Reporting live from Kelsey's Sad Corner! The following is a list of ten movies that have presented themselves to me during different phases of my life. Ranging from my early childhood to now, these movies have gotten me though some particularly rough and tumble times. They all make me cry, and I watch them when I am sad. And if there is anything I am an expert at, it is in fact being sad!!!! I can’t explain it, but watching sad movies while I am already sad makes me feel better somehow? Can someone who is certified in mental health explain why this is? I should teach a class on sadology or something and see if I can turn a profit with my sad skill. Note: this is not a list of my favorite movies, I will have to do a good think about what those are! Without further ado, and in no particular order, here we go!
My Girl: Do you feel sad? Do you want to feel even sadder? Then look no further than this adorable coming of age story turned sob fest with baby Macaulay Culkin and baby Anna Chlumsky. I have mentioned this movie on this blog before, and I will mention it again! This movie follows the story of a young girl who lives in a funeral home and she is, you guessed it, obsessed with death and dying. It is both parts endearing and cringe and every time I watch it, it makes me want a camper van just like Shelly. The ending is always awful and always meets me where I am already at when I am feeling super sad. I also almost always go on to watch Veep afterwards as a palate cleanser because Anna Chumlsky is in that series. I just love her!
Frequency: I watched this movie all the time as a kid, and I find it makes me more emotional to watch as an adult. I was born into a family that loves the New York Mets, and for better or for worse (mostly, worse...) I will always have a soft spot in my heart for that baseball team, and I love when the Mets are featured in movies. I always joke that my dad taught me about the resiliency of disappointment super young in life because I was a Mets fan, and that the New York Mets’ biggest rival is the New York Mets. I could go on and on. This movie is about a young New York City cop played by Jim Caviezel who connects with his diseased firefighter father played by Dennis Quaid through a 1960’s radio. It is quantum physics mixed with time travel mixed with a murder mystery and finishes with a massive do-over done right. I cry like a baby every single time I watch this movie. It is brilliantly acted, and this is one of the few films (in my opinion) that does a period like the 1960s justice. It leaves me filling hopeful, wistful, and it reminds me of a time when I would go to Mets games with my family at Shea Stadium (Rest in Peace, Shea Stadium! The remains of Shea Stadium are now a parking lot, and the sleek inside of Citi Field has never felt the same.)
Zootopia: Yes, please don’t laugh! This movie has been debunked and pulled apart on The Bechdel Cast podcast and I know it is highly problematic! I KNOW AND I'M SORRY! But I watched this movie during such a dark time in my life and it was really there for me when no one else was. I was so sad during this time, y’all. There were a few weeks there where I would wake up at 3am and would remember my current situation, and I would begin to cry all over again. I could never get back to sleep and the grief was so intense that I could literally feel my body turning hollow. I lived alone at the time, and even if I did have someone to chat with, I’m sure my 3am moping sessions would’ve gotten super old super fast. I would trudge myself into my living room and turn this movie on, and it would play until the sun came up and I had to get ready to go to work. This happened for two or three weeks straight, I would wake up at 3am and I would put this on and it made me feel less alone. It’s cute, lighthearted, and it took my mind off of what was getting me so down. I don’t care what anyone says, that Shakira song about trying everything will always be a banger and will never fail to lift my sprits. I rarely find myself reaching for this movie now, but my boyfriend always knows something is wrong when he finds me alone watching it under a pile of blankets. I have such a fondness for this movie and, with space and healing, that specific time in my life, too.
Moana: Something about this movie is hypnotic in a way I can’t put my finger on. The songs are catchy and comforting, and, like most folks, I identify with being on a life journey that no one else could possibly understand! (this is sarcasm!) I love the grandmother in this film, she is the kooky elder I one day hope to be. The way the water is animated in this film relaxes me, and when the grandmother’s stingray sparkles in the water, it really does something that calms me down. I also love how this is a story about a girl who isn’t trying to find love, but rather trying to find a way to save her home. I love a good story where young girls can just be girls! And I love when they figure out that the magic isn’t located in some external far off place, but it has been inside them all along. It seems like more and more Disney is putting out films that focus more on inner growth rather than outside validation from the opposite sex, and that is really cool!
North by Northwest: I watch this movie around the holidays whenever I’m feeling a bit down. There is always so much pressure to enjoy the holidays and to spend time with loved ones and to have fun. I find it so hard to have fun when there is pressure to have fun, ya know? Holiday joy can be so fleeting, and that stresses me out and then I get all existential and find myself wanting to freeze time so it can always be merry and bright. I live in New York, and I love seeing how New York used to look on old cameras from the 1950s. This era is full of bold candy colors and I love how this film does such an epic story with what we would now think of as such little technology. This film was shot on a VistaVision that was also used for Hitchcock’s To Catch A Thief (1955), The Trouble with Harry (1955), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and Vertigo (1958). It is a big contraption and is currently sitting in a museum somewhere. I adore this film, and the plot and action sequences always take my mind off of the yule tide brushes with sadness and bittersweet feelings that come when the year reaches an end.
Meet me in Saint Louis: Another movie that comes into my sphere around the holidays. I am tempted to also put The Wizard of Oz on this list, but anything with Judy Garland will do. I loved watching this movie as a kid. It’s about sisters and family and falling in love and Christmas! What’s not to love? But as I’ve gotten older, I see it is more a story about growing up and leaving your childhood behind. It is also about how we take our childhood homes and hometowns for granted while they are still with us, and the idea of detaching ourselves from them forever is really stark. So many good (or bad) times will no longer be solidified in a place, and we must do instead with our memories and pictures of a time gone by. Ugh, it just makes me cry. Also, knowing what I know now about Judy Garland, what she went through in her lifetime, and how she was treated by the people who were meant to protect her really makes me upset. She deserved better.
Pride and Prejudice (2005): Do I even need to explain this one?
Atonement: The ending of this movie really breaks my heart, and forces me to reconcile with the fact that the mistakes we make in our childhood sometimes DO last forever. What a freaking downer. This movie has baby Saoirse Ronan and a super young James McAvoy in it. It fills every hole in my heart and also Kiera Knightly in that emerald dress??? Cinema history, right there. And a story about how WWII really did give us no hope and changed the course of innocent people’s lives is always something that puts a guaranteed frown on my face.
Almost Famous: This movie was so important to me when I was a senior in high school and I had the movie poster hanging in my freshman dorm in college. This is, to me, is Kate Hudson’s greatest work, and even though Philip Seymour Hoffman has a tiny part, he is really spectacular. I say, “I’m always home. I’m uncool.” multiple times a day thanks to Mr. Lester Bangs. I adore the entire cast, but mostly Francis McDormand who plays William’s overbearing but well meaning mother. This movie made me obsessed with the works of Cameron Crowe and opened my eyes to a whole new type of cinema I had never seen before. Watching this movie brings me back to when I was 18 and unaware of so much that was yet to unfold for me, and it makes me feel cozy on a gloomy day.
A Cinderella Story: Bringing up the caboose on this list may not be considered a hefty player in the world of respected cinema, but it was a huge movie for me when I was in elementary and middle school. I loved Hilary Duff (I was obsessed with Lizzie McGuire as a kid! I had a Lizzie McGuire calendar, a notebook set, and I think even a book about the middle school life of Lizzie!) Chad Michael Murray is OBVIOUSLY a stud here, and I have such fond memories of coming home from school and watching One Tree Hill and acting like I understood anything that was happening. Sigh. Watching this now as an adult, the writing is so cheesy and it's difficult for me to believe some of the plot lines, but it does the job when I am feeling bummed out. I do remember that the girls in this movie accurately depicted high school mean girls, because the popular girls I went to school with really did give out nicknames like "diner girl" to other girls they deemed uncool. Unlike some of the movies on this list, the ending is a happy one!!!
And that's it, folks! Making this list and walking down memory lane has made me want to watch a sad movie and get sad! I have been inspired to think of my favorite movies and perhaps even the movies that I dislike the most! Both are lengthy lists! This has been Kelsey, reporting live from Kelsey's Sad Corner, and we will see you next time!
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