If you don't cry you have a heart of stone!
by kettled | created - 09 Jan 2012 | updated - 28 Apr 2012 | PublicI love a good tearjerker/hard hitting film. Here is an ongoing list of films that made me cry and stayed with me.
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1. Tsotsi (2005)
R | 94 min | Crime, Drama
Six days in the violent life of a young Johannesburg gang leader.
Director: Gavin Hood | Stars: Presley Chweneyagae, Mothusi Magano, Israel Matseke-Zulu, Terry Pheto
Votes: 31,593 | Gross: $2.91M
I am doing this in no order but this is the top of the list, beautiful film in every way. I don't think I've ever cried as much from a film.
2. Innocent Voices (2004)
R | 120 min | Drama, Thriller, War
A young boy, in an effort to have a normal childhood in 1980's El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life as he desperately tries to avoid the war which is raging all around him.
Director: Luis Mandoki | Stars: Carlos Padilla, Leonor Varela, Xuna Primus, Gustavo Muñoz
Votes: 8,191 | Gross: $0.84M
A devastating war film from a childs perspective, I got this dvd for £2 from a charity shop and was blown away by it. There are some wonderful comical parts to it too and the relationships between the characters are just beautiful.
3. Marley & Me (2008)
PG | 115 min | Drama, Family
A family learns important life lessons from their adorable, but naughty and neurotic dog.
Director: David Frankel | Stars: Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Eric Dane, Kathleen Turner
Votes: 167,688 | Gross: $143.15M
of course!
4. Incendies (2010)
R | 131 min | Drama, Mystery, War
Twins journey to the Middle East to discover their family history and fulfill their mother's last wishes.
Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Mustafa Kamel
Votes: 199,762 | Gross: $6.86M
I really didn't see the twist in this film coming at all, it's a shocker.
5. Antichrist (2009)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A grieving couple retreat to their cabin in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage, but nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Storm Acheche Sahlstrøm
Votes: 136,409 | Gross: $0.40M
I think this is the only film I've seen that made me cry in the first 5 minutes. I love Defoe and Gainsbourg so loved seeing them work together.
6. Martyrs (2008)
R | 99 min | Horror
A young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
Director: Pascal Laugier | Stars: Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï, Catherine Bégin, Robert Toupin
Votes: 106,258
I really don't know why films like 'saw' are so popular when if it's gore and shock you are looking for there's films like this that have all that but also so much more to them. You really care about the characters in this film, the storyline is solid, acting is quality. That said it will be a long time before I could watch this again.
7. Cast Away (2000)
PG-13 | 143 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A FedEx executive undergoes a physical and emotional transformation after crash landing on a deserted island.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Paul Sanchez, Lari White
Votes: 637,930 | Gross: $233.63M
Willllllsooon!!!
8. Toy Story 3 (2010)
G | 103 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
The toys are mistakenly delivered to a day-care center instead of the attic right before Andy leaves for college, and it's up to Woody to convince the other toys that they weren't abandoned and to return home.
Director: Lee Unkrich | Stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty
Votes: 891,679 | Gross: $415.00M
I actually thought they were going to die in that furnace!
9. Black Beauty (1994)
G | 88 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
The fates of horses, and the people who own and command them, are revealed as Black Beauty narrates the circle of his life.
Director: Caroline Thompson | Stars: Sean Bean, David Thewlis, Docs Keepin Time, Alan Cumming
Votes: 10,665 | Gross: $4.63M
Seen it 100s of times, I always cry
10. Braveheart (1995)
R | 178 min | Biography, Drama, War
Scottish warrior William Wallace leads his countrymen in a rebellion to free his homeland from the tyranny of King Edward I of England.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Angus Macfadyen
Votes: 1,090,447 | Gross: $75.60M
11. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
R | 112 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Three trappers protect the daughters of a British Colonel in the midst of the French and Indian War.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means, Eric Schweig
Votes: 187,420 | Gross: $75.51M
the Uncas scene :-(
12. Sophie's Choice (1982)
R | 150 min | Drama, Romance
Sophie is the survivor of Nazi concentration camps, who has found a reason to live with Nathan, a sparkling if unsteady American Jew obsessed with the Holocaust.
Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Peter MacNicol, Rita Karin
Votes: 52,690 | Gross: $30.04M
heartbreaking.
13. I Saw the Devil (2010)
Not Rated | 144 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Lee Byung-hun, Choi Min-sik, Jeon Gook-hwan, Chun Ho-jin
Votes: 145,986 | Gross: $0.13M
I can usually cope with violence in film but this was a bit too much for me. I was very upset by this film although I was caring for a very sick pet when I saw it so maybe thats why I cried. It's a great film though, I think I'll be getting some mace for my handbag!
14. Samson & Delilah (II) (2009)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama, Romance
A glue-sniffing boy and his girlfriend escape the government-controlled no-hope Aboriginal community they live in and go to the city, Alice Springs, looking for a better life.
Director: Warwick Thornton | Stars: Rowan McNamara, Marissa Gibson, Mitjili Napanangka Gibson, Scott Thornton
Votes: 3,762
The comical bits in this film are wonderful! There's little dialect in the film so it's not for everyone but this is what makes it so real.
15. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
R | 102 min | Drama
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep..
Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans
Votes: 897,622 | Gross: $3.64M
16. Mysterious Skin (2004)
Unrated | 105 min | Drama
Two pre-adolescent boys both experienced a strange event and later it affects their lives in different ways. One becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.
Director: Gregg Araki | Stars: Brady Corbet, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elisabeth Shue, Chase Ellison
Votes: 76,224 | Gross: $0.70M
17. The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
R | 114 min | Drama
Three young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.
Director: Peter Mullan | Stars: Eileen Walsh, Dorothy Duffy, Nora-Jane Noone, Anne-Marie Duff
Votes: 28,446 | Gross: $4.89M
watch some stand up after this
18. In a Man's World (2004)
75 min | Crime, Drama
A gritty portrayal of hope, desperation and betrayal charting the progress of four street wise youngsters who embark on a lethal journey into the unforgiving heart of the Celtic Underworld.
Director: Lee Hutcheon | Stars: Nico Hutcheon, Robert McCalpine, Callum Leiper, Connor Skully
Votes: 78
great low budget Scottish film.
19. Platoon (1986)
R | 120 min | Drama, War
Chris Taylor, a neophyte recruit in Vietnam, finds himself caught in a battle of wills between two sergeants, one good and the other evil. A shrewd examination of the brutality of war and the duality of man in conflict.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Keith David
Votes: 439,040 | Gross: $138.53M
Elias my favourite Dafoe role
20. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
R | 169 min | Drama, War
Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns
Votes: 1,494,781 | Gross: $216.54M
21. 9th Company (2005)
R | 139 min | Action, Drama, History
A group of Russian army recruits complete training and take their posting in late-1980s Afghanistan, where the insurgents are slowly gaining the upper hand.
Director: Fedor Bondarchuk | Stars: Artur Smolyaninov, Aleksey Chadov, Konstantin Kryukov, Ivan Kokorin
Votes: 21,674
22. Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)
R | 140 min | Action, Drama, War
When two brothers are forced to fight in the Korean War, the elder decides to take the riskiest missions if it will help shield the younger from battle.
Director: Kang Je-kyu | Stars: Jang Dong-Gun, Won Bin, Eun-ju Lee, Kong Hyeong-jin
Votes: 41,061 | Gross: $1.11M
ok so most war films can go on this list but I wont list them all
23. Shooting Dogs (2005)
R | 115 min | Drama, History, War
A Catholic Priest and an English teacher get stranded in a school in Kigali during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Director: Michael Caton-Jones | Stars: John Hurt, Hugh Dancy, Dominique Horwitz, Louis Mahoney
Votes: 11,965
I didn't know much about what happened in Rwanda, this left me with lots of questions to research
24. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
R | 134 min | Drama, Romance
Ennis and Jack are two shepherds who develop a sexual and emotional relationship. Their relationship becomes complicated when both of them get married to their respective girlfriends.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid
Votes: 381,838 | Gross: $83.04M
25. The Pianist (2002)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music
During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
Votes: 910,818 | Gross: $32.57M
one of Brodys good role choices
26. Little Women (1994)
PG | 115 min | Drama, Family, Romance
The March sisters live and grow in post-Civil War America.
Director: Gillian Armstrong | Stars: Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes
Votes: 63,527 | Gross: $50.08M
Beth
27. Hotel Rwanda (2004)
PG-13 | 121 min | Biography, Drama, History
Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, houses over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda, Africa.
Director: Terry George | Stars: Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Joaquin Phoenix, Xolani Mali
Votes: 371,787 | Gross: $23.53M
28. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
PG-13 | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
Director: Roberto Benigni | Stars: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano
Votes: 742,419 | Gross: $57.60M
wonderful wonderful film!
29. The Road (I) (2009)
R | 111 min | Drama, Thriller
In a dangerous post-apocalyptic world, an ailing father defends his son as they slowly travel to the sea.
Director: John Hillcoat | Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall
Votes: 253,954 | Gross: $0.06M
30. Dead Man's Shoes (2004)
Not Rated | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A disaffected soldier returns to his hometown to get even with the thugs who brutalized his mentally-challenged brother years ago.
Director: Shane Meadows | Stars: Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch, Toby Kebbell, Stuart Wolfenden
Votes: 58,313 | Gross: $0.01M
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