Movies To Cry To
Sometimes, you just need to let the tears out and these are the movies I reach for to get the job done!
For the entire month of March, I was so sick. I tested negative for flu, strep and covid but nevertheless, something had been plaguing me for weeks. That meant I was doing a lot of resting in hopes of getting better faster.
On two separate occasions with two separate buds, the conversation of needing a good cry came up. Apparently we are all feeling emotionally constipated right now and it’s nice to know I’m not alone there. We need to cry and we discussed all the movies that usually get the job done. These are mine!
Little Women
There is something about each one of these adaptations that just hits me right in the feels. I love the strong themes of sisterhood running throughout the story and seeing how the different actresses bring life to the roles in different ways. Having sisters is a special experience that I don’t think I could ever really explain and now that I am no contact with one of mine, it hurts even more. Tears everywhere, don’t call, don’t text.
Female Friendships, Family, Music & Mothers
We are just starting but I already sense a theme here… people with family issues, raise your hands! Ok, so let’s start with the first one.
Beaches
Arguably, one of the first films I ever watched that just wrecked me, even though I was too young to really understand why. There is a strong friendship spanning decades at the core of the story, but there is also love and heartache and sickness and betrayal and fights and growth and life and music. It is wonderful and will get the tears flowing.
Mamma Mia
How can a musical with the bubbly Amanda Seyfried and a soundtrack comprised of 100% Abba songs (that are mostly upbeat too) have me in tears? Well, the mother daughter relationship makes me ache, there’s also that fizzy sensation of being young and in love. Oh and the fact that Amanda Seyfriend’s character not only has a loving, incredible mother but 1, 2, 3 passionate, eager, kind men who might possibly be her father. It’s a happy, feel good, fun cry, but a cry none the less.
Stepmom
Oh good, another story about mothers. It is really a film about the complexities of being an entire, flawed individual and also a loving parent, divorce, blending of families, coparenting and just… being afraid while going through each step. The kids are incredible actors on their own of course (love seeing young Jena Malone shine) but watching them alongside Julia and Susan just really nails this story home for me. It felt real… real emotionally upsetting, hence why it made my cry list.
2 Classic Tear Jerkers and a Recent Wildcard
My Girl
Upon reading the title alone, some of you may feel like it is a personal attack but I promise it isn’t. A personal attack would be me saying “wanna go tree climbing Thomas J?” That was a personal attack. I feel like this story perfectly captured the way it felt to be a not so cookie cutter, spirited young girl with a weird family and lot of big feelings and questions to go along with them. I have never met a person who doesn’t cry when they watch this. I want to share it with my sons but I also feel like it may hurt them in a way I can’t undo. It is just sweet and painful and nostalgic in the best way. It feels both carefree the way summertime always did and painful in the way growing up always is. Have tissues next to you.
Steel Magnolias
This one offers a plethora of different pains alongside some laughs and fun friendship moments but there is something about Sally Fields monologue near the end that just breaks me. Don’t get it twisted though, I go from laughter to tears to horror and back again through the entire span of the movie.
Marcel the Shell
Never in a million years did I expect this movie about a cute little sentient shell to hurt my heart but I underestimated Marcel and overestimated the thickness of my skin. It was just so cute and sweet and weird in exactly the right way.
Honorable Mention - Pride and Prejudice
Now, the reason this is just tacked on at the end and not in the official list is that it isn’t really a “crying” movie, even though it makes me cry. Now that we’re at the end of the list, you can kind of tell that making me cry really isn’t that hard. This is a favorite of mine and it does make me cry so it counts but truthfully, it is really more of a depression comfort movie - list of those to come. Basically, 99% of the time, if I am watching it, something’s wrong. There is always that 1% chance that I am simply in the mood for it, no more no less. But it couldn’t hurt to send a text and double check ;)