Best Depression-Inducing Films

Quoted as Wong Kar-Wai's stylistic peak, I can see why it may be so.

Being a newcomer to Kar-Wai's work, I cannot comment on how consistently masterful he may be. However, I can comment on this film for what it truly is: a masterwork.

Drowned in its own poetic approach to the past, and its contrast to the future, the colourful cast of characters that cross paths with this prolific erotic author only accentuates the overall feeling of domesticated obsession, the clashing of unrequited love and longing for those "loaned" to another. It's a triangle of love that never seems to avoid adding another three angles to the fray when the train gets further and further from 2046.

So here it is, people, a tale of oriental magic that seems to lose itself in the mystifying trivia takes of the number 2046, where death, rebellion, and love at its most obsessive is incomparable to that of any other feature.

A special heads up to Sabina for recommending this film to me.

A quietly moving and infinitely powerful statement on the long lasting effects of 9/11, and how tragic the most distant of subjects from the day of sadness really are.

Edward Norton explodes in a role if not tailored then written for him, and Philip Seymour Hoffman bumbles effectively... but it's Barry Pepper's obnoxious, arrogant, and very egotistical Wall Street worker friend of Norton's Monty Brogan (a drug dealer on the backlash after being caught out by the DEA), heading down the path of no return when it turns out to be he whom is most affected by Monty's conviction.

The story is simple: Monty Brogan (Norton) has just 24 hours before he goes to prison for seven years. Seven years wasted because of the lives he has affected by dealing narcotics since he was young. The unforgiving authorities show no sympathy, and despite the fact they are unlikeable in how they handle Monty's sympathetic man, we know deep down that they are right, and have every right to treat Brogan with the contempt that they have for him.

In the end it's this film, this quiet success, that decimates the rest of Spike Lee's career and defines the subject matter in its truest form. This is the most poignant statement on September 11 and the state of New York today, and it could not be handled by a better director.

Mezmerizing, haunting, absolutely astounding. It's easy to see why many called this film a mess, but I find nothing wrong with the flawless surreality to this masterpiece. It captures the madness of any war situation, let alone the Vietnam War. Brando is astounding.

I don't think five stars can justify just how ground-breaking and true this film is. Damn it, I don't think I've seen a film this sad before, and I probably never will see another like this.

Lars Von Trier, you are a damn magician.

Rising up from the dust of incomprehensible arthouse, David Lynch batters away ruthlessly at the story of a man like no other:

This is a story that will tear your heart in two, a story so beautiful and transcendant, yet painful and disturbing... that you will fall in love for the aptly named "Elephant Man", a man so deformed and depraved that people take advantage of him for financial and otherwise cruel purposes. But when Hopkins' Doctor Treeves takes him in and provides him with a good life, he becomes obsessed with the idea of "sleeping like normal people", a trait that he can never complete because the deformities on his head would cause his neck to snap should he ever sleep in such a way.

John Hurt pulls his performance off with the needed subtlety, and Hopkins provides for the professional compassion of a man seemingly %u2014 initially %u2014 obsessed with taking advantage of The Elephant Man himself.

Still, in what has to be one of the saddest climaxes in film, making for one of the most heartbreaking films ever, I can comfortably commend this film as David Lynch's best.

By far.

The greatest action epic to have ever graced the silver screen. A testament to movie making, and battle scenes that transcend laws of film making and redefine them.

Never before have I been so profoundly disturbed and enlightened at one particular time. A gripping view of a future not necessarily of 2000AD, but beyond... and a fitting end to arguably the greatest anime series of all time: Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Beautiful. A darkly powerful film that thrusts Brad Davis into arguably his best performance ever (the retrial-speech will remain in my mind as one of the angriest I've ever witnessed) and sends him into a horrific downward spiral into madness and insanity that is peaked by an outrageously satisfying yet maddeningly horrifying scene in which he literally destroys a fellow inmate, finishing him off by graphically tearing out his tongue.

The supporting cast is spectacular, and the pain you feel for Davis' character is as obvious as the pain you feel for, say, Hurt's character. Madness and hatred peaks within the Turkish prison, and by the end of this masterpiece, you won't wanna even consider drug-smuggling as a profession...

A nightmare to watch, but one that must be endured to truly understand. I wish everyone I ever cared about would see this film, and if not to stop their drug addiction (of which this film has the power to prevent such abominations...) then to see Ellen Burstyn's superior role, which I say with no embarrassment, drove me to tears as the final act thrusted into its final plummet.

Heart-wrenchingly powerful. In contrast, this is not a conventional film. Very much an artpiece. But it is an astounding artpiece, and without a doubt Nicolas Cage's greatest performance, and perhaps a display of acting ability that ranks up there with Fiennes' Amon Goeth and Burstyn's Emma Goldfarb. Speaking of Goldfarb, by comparison, this is very much an alcoholic equivilent of Requiem For A Dream, only even more effective. Considering the power of RFAD, this is a brilliant achievement in itself. I thoroughly recommend.