The well-worn story is about a young woman whose career in the music industry is taking off, and the tumultuous relationship she has with a man whose music career is heading in the other direction. Steel Magnolias is one of the quintessential 1980s tearjerkers, and is comparable to other films of that decade that seem designed to be as sad as possible, including Terms of Endearment and Beaches (consider those two runners-up, for current ranking purposes). Steel Magnolias is a dramedy that’s more and more of a drama the longer it goes on, leading up to an emotional conclusion that feels inevitable.
A Polish woman who survived the Nazi concentration camps and is haunted by the ghosts of that past, Sophie (Streep) was forced to make a brutal decision that we wouldn’t dare give away here for readers who have not yet watched the film. But it’s Streep’s Oscar-winning act of impossible decision making that has penetrated the zeitgeist and given us the pop-cultured slang we use to this day. Nothing akin to the schmaltzy tearjerkers that feel like an assault on the senses, Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight is a portrait almost too touching for words.
Irish auteur John Carney hit the pot of gold with his leading pair, Markéta Irglová and Glen Hansard, the former who gives a soul-wrenching performance about two-thirds of the way through the film that will leave a river of tears. Take a moment to cast your vote on this heartfelt list of sad movies that will have you crying. Your vote can help others discover these touching films and ensure the most tear-inducing tales get the recognition they deserve.
Dancer in the Dark is also stunning and stirring, though, meaning it’s far from just being non-stop misery, even if those darkest moments are the ones that prove most memorable when reflecting back on the film. As far as musicals go, it’s one of the more oppressively sad and confronting, but those okay with tearjerkers that also happen to be uncompromising ought to check it out. As far as tearjerkers go, Good Will Hunting goes big and sets its sights directly on your tear ducts, keen to milk them for all they’re worth.
Marley and Me (
She went on to have a career as a writer, and the one story she wanted to tell was that of Robbie and her sister. Robbie, an innocent man and the true love of Briony’s top 10 movies sister, is convicted and imprisoned, released only during the Second World War when he’s sent off to fight. Refusing to forgive her family for sending him away, Cecelia also leaves and enlists as a nurse. Perhaps it’s the more relatable wardrobe and settings, perhaps it’s just the chemistry between the two leads, but this moving epic really proved there never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
Benigni is a joy to watch, his charm and humor tangible, but there aren’t enough tissues in the world to stop the flood that’s about to ensue. We Live in Time is the kind of movie that reminds you how totally unpredictable real love can be—and how, no matter how deep that love, the rug can be pulled out from under you at any given moment. Starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh as Tobias and Almut, the film follows the couple over the course of a decade as they overcome personal differences, professional challenges, and life-altering diagnoses.
KLEENEX MOMENT Slowly freezing to death, Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) professes his love to Rose (Kate Winslet). She lets go of his hand, and he slips into the dark, unyielding sea. In 1981, an article in The New York Times identified the ”gay cancer” that would ultimately ravage the homosexual population. That item’s appearance opens Companion (the title refers to the newspaper-obituary euphemism for gay partners), a film that deftly injects the disease-of-the-week formula with a political agenda, providing its audience with the human face of AIDS.
Ordinary People (
Charlie (Fraser) lives a reclusive life, interacting only with his nurse, Liz (Hong Chau), and a Christian missionary named Thomas (Ty Simpkins). As his health deteriorates, Charlie is desperate to reconnect and reconcile with his teen daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink), whom he abandoned years ago. In this semi-autobiographical film directed by Charlotte Wells, Paul Mescal plays Calum, a single father treating his 11-year-old daughter, Sophie (Frankie Corio), to a summer holiday at a budget seaside resort. Decades after their last trip, Sophie idealizes the precious memories they made together while attempting to piece together a portrait of the man who helped raised her. After wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) abandons her family to ”find herself” (give her a break — it was 1979), Manhattan ad man Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) raises their young son (Justin Henry). The emotional struggle that occurs when Joanna decides she wants her boy backpacks a more potent punch since the subtle performances avoid the obvious hero/villain stereotypes.
What starts out as a filmmaker’s poignant and intimate letter to his murdered friend’s unborn son morphs into a truly jaw-dropping work of nonfiction. One part super-sad documentary, one part super-chilling crime thriller, Kurt Kuenne’s journey will have you crying, oh yes, and then screaming. Emotional triggers are everywhere in this Italian concentration-camp drama that smiles through the horror. Roberto Benigni stars as Guido, a cheery waiter whose happy bubble is burst when he, his wife, and his son are imprisoned.
Shirley Maclaine and Debra Winger are Aurora and Emma, a mother and daughter who share a close yet complicated bond. Without giving anything away, just know that once the tear duct levies break, there’s no going back. Disney knows how to get even the stiffest upper lip to quiver (The Lion King, Up, Inside Out), but this animated classic about best friends Copper, a hunting dog, and Tod, his natural enemy, takes the prize for most waterworks.
It’s just too late for these two, who don’t just end up losing their love, but the memories of all the good times. The story explores the traumas and triumphs of Black women during the early 1900s, hinged on the plight of kind-hearted Celie. A woman subjected to arranged marriage and abuse, the hope of one day seeing her sister again keeps her going. Even the hardest of hearts couldn’t resist being moved when that fateful reunion happens. From his very first moments as a newborn fawn to the fade-out, in which he watches over his own newborn offspring, Bambi enchantingly touches on every stage in the cycle of life. Most of what The Lion King got right, it got from Bambi, but few films can match this movie’s visual beauty or depth of emotion.
Schindler’s List
Sean Penn stars as a single father with a developmental disability struggling to raise his precocious daughter (Dakota Fanning). A couple (Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling) fall in and out of love in this nonlinear quotidian heartbreaker. Is this story about a terminally ill high school student checking off items on her bucket list a cinematic wonder?
There are many movies about parental love, but few can match the fierce sentiment of Stella Dallas. The titular gauche protagonist (Barbara Stanwyck) is an embarrassment to the stiff, well-bred husband she snagged. Her one triumph in life is their nicely turned-out daughter, Laurel (Anne Shirley), who reciprocates her mother’s love. The two actresses are so good and their bond so touching that Stella’s sacrifice—pushing Laurel away to live with her father and his upper-crust new bride so that she’ll have opportunities Stella can’t provide—is absolutely devastating. Coco isn’t just one of the best-looking movies released by Pixar, but it’s also one of the most touching.