What are some very beautiful and emotional movies? (Preferrably those about very grandiose or profound themes)
What are some very beautiful and emotional movies? (Preferrably those about very grandiose or profound themes)
I want to watch a movie that will make me cry.
(Because I need those endorphins to help me with depression. I feel better after a good session of crying. Sorry if this is weird...)
What about Dead Poets Society? I haven't seen it in decades but it made me cry a lot.
Your list is getting quite long but here's another less week known movie:
Nine Days (by Edson Oda)
Looks like you've got a long list already, but the last movie that made me lump in my throat cry was Awakenings with Robin Williams and Robert deNiro
Women Talking
AI (2001)
The Fountain Grave of the Fireflies
Many good movies have been mentioned already (especially Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind, Big Fish, Manchester by the sea and The Fountain).
I would like to add:
- Finding Neverland
- Captain Fantastic
And if you want to absolutely destroy yourself: Prayers for Bobby.
Forrest Gump.
Who Will love My Children? 1983
Mask 1985
I defy anyone to get to the end of either movie without being a total mess.
I can't believe nobody has said Coco. I dare anyone to get through the end without at least a tear or two.
No matter how many times I watch Flow, it never fails to make me cry by the end.
I was going to say this one, I was crying all throughout the screening 'cause the themes I picked up fom the beginning of the movie moved me deeply and resonated on a personal level. It's also visually astonishing, that alone would have made me cry. A fantastic experience.
First movie that popped into my head was What Dreams May Come. Robin Williams goes through heaven and hell to try and save his wife's soul. Great flick with some amazing visuals (especially for the time).
Big Fish
Last movie that made me cry was The Whale. I saw it in a theatre and rarely I had to refrain myself from crying in public this bad. Once I got home though I just bawled my eyes out.
haven't watched a lot of shows that aren't anime so here are my recs:
- Your name (movie, its really really good)
- A silent voice (movie, same as your name)
- Your lie in april (tv series, apparently really good at making you cry but haven't watched it)
- Anohana: The flower we saw that day (tv series, same as your lie in april)
your name and a silent voice have really good animation btw
i almost cried during weathering with you which is a movie in the same universe as your name but it isn't as emotional as your name ig
Thank you for introducing me to Your Name. I just finished watching it. Absolutely wonderful film.
Can confirm Your Lie In April made me cry like a baby. But I would say anime wise Violet Evergarden was even more cathartic. I ugly cried more than once watching it.
Tree of Life
Arrival
The Wild Robot is well worth a watch. It looks like a kids movie, but I think the themes work just as well if not better for adults.
Yeah I legit choked up at the scene where the little bird leave with the rest and the robot is watching, and I don't even have kids
There are some moments in that which are pretty brutal and I was like, "Oh wow... Not sure if my kid should be watching this yet..." but it was an incredible film.
Probably going to get some hate for who's in it (Jared Letto) and some of the content (step sibling incest), but the ending of Mr. Nobody wrecked me.
What's going to hit will be a bit dependent on where your soft spots are.
Kids: Grave of the Fireflies or Bridge to Teribithea or My Girl or The Cure
Romantic love: The Fountain
Existential trauma: Psycho-Pass (series) or A.I.
Dogs: Marley & Me or Hachi
Loss: Up
Also:
River
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
You really want to destroy that poor guy, do you?
Amour
Everything Everywhere All At Once
This has me all the way from to tears of sadness to tears of joy and really made me feel for the main character. It seems too whimsical to take seriously at first, but if you let it wash over you it rewards you. it can be an incredibly powerful movie and I loved the message.
Also, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s a really sad breakup movie. Lots of emotion. Some of Jim Carry’s best acting.
Upcoming for Eternal Sunshine, such I think fits OP's request better than EEAAO.
EEAAO is truly a masterpiece and I do not say that shit lightly. For all it's multiverse goofiness there really is a solid layer depicting the struggle of women, mother, and girls becoming women. There's also cultural bits obviously as well, and marriage. My god the dad breaks my heart every time. Just good from beginning to end.
In the original script, they would continue to meet up, fall in love, spend time together and then one or the other of them would erase the other person after which the other person would follow and then they would meet and fall in love again and this repeated until they were old and gray
Two movies that usually appear on lists like this, but I don't see them: The Fountain, and The Fall.
The Fall was fantastic. Too bad it's not available anywhere, even to buy.
I saw something recently about a 4k restoration, but possibly not all regions.
Grave of fireflies - film that you watch only once as it's too sad to watch the second time.
Yeah this will wreck you, and knowing that the movie is a autobiographical story of its creators own experience during the war and what happened to his sister just makes it worse
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (2013 version) is beautiful and thoughtful. Completely unlike any other Ben Stiller movie that I know of.
"The Fountain" (2006) might qualify too, though it's a lot heavier.
"Amélie" (2001)
"Hector and the Search for Happiness" (2014) is decent too, though I'm a Simon Pegg fan so it gets extra points for that
The Fountain hits me hard. Especially with that beautiful Clint Mansell soundtrack.
"The Green Mile" made me cry
Kidney stones are no joke
I knew a guy who said "I've had kidney stones, and I've been shot, and the kidney stones hurt worse."
I saw “What Dreams May Come” in high school and wept the entire way from the theater to the car.
Even met some friends on the way and had to explain I was crying because it was so beautiful.
So underrated, always loved that movie. Lots of dark but honest.
I haven't been able to re-watch it since... you know. :(
Not knowing what usually makes you cry and what kind of movies you may enjoy, here are the first movies I know make me cry. Me being a a 50+ years old dude:
- Somewhere in Time
- The bicentennial man
- Love Story.
And those are from Ghibli:
- When Marnie was There
- The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
- From Up on Poppy Hill
- Only Yesterday
- The Red Turtle
- Porco Rosso
Porco Rosso is so Full of melancholy. love the movie.
A Monster Calls destroyed me. It doesn't take much to make me tear up, but I was sobbing for the last 15-20 minutes of the movie.
For stoic men (and maybe women, who knows?) Captain Phillips... but not till the end. It sneaks up on you.
"Your Name", anime film about a high school age boy and girl that swap bodies in their sleep, they don't know anything about eachother and have to figure out how to not ruin eachothers lives and relationships, it's very bueatiful, and you'll cry for sure.
Life is Beautiful
Manchester by the Sea
The Green Mile
My recommendations are more sad than uplifting, but still beautiful and emotional.
Pretty sure this is not the crying OP is looking for
Let OP decide. Maybe they put the real life that feels tragic in perspective, and it could help with depression.
A Silent Voice. I watched it while I was going through a rough time, and the visual metaphor used to portray the main character's isolation hit me so hard.
(not trying to sound like a hipster but) I read the manga a fair while before the movie came out and the relationship with the girl's mom is explored more deeply. God. It hits so hard.
Not a movie but rather a season, Your Lie in April. It's around a 7 hour series so sorta super deluxe extended edition movie adjacent if you're up for that. Fireflies and Silent Voice have already been mentioned, this is the honorary third place in my opinion.
If you want sometime currently in the theater, you might try The Life of Chuck. Likely to make you cry, but uplifting. Great cast.
- Big Fish
- Up!
- Toy Story 3
- Onward
- Last of the Mohicans
- When Marnie was There (Ghibli)
- About Time
Second About Time. One of my favorite movies.
If you like Big Fish you should watch Five People You Meet in Heaven (not a religious movie)
Not a movie but 18 episodes, Arcane is full of massive, massive feels.
Hits multiple times in different ways. If you want the full gamut of emotional.
This might be an outlier as far as how other people might watch or react to this movie but I rewatched Millennium Actress recently and I could not stop crying the whole movie.
It’s gives me feelings of deep desperation, chasing, longing, almost persevering.
Lots of Ghibli mentioned, Kiki’s Delivery Service is a favorite of mine. :) Not sure how much it fits ‘grandiose’ and ‘profound’, but I’m definitely a sob-fest by the end.
Walk in the Clouds
What Dreams May Come
The ending of Sixth Sense
Big Fish
Saving Mr. Banks.
+1 for Rachel Griffiths
Not a movie but a tv show: "one day" on Netflix, it may seem shallow in the beginning, but then it will tear you apart.
If you are in a hurry, try Up.
I sob like a baby when I watch Practical Magic (Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.) Same with Disney's Moana. Neither movie is really advertised as bring particularly deep or philosophical, but both of them have more profundity than appears on the surface. PM is about love, death, and family. Moana is about determination, joy, and redemption. Big emotions.
Another Earth
50/50
Grave of the fireflies
5 centimetres per second
Atonement
And agree on Big Fish, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Username checks out. Also try Your Name.
Mr Nobody
Never cried in a movie. Then I watched "Marley" (my friend Marley in German)
Interstellar Suzume A Silent Voice - guaranteed to fuck you up Grave of the Fireflies
Idk, all these movies make me cry but for different reasons. The last two will sincerely fuck you up if you are any sort of empath.
I get you man, sometimes I need a good cry as well. I'm telling you though...A Silent Voice is a doozy.
Martian
Armageddon
If you have time for a game try Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
One Liter of Tears fits the bill.
It portrays the life of a real girl named Aya Kitou who develops a neuromuscular disease as a teen. It's an old film but great for making you think about the value and beauty of life.
There is a JDrama with the same name. The show takes some artistic liberties with the real story but since it has a longer run time it goes more in depth about the family dynamics and explores other plot lines.
Biutiful by Inarritu
Chariots of fire.
Troop Zero pulled my heart strings. About a little girl scout obsessed with space that is coping with the death of her mother. It's done in a very uplifting manner, and you're more likely to cry from the beauty of how the character handles it.
Adam's Apples
Columbus and After Yang by Kogonada. These are such beautiful, contemplative films.
Tout le bleu du ciel - 2025 Netflix french movie. The whole roadtrip thing made me watch it and I enjoyed it. Might be what you're looking for as well.
And speaking of road trips, Into the Wild. Amazing movie, amazing soundtrack by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder.
Both movies quite sad and beautiful.