons you don't really have an inkling about, the atomic bomb is dropped, almost everyone you know is killed, and the few people who have survived have to sit around and wait to die horrible deaths. Imagine that your wonderful husband, who went to work on this fine day, never came home, and you never got to say goodbye or even know how his life ended. Imagine how pointless! How stupid. How sad. How depressing. This is not an action film or a sensational drama. In fact, you never see or hear the bomb drop. It's a film about people and human relationships, and humankind's ability to be so damned destructive. Jane Alexander (for you youngins, she's the sex therapist on that HBO show) is amazing. I dare you not to weep.

Frances - Was Frances Farmer a certified lunatic, a misunderstood genius, or just a square peg who refused to fit into the world's round hole? Who knows? Her life was tragic and fascinating, and the film version of it is pretty great. There's one scene, in particular, which I find among the most difficult things to watch, ever - not gory or explicit, but just painful and heart-breaking. But, really, so very worth it, because it's a great movie that really makes the viewer stop and think about how stuck we, as a society, can get in thinking that there are finite rules determining what "success" means.

Amy and Jaguar - The true story of the doomed, Holocaust-era love affair between a young, Jewish woman hiding her identity, and the beautiful, neglected wife of an S.S. officer. There are a lot of movies about the Holocaust, some of them very good. This, IMO, is one of the best, because it focuses on the lives of two people and illustrates how the atrocities that took place in WWII Europe were not just abstract horrors to be read about in a high school history class, but actual events that had devestating effects on real, live people. I also like that the film tells a story that is too infrequently told - that of Europe's gay subculture...a subculture the Nazi regime was determined to extinguish.

The Hours - Considering that one of the main characters in this movie is Virginia Woolf, it shouldn't come as a shock that there's no happy ending. The surprise is that the tragic denouement doesn't come from the Woolf character, at all. Of all the movies I considered putting on this list, this is the one that is, perhaps, the most devestating. The first time I saw it I was blown away, and I wasn't the only one still sitting when the credits stopped rolling and the theatre lights came on. It packs that much of an emotional punch. The fact that it's one of the most beautifully written and acted movies in recent memory makes it one that's worth watching more than once, even though there's no feel-good payoff at the end.