Movies that profoundly affected you

Most recently? Arrival.

The ending was a gut punch.

Paterson made my burrito taste amazing.

Primer really got to me.

Those guys had such a close friendship and their discovery drove them apart.
The scene where Abe is assuring Aaron that nothing is a trick and he wouldn't do something like that to him is just so pure and innocent, and then Aaron... Can't help himself.

"Beloved" fucked me up for like a week

City of God, felt so real.

In before TLJ profoundly ruined my childhood posts!!!

For me is Arrival, the message the movie gives is incredible touching.

As an aspiring writer/creative amidst the sea of talent that's out there, I've never experienced a stronger resonance than when I saw Inside Llewyn Davis. That movie destroyed me. I literally walked to the beach and sat along the shore just contemplating life and shit. It was the most generically emotional thing I've ever done, but I couldn't help it.

Recently?

Your Name.

Previously?

Dogma
Goodfellas

Magnolia. I loved Boogie Nights but Magnolia was on a whole other level.

Million Dollar Baby was very inspiring to me when I was younger. If I'd had a hard time in the gym I'd go home and watch Hilary and it'd give me a boost.

All About Lily Chou-Chou.
And Lily's music helped me get through intense heartbreak.

There's been some other movies that affected me that I can't remember right now, but Welcome (2009) is the first thing that came to my mind. It was on my mind for days.

Man of Steel.
TFA
TDKR

Wind River
There will be Blood.

The first time I watched End of Evangelion back in the early 2000s. I knew nothing about it other than it was an alternate ending for Neon Genesis Evangelion. By the end of that film, I had tears in my eyes contemplating life, death, religion, and how depression clouds our judgment.

Most recently, both Logan and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 had such grand themes of fatherhood (with me about to become a first-time dad) that I was an emotional wreck by the end.

There was a period of time where Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was my all time favorite movie, it had hit me so hard. Still one of my faves I watch every year or so

Into the Wild really got to me, I was in a bad place at the time and McCandless' story really resonated with me.

Where the Wild Things Are still just fucking destroys me every time I watch it, but I adore it for the way it handled just how confusing and terrifying being a kid can be.

I don't think I've ever felt as profoundly as I did when I watched Under the Skin. Talking about films that lingered for days, that one's still not really gone away.

It's beautiful and sad and helpless.

The Science of Sleep hit me really hard. My favorite movie of the last few years.

Children of Men was the first film to get me to cry as an adult, and not just during the big sad moments either.

it's been awhile. Maybe Moonlight.

I was legit shook after Blue is the Warmest Color. It really rang true for me.

Boyhood. The scene when Ethan Hawke tells the kid "it's good you're feeling things, that tends to go away as you get older" really stuck with me, as someone who struggles to feel extremes of any emotion at 29.

Yes. "get busy living or get busy dying"

That line has been stuck with me since I first saw The Shawshank Redemption.

Tampopo changed my view of how a movie's narrative could be told. It seriously challenged my notions of cinematic storytelling and made me think about alternative ways of making narrative connections.

I saw Hachi: A Dog's Tale and Mary & Max not long after my Dad died.

Both left me in a complete emotional wreck :(

5 centimeters per second.

Just a few off the top of my head:


Under the Skin

Meet Me in St. Louis

Simon of the Desert

Mystery Train

Spirited Away

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

Boogie Nights

Family, trauma, and general stagnation of day to day life I guess look like the triggers for me. But those are the big ones I think.

Sorry for the boring answer, but Spirited Away.

Akira was the first film to really touch me to the core, I saw it at a young age and I had never seen animation that vivid and brutal.

Probably a tie between Blade Runner 2049 and Wind River out of all the films I saw last year.

I recently saw Detroit and that fucked me up. Felt like a horror movie and then I realized that very similar things still happen today. It's really amazing.

Dancer in the Dark really affected me.

Rain Man
Jacobs Ladder
The Matrix (first one only)

There are too many, but the last film that really devastated me was Ida.

Watching The Lion King at 25 years old when I hadn't seen it since I was 10. Was in a terrible time in my life, abusing alcohol and just being a real low life after a bad break up, and the whole Simba running away from his past segment really nailed me. I lost it when he sees Mufasa in the clouds, particularly the "You are more than what you have become" part. Watching Simba climb pride rock at the end with the music playing and Mufasa saying "remember" nailed me again. I'm not sure I've ever cried so much during one movie lmao. It really did inspire me to remember my dream of being a musician and I'm still pursuing it to this day :)

Violence Jack said:

The first time I watched End of Evangelion back in the early 2000s. I knew nothing about it other than it was an alternate ending for Neon Genesis Evangelion. By the end of that film, I had tears in my eyes contemplating life, death, religion, and how depression clouds our judgment.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Same here. I watched End of Evangelion for the first time when I was 14. Despite watching the main series, I was totally unprepared for the sheer soul-crushing atmosphere of that movie. It was incredible.

Beyond that, I would say Ikiru, Big Fish, and Smoke Signals for making me think more deeply about my direction in life, my relationship with my father, and what I contribute to my family.

I watched the Werkmeister Harmonies on the weekend. The entire film is amazing and haunting but the hospital scene hits you like a sledgehammer. Still thinking about the film after a couple of days. The Turin Horse by the same director had a similar effect on me. I'm not sure how to describe the emotional effect of the final scene, but it is something I still think about from time to time.

One of these days I need to see Satantango. I can only imagine what effect a seven hour Bela Tarr film would have on me.

Last year

The Florida Project
Lady Bird
Ken Burns: The Vietnam War( tv i know but heartbreaking and infuriating)
Manchester by the Sea
Human Flow

The 1st Matrix
Slumdog Millionaire
Beauty and the Beast (Animated)
The Lion King
Fear of a Black Hat
House Party

Tarkovsky's Stalker
8 1/2
Cries and Whispers
Seven Samurai
Harakiri
Eternal Sunshine
There Will be Blood
Let the Right One In
Eraserhead
Texas Chainsaw Massacre

So many over the years for different reasons of timing and personal relevance:
Little Women (1933)
All About Eve
Midnight Cowboy
Gorillas In The Mist
Thelma And Louise
Schindler's List
Gattaca
Arrival

And many others.

Boys Don't Cry. Thinking about it makes me tear up.

I learned to play guitar because of School of Rock.

Most recent one was Heaven Knows What. Gutting look into the desperate lives of heroin addicts. The lead actress actually led that life. Such a raw film that illuminated a corner of life that is very visible on the streets of any major city, but not often treated with such a piercing lens.

I'm not really effected by things I watch in that way, but if I had to pick one it would be the BBC's Threads.

Gladiator
Blade Runner
Blade Runner 2049

I'd also go with Call Me by Your Name as a recent example of a film affecting me. I don't usually watch a film more than once at the cinema, but I've watched this film three times now and feel like watching it once more. For older films, the following two have affected me greatly over the years.

Baraka always induces a plethora of emotions in me, especially the 7 minute sequence featuring Dead Can Dance's The Host of Seraphim.

Koyaanisqatsi as another example of a non-verbal documentary film.

There are others, more personal though and for different reasons.

The only way movies really affect me is usually by just... making me sad, I guess. Like, Grave of the Fireflies, that sort of thing.

But I'll give a shoutout to Roman Holiday.



The whole film is soaked in nostalgia - for the old world, old movies - and that's only gotten stronger as time goes on. The final shot goes even past that - it just gives you a sense of longing.

They need to put that shit on Blu-ray already.

Synecdoche, New York
Amelie
Lost in Translation
Her
Memories of Murder
The Shawshank Redemption

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.



A terribly underrated movie. Nobody talks about it and it gets some sarcastic ire online for having been pretty long and in need of some more editing, but the themes and relationship between Pitt and Blanchett are unbelievably relatable and sobering. Some of the quotes in that movie still wreck me.

"We're meant to lose the people we love. How else would we know how important they are to us?"

"You can be mad as a mad dog, you can swear and curse the fates, but when it comes to the end, you have to let go."

The themes of people being in your life for a season and suddenly disappearing, and the stages of life as two people grow old/young past each other, are so thought-provoking.

I cherish this movie. And the soundtrack by Desplat is amazing.

Call Me By Your Name immediately sprung to mind as far as recent films go. I'm glad I'm not the only one. That film has such an honesty and confidence to it that really got a hold of my emotions and never really let go even after I left the theater.