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grang

Member
Nov 13, 2017
10,087
Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

Aftersun.
Two gorgeous but fucking devastating ending scenes

Aftersun, I still can't
listen to Under Pressure without seeing his stupid dance move in my head and feeling sad


aftersun-paul-mescal.gif
 

Landawng

The Fallen
Nov 9, 2017
3,256
Denver/Aurora, CO
Se7en

In fact I was just thinking about this the other day, I think it has probably the most shocking ending of any movie I've ever seen. I remember the first time I saw it being blown away and I watched it with my son the other day and he had no idea what was coming. To see his reaction pretty much solidified it for me
 

HouseDragon

Member
Dec 4, 2017
547
Gaming:
- The Last Of Us: This one's my favorite because even though on the outside it might look as a happy ending, the subtext and what the characters are carrying with them makes all the difference. The way it's shot and set up is also just perfect.
- Disco Elysium: It might be because the whole game is drenched in this zany, harrowing reality of Revachol, but even though there is an amazing, uplifting scene by the end of the game, I ended up feeling bittersweet by the time the credits hit. And that's OK, as the game really wasn't trying to paint a happy ending.

Movies:
- Uncut Gems: It's a sad ending for sure, but it's SO POETIC that it feels just perfect.
 

Puddi64

▲ Legend ▲
Banned
Nov 3, 2022
1,128
There's a lot of good ones but the first one that came to mind for me was The Hurt Locker.
 

KNZFive

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,773
Hadestown (the Musical)
I mean, they warn you in the opening song that "it's a sad song, but [they] sing it anyway."

It was always going to end that way, but you held out hope that the musical will break away from the original myth...nope.

The pain is relieved a bit by the
time loop
that the final song establishes.
 

BennyWhatever

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,810
US
I mean, they warn you in the opening song that "it's a sad song, but [they] sing it anyway."

It was always going to end that way, but you held out hope that the musical will break away from the original myth...nope.

The pain is relieved a bit by the
time loop
that the final song establishes.
Yeah you know it's a tragedy and you know what's gonna happen, but they drag you along with that glimmer of hope. I still love it. Great storytelling.
 

Version 3.0

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,218
Quantum Leap, the original series. The whole time, you expect it to end with Sam going home. The way it did end is so much more powerful, and memorable.


"Dr Sam Beckett Never Returned Home" is a GOAT ending.

edit: just saw you beat me to it. Absolutely the one that has stayed with me.
 
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RedCrake

Member
Oct 27, 2017
241
Athens, GA
Atonement. I absolutely love it... and my wife is still pissed about it to this day. I try to tell her that the fact she has such a strong reaction to it (over 15 years later) is proof that it was the right ending, but she's not having it.

Anyway, I love both the book and the movie. And the title sort of tips you off that things probably aren't gonna go well.
 

Nepenthe

When the music hits, you feel no pain.
Administrator
Oct 25, 2017
20,747
Life. I couldn't stand most of the cast, so when the twist started occuring I said "Oh thank God."
 

TheBryanJZX90

Member
Nov 29, 2017
3,023
Last of the Mohicans.

Yeah the title of the movie should clue you in.

I guess this was the first movie I saw with the trope of everyone heroically sacrificing themselves one by one to delay the inevitable or to push towards the goal and it still gets me every damn time
 
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mbpm

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,678
I just mentioned Mike Flanagan in another thread so I'll raise you Absentia. Just a gut punch and then it ends.

Animorphs I go back and forth with but I think I like more than I don't as a portrayal of soldiers who don't get over the war

In Bruges was a neat little cliffhanger that can go either way

Come And See was pretty good
 

psynergyadept

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,683
Definitely The Last of us Part 2; a good ending but damn! Clearly a consequences of your actions for a certain someone.

The Goat anime Cowboy Bebop

The og Full Metal Alchemist
 

gosublime

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,434
All of us strangers.

Such an amazing film, such incredible use of music throughout and the final scene is so sad, yet strangely hopeful.
 

mbpm

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,678
Cyberpunk 2077 really makes you regret choosing the "get cured" options in both base game and DLC; but I love that kinda cruel twist, it's perfect for a setting and series like this.
Didn't play the DLC but I picked the"Kill Self" ending for the base game and was struck by how well it was done because at the moment I genuinely thought that there would be next to no negative consequences and it would be easy. Was pretty neat of the game to be like "get real there's definitely consequences here" and kind of touching on things beyond the game itself in the process.

Of course I reloaded after that because that was always the goal.
 
Dec 30, 2020
15,322
Gideon the Ninth. Not exactly a happy ending, but I liked it.

The Haunting of Hill House. Horror story so obviously not a happy ending, but I liked how it went out and the ambiguity to it.
 

EchizenKurage

Member
Apr 4, 2024
158
Dallas, TX

View: https://youtu.be/yif5TIzaPYU?si=ImkLFttj5D4MwiHR

The ending of Withnail & I gets me every time. More a bittersweet ending for Marwood I suppose but knowing that as an alcoholic in a downward spiral, the only audience Withnail will ever have are the wolves in the park is pretty devastating, especially if you consider the extended ending from the screenplay canon.


In my top ten favorite films of all time. It's a masterpiece. Someone else mentioned Brazil, which is my number one and probably always will be.

Too many books to name. Especially in American tragicomedies and French, Russian, German and Japanese existential stuff. Berserk (1997), Cowboy Bebop and Eva, also dark, twisted or or bittersweet, which happen to be fav trinity in anime. Also shout to Fallen with Denzel


images



Unironically a happy ending. This is the most life-affirming thing ever:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQTOREbbQGQ


It's the best therapy session on earth. Mr. Robot is close but Eva busticates yr psyche into a billion pieces and builds you back up stronger by the end. Both TV and EoE are perfect works an compliment each other really well
 
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May 26, 2018
24,032
The ending for Twin Peaks is still haunting me...

Cooper seems so sure of him that he can manage to save Laura by creating some kind of alternative time line...
Only for it to end in a scream and all lights going brutally out.
The fear and confusion this ending creates is incredibly amazing to me. It's not 100% clear what is happening, but it's so terrifying.

Yeah, it's amazing. All that work only to get punked by the ultimate evil, forever.
 

jvm

Member
Oct 27, 2017
571

AniHawk

No Fear, Only Math
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,171
I just mentioned Mike Flanagan in another thread so I'll raise you Absentia. Just a gut punch and then it ends.

Animorphs I go back and forth with but I think I like more than I don't as a portrayal of soldiers who don't get over the war

In Bruges was a neat little cliffhanger that can go either way

Come And See was pretty good

i feel like a real dummy for not mentioning animorphs. i think it was that, at the time i first read it, i had expected a happy ending. i was a teenager and had been reading the series for five years (when a lot of other people my age had dropped off). i thought it was a cliffhanger for a good number of years, so it left me unsatisfied. wasn't until a few years afterwards that i realized it wasn't a cliffhanger. it wasn't a cliffhanger at all.