Bleakest Film You've Ever Seen?

[lostexpectation]

irreversible

beauty but bleak

 

[hungry 4 kicks]

Sort of a recommendation thread, sort of just for fun.

Don't forget 'Requiem for a dream' - he only lost half his forearm so not a contender IMO ( runs for cover )

I think Eraserhead was pretty relentless and bleak.

I watched 'Happiness' with my Dad (weird experience with scenes that go: "dad how do you wank....do you want me to show you son").....I thought it was bleak as hell but a refreshingly brave (hilarious) depiction of an obviously serious subject....

 

[perplexis]

The bleakest is hard to say, so there are so many circumstantial factors- watching Requiem for a Dream with an horrendous comedown was pretty bleak
In no particular order:
Festen
Dancer in the Dark
Man Bites Dog (well, I thought it was bleak)
Feux Rouges (Red Lights- a really unrelenting French road-movie)
...

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Amores Perros

Very good film, but I didn't find it that bleak. 21 grams on the other hand, was so depressing it made Morissey look like Bob Marley!

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

concrete island, i'd love to see that on screen, brilliant book

In terms of bleak books, I'd like to see Iain Banks's Complicity made into a (decent) film. I know there was a film version a while ago, but it didn't really capture the power of it. I'd love to see someone like David Fincher do a version.

 

[Kameron]

I used to think it was '1984' (the John Hurt and Richard Burton version).

Then I saw 'Threads'.

Makes me shudder just thinking about it.

Same here. Threads is the top of this pile, the kitten rolling on its side with it fur on file, the milk bottles melting, the children sitting in front of the TV with the fire burning inside the broken screen. Jesus, words do no do it justice.

Dancer in the Dark though, no film has ever made me feel so depressed in all my life.

 

[DJWrongspeed]

Some great commendations and I've not seen some of these but "A Short film about killing." is my nomination. It's fantastically well made film and probably kieslowski's finest.

The Poland it potrays really sums the misery of life under communism. Highly recommended viewing.

 

[foamy]

can i add:
The War Zone

and agree with:
Requiem for a Dream
Kids
Irreversible
Nil By Mouth
Leaving las Vegas

...although thats pretty much a list of my favourite films too

 

[greenman]

Koyaanisquatsi (sp?)- Beautiful, but doesn't exactly leave you feeling full of the joys of spring.
Likewise Get Carter and Brazil - both very enjoyable, but neither leaving you feeling joy at being a human being. (I like the bit in Brazil where the foulest word the grafitti artists of the dystopian future can think to spraypaint is "Reality")

 

[Dolly Dimple]

'Funny Games'. Nightmares for days after that one.

 

[goldenecitrone]

'Funny Games'. Nightmares for days after that one.

Really? That's one of my favourite films. Can't wait to see 'Hidden'.

 

[marty21]

Really? That's one of my favourite films. Can't wait to see 'Hidden'.

hidden is fairly bleak, but worth seeing, i came out a little confused as to who did what and why, but i think i enjoyed it

 

[foamy]

dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y is pretty bleak, terrorist bombings set to 70's dicos music

 

[Dolly Dimple]

Really? That's one of my favourite films. Can't wait to see 'Hidden'.

It's the way it keeps on building up the hope that it'll work out OK, even towards the very final scene - and then repeatedly pulls the rug from under your feet. Great film, but fucking soul-destroying.

 

[goldenecitrone]

It's the way it keeps on building up the hope that it'll work out OK, even towards the very final scene - and then repeatedly pulls the rug from under your feet. Great film, but fucking soul-destroying.

It's the way the director keeps fucking with your head, making you implicit in the violence that is occuring on screen. I didn't want to let the fucker win. Very thought provoking stuff.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Introducing Il Grande Silenzio on Moviedrome, Alex Cox said:

The film, like most Italian Westerns, is incredibly bleak and pessimistic; but worse*, it has the most horrible ending of any film I've ever seen.

I thought so too when I saw it.

[* = he's explaining why it had never been shown here, not criticising]

 

[trabuquera]

oh and another - bleak but noble: Klimov's "Come and See", already discussed on several threads here as maybe the best (anti)war movie ever. maybe it's a bit too keen on the innocence of civilians to be considered totally bleak though

 

[brixtonvilla]

Breaking the Waves and Lilya 4 Ever. Both felt like being punched in the head for 90 minutes. Actually, it felt more like 180 minutes. Each.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Ran

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Ran

Talking of Japanese films, two Japanese cartoons that are hard to watch are 'grave of the fireflies' and 'barefoot Gen'.

Also Japanese but not a cartoon is 'dare mo shiranai' or 'nobody knows'.

 

[janeb]

Another vote here for Threads, but also, for similar reasons barefoot Gen.

 

[slowth]

Just watched 'Savior' (Dennis Quaid,Nastassja Kinski 1998) which is one disturbing atrocity after another.Relentless,bleak factor 10.

 

[isvicthere?]

What about that Polish film, directed by Kristof Kieslowski (sp?) which I think was called "A short film about killing"? That was really dark.

 

[purves grundy]

A couple of Ray Winstone films, probably already mentioned - 'Nil By Mouth' and 'The War Zone'

 

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

'A Short Film About Killing' didn't contain too many chuckles.

If made-for-TV films count, then try 'A Portrait Of Harry Clarke', a BBC production featuring, ironically, Griff Rhys-Jones. Definitely a wrist-slasher.

 

[killer b]

'the vanishing' is pretty grim, iirc.

 

[foo]

i always remember Paris,Texas as being a really bleak film. but maybe it's just that beautiful haunting music - can't remember much about the storyline tbh.

 

[shoddysolutions]

i always remember Paris,Texas as being a really bleak film. but maybe it's just that beautiful haunting music - can't remember much about the storyline tbh.

I disagree, Paris Texas was and is a beautiful, beautiful film. I find myself going aaaaaah at the cinematography and ooooooh at Natassia Kinski and awwwwwwww at Harry Dean Stanton. Not bleak, not bleak at all IMHO.

Travis is picked up walking through the desert having had some sort of breakdown and walked out on his young lover and their child some four years earlier. Picking up the pieces of his life, he and his son Hunter set off to Houston in search of his ex, whom he finds working in a sleazy strip joint. There follows a tear-jerking scene in which Travis explains his side of the story to his ex through the one-way glass in one of the strip joint's booths. Realising that what they had is now gone forever, Travis leaves his son with her and disappears.

 

[RubberBuccaneer]

Henry- Potrait of a serial killer.

Pretty grim in that it was so banal and pointless the violence ( unlike other serial killer films where there's calling cards, psychological reasons, etc )

 

[brokenyolk]

my fave bit of bleakness is 'Love Liza' - really really REALLY bleak and still manages to be funny as hell...

Philip Seymour Hoffman spends the film avoiding reading his wife's suicide letter. Takes up petrol sniffing.

In order to take up petrol sniffing, pretends to have an interest in model boats so he can buy the fuel without embarrasment.

Discovers that they don't use petrol. Carries on anyway.....