Day #14 of the 30 Day Film Meme

[shadowkat]

This is Day 14 of the 30 Day Film Challenge.

The prompt is "A Film That Gave You Depression" -- apparently that's possible. Personally, all I need to do is watch the news or a documentary, hence the reason I don't watch either.

Watch on YouTube

Feeling kind of numb at the moment. Which is nice. Debating if I want to brave the great humidity for a walk. The sky is flirting with being overcast and rain, but can't quite make up its mind.

Comments

[cjlasky7]

The Last Picture Show (1971), dir. by Peter Bogdanovich

Anarene, Texas: to quote Roger Ebert, "a town with no reason to exist and people with no reason to live there."

There's no question that Last Picture Show is a masterpiece, but it is not an uplifting experience. Is there anything more depressing than watching an entire town die and blow away into the desert, taking what's left of its people with it? Can you watch Cloris Leachman's Ruth struggle for a tiny speck of happiness in her miserable life, only to see it snuffed out? Do we gain any wisdom by watching the death of hope?

https://youtu.be/bP1KaJCC0Y0

[shadowkat]

This is one of those death of the modern west stories written by Larry McMurtry. (He was a Texas writer - my mother briefly had him as a English Professor at TCU and had the book "Horseman, Pass By" - later renamed "Hud"). Depressing writer, McMurtry. Tears of Endearment is also McMurtry - I think, as is Lonesome Dove and Brokeback Mountain.

I've not seen Last Picture Show though...the others yes, just not that one for some reason.

[petzipellepingo]

Schindler's List , guaranteed to depress anyone.

[shadowkat]

Very true. Although it is about a man who saved thousands, so kind of uplifting at least in that regard.

[cactuswatcher]

Not nearly as cheery as the trailer.

Jakob the Liar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku6-0kdavww

[atpo_onm]

How about a film with depression right in the title itself?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzD0U841LRM

Caution - only extremely mentally stable individuals should watch pretty much any Lars Von Trier film, but especially this one, described as "A beautiful movie about the end of the world". It is technically superb, with highly talented actors. It is also emotionally devastating. You've been warned.