Tearjerkers

 

I am a fairly emotional movie-watcher and book-reader (and person, for that matter; I have been known to cry easily when exhausted or frustrated).  While I enjoy films of all types-- comedies (including rom-coms), documentaries, musicals, thrillers, period films, and action movies, I tend most to enjoy dramas (especially sports movies, "heartwarming tales," and social injustice films). Kelvin doesn't really share my same taste with regard to the last category, and usually lets me watch and cry to my "depressing dramas" from Netflix by myself.

I am always looking for new movie ideas; Entertainment Weekly magazine recently had an article about "saddest movies ever" which (morbidly?) caught my eye (apparently The Champ, which I half-watched this week [I tend to multitask] is rated #1 in their eyes [it was ok]). If you look online, there are multiple sites (such as this and this one) which list some of the saddest movies of all time. Despite knowing at heart that I find tear-jerkers to be good flicks, what was quite surprising was how many of those films were on my all-time favorite movie list.

In case you share my taste in movies and are in need of a good cry, here are some of the listings and my favorite movies ever -- see them if you haven't already.

Beaches*** (three-hanky movie)
My Girl
Slumdog Millionaire
Titanic*** (gets me every time!)
Gone with the Wind
Forrest Gump
It's a Wonderful Life (Christmas classic)
A Beautiful Mind (amazing acting)
A Time to Kill
The Great Debaters
Sophie's Choice
Schindler's List
Life is Beautiful*** (three-hanky for sure)
I Am Sam ***(second in # tears shed, only to the film below)
Stoning of Soraya M*** (not mentioned on any list I saw, but quite possibly the saddest movie of all time in my opinion; it's a foreign film that deals with the consequences of [accused] adultery in 1980s Iran. I watched it last year.)

Although the following were made into movies, the books (DEFINITELY tearjerkers) are much, much better:
The Help
Kite Runner
My Sister's Keeper
The Notebook
The Diary of Anne Frank
Marley and Me

For a bonus, here are some non-movie books I recently read which have had me in tears:
- Clara's War (Clara Kramer)-- about a Polish girl's survival of the Holocaust
- Sing you Home (Jodi Picoult) --involving an ethical dilemma like all of Picoult's books; topics of infertility and same-sex relationships
- Gold (Chris Cleave)-- about the quest of a pair of best friends for Olympic gold in cycling

Currently, I'm reading Randy Pausch's Last Lecture -- the words of wisdom shared by a Carnegie Mellon professor with terminal (pancreatic) cancer who died in 2008. *** A three-hanky and well-written book (and based on his actual Last Lecture which you can watch on You Tube)
What is the saddest (or best) book you've read or movie you've seen?
Please share your tearjerking suggestions so I can add them to my queue :)