Crying in Movies: Show me Your Tears

[allyndra]

On Saturday, we went to the video place and rented Holes (because my son just finished the book and adored it), Bridge to Terebithia (because he's been wanting to read the book), and Sydney White (because it was fluffy and had Danny Strong in it). We watched Holes and got started on Bridge to Terebithia, and it was all very nice. Then, Sunday morning, I awoke to find my son sobbing on the couch. He'd gotten up early and decided to finish Bridge to Terebithia without us, and he'd just gotten to the part where Leslie died. He hadn't ever seen a movie where a character he cared about, a sympathetic character who's given screen time to grow, died. Plus, she was just a kid, which I think hit him even harder.

Now, I cry in movies quite a bit, and so does my husband. I got to thinking, though, is that normal? Do y'all cry in films? If so, tell me:
1. Which movie do you love, even though it makes you cry?
2. Is there a movie you hate, but cry at anyway?

Comments

[dancinbutterfly.livejournal.com]

I cried in the i read the BOOK Bridge to Terabithia(I was 9. I was FURIOUS and crushed)

1)Green Mile - both the book and the movie. In the movie I cry when John Coffy is executed. In the book, I cry when Delacroix's execution gets fucked up
Also - West Side Story - if I so much as HEAR "Somewhere" I start crying.

2)For the longest time I HATED Titanic even though it made me cry like a little kid. I love it now though. *shrug* I tend to love the movies that make me cry.

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

The book Bridge to Terebithia killed me as a kid. Also a book called Toothpick, where the girl had cystic fybrosis. I bawled.

Oh, West Side Story! I love it, and yes, I cry. But I have to do so when my husband is out, because he mocks it relentlessly. And crying at something that's being laughed at is really annoying.

I actually liked Titanic. The hype around it bugged me, but I really enjoyed the movie. Haven't watched it in years, though.

[rasah.livejournal.com]

1. There are so many... Shawshank, Green Mile, Rocky Balboa, Renaissance Man - there are some films that I could see a million times and STILL cry every time! But... Bill (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082075/) is a film which is legendary in my family. When my brothers and sister and I saw it (we would probably have been about 13, 12 and 8) we actually cried so much that, when I went to my mum's room to tell her how it had ended (she'd got a headache and gone to lie down) I couldn't get the words out, none of us could, eventually my mum (trying not to laugh) said "what have you lot been doing in there??"

To this day (20 years later!) there's not a one of us who can talk about 'The Hail Mary', or 'The Phone Call', or the 'Santa Claus' bits - cause if we do, we cry (I am actually welling up just thinking about it).

2. Can't think of one - although I hate Titanic, but did find the bit with the old couple to be a bit sad (didn't cry though).

How's about you?

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

It's kind of awesome that you guys have the bonding experience of crying through Bill. I've never seen it. But maybe I'll give it a try if I'm in the mood to cry sometime.

Mine:
1. I still cry in Dirty Dancing and Say Anything, and I've seen both of those movies 500 times. I cry in Forrest Gump, at the end, when he's with his son. And I cry in Finding Nemo and sometimes in Toy Story 2. And I know there are more.

2. AI. God, I hated that movie, and I cried through the whole damned thing. We saw it in the theater, too, so I was out in public sobbing over this little robot boy. I will never, ever watch it again.

[rasah.livejournal.com]

lol - excellent icon!

haven't seen say anything for years, but i do remember it being very good.

saw AI, but don't remember it - although i'm reasonably sure i cried...

[rasah.livejournal.com]

oh my god - LILO AND STITCH!!!! and IRON GIANT!

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

Oh, I absolutely cry in Iron Giant. I think it's a requirement.

[rasah.livejournal.com]

"Superman!" *wells up*

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

Okay, I've been thinking.

Steel Magnolias. Shawshank Redemption. Love Actually. (not at the funeral, though, at the part where Emma Thompson's character confronts her husband.)

[rasah.livejournal.com]

Love Actually is one of my all time favourite films - it's the bit when she stands in the middle of the room listening to Both Sides Now that kills me (in fact, i bought the album just because of that scene!).

oh good god! Steel Magnolias!!!! Also, believe it or not - Straight Talk makes me cry - the bit where everyone honks their horns? I do love Doll Parton *g*

Beaches (of course), Harvey, It's a Wonderful Life, FIELD OF DREAMS!!!

Your turn... ;o)

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

I love Dolly Parton. She seems so nice. I've been trying to get Here You Come Again as a ringtone for my in-laws, but it won't load properly.

Oh, Beaches! Yeah, I cried at Beaches. And I can't even sing The Wind Beneath My Wings around my husband, because they played it at his aunt's funeral when he was 10.

Ever After, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Apollo 13.

[rasah.livejournal.com]

Coat of Many Colours makes me cry so much i have to skip that song if it comes on while i'm driving...

That is FREAKY. REALLY FREAKY. I was watching Music and Lyrics earlier and when Drew Barrymore mentioned fairytales i thought about watching Ever After but I only have it on vhs not dvd so i couldn't be bothered... you are a little bit phsycic!

Four Weddings - the bit with the poem i take it? "I thought that love would last forever."? yeah, that gets me. a lot. and actually, i don't like the rest of that film so that fits in with your original question 2!

Apollo 13!!!! And Castaway too. But Apollo 13 just, oh dear. no matter how many times i see it - the washing machine bit! the algae bit! the triumphant radio call confirming they are alive (even though you know they are, cause it's HISTORY, i STILL am on the edge of my seat every time!

the bit at the end of Two Towers, when Sam does his speech about things being worth fighting for. SO SAD!!

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

Yay for my psychic powers! :o)

In Four Weddings and a Funeral, it is the part at the funeral. I do like the movie, but I hate Andy McDowell in it. Lately, I mute the TV when she's on, and unmute for the rest of the film.

Two Towers, yes, and Return of the King. The part where Frodo believes Gollum and leaves Sam. And the part at the end, where everyone kneels down around the hobbits.

Also, Rent and What Dreams May Come.

[rasah.livejournal.com]

lol! i nearly said the part where everyone kneels down! also "i can't carry it [your burden], but i can carry you" *sniff*

haven't seen rent or what dreams may come - any good? ooh, oooh!!! AWAKENINGS!!!!

[roxy-palace.livejournal.com]

I just posted to Al about Iron Giant...then I saw your post and I actually did tear up! It is SUCH a beautiful moment...*sniff, sniff*

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

I meant to list a bunch, but I"m just going to haphazardly give a few off the top of my head:

The Color Purple. I first saw it years and years ago, and two of my friends had to hold hands with me because I cried something like six times during the film. It's still pretty rough going watching it now.

Babe. Oh Babe! :( From the moment he loses his mom. :(((( I couldn't get past the opening of Babe, Pig in the City because I was sobbing so hard, but that's a story for another time.

Um. Lilo & Stitch (oh, chosen-family movies get me every time). Little Lord Fauntleroy (the Freddie Bartholomew version), The Secret Garden (the more recent version), lots and lots of children's movies.

And then movies like Norma Rae -- UNION! Social cause movies that hit on an issue I really care about. And -- I should probably stop, because I could just keep listing.

I don't cry at all films, though. If I dislike a movie, I'm unlikely to cry at it. I've got a friend who cries at nearly every movie she sees; it's not that she can't have a critical discussion about it afterwards, but during she gets caught in the moment, even for movies as bad as Bed of Roses (omg so bad!). Oh, and she cried in Terminator2, when the Terminator has to be melted down.

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

The Color Purple! OMG, I can't believe I forgot about how much that one affects me. My husband found out I hadn't seen it and was aghast. Rented it and sat me down and handed me the tissues.

[sublimatedangel]

I cry at so many movies. If it can break my heart, I love it. So many fall into this category that it's hard to actually name them all.

A movie that I hate but makes me cry anyway... hmm. Wings of the Dove, I think. It's very pretty, but I don't actually like it.

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

I cry at a whole lot of movies. And books! I can sob my way through books. Which is interesting, becasue I'm not a terribly emotional person the rest of the time.

I've never seen Wings of the Dove. And judging from your reaction, maybe I don't want to. :o)

[xanzpet.livejournal.com]

I'm one of those who purposefully avoided the film adaptation of Bridge to Teribithia because the book destroyed me when I was a child. Actually, now that I consider it, there were several books which accomplished this feat. Admittedly, I was much more sensitive as a child and a teenager than I am now, however.

After I went through a depression and went on Paxil, I stopped crying altogether, and I've never really recovered from that. It now takes a lot to make me cry, and it's usually either well-crafted drama or over-the-top melodrama. For example, when I watch A Walk to Remember, I start sobbing as soon as Mandy Moore sings the opening notes to 'Only Hope', and I don't stop for several hours after the credits stop rolling. Almost any drama starring Angelina Jolie starts me on a torrent of tears, particularly Gia, Beyond Borders, and A Mighty Heart.

I'm not spared from episodic television, either. I cried like a bitch during Doctor Who's Doomsday, even though I knew ahead of time that it was Billie Piper's last episode. That scene with them on the beach kills me. Every. Time. Ditto BtVS's The Body, The Gift, and the one in which Tara dies (I can never remember the name of episodes from that season, because I try to block it out, but I think it was Grave.). Certain episodes of Charmed also get me, namely the ones in which Prue or Piper died (and even though Piper came back, Prue's final death was, er, final, and I was devastated). Also a few episodes of Xena, especially the one in which Gabrielle and Xena were crucified (at the end of S4) and A Friend in Need, the series finale.

Hell, there are even some songs which can make me tear up, either because of the lyrics or because it is so beautifully performed. Sarah Brightman's Nessun Dorma, which I blast at top volume, really gets to me.

Huh. Looking at this, it would seem I cry a lot, but I honestly don't; often I'm unable to cry even when I wish to do so. In fact, I'll sometimes put on something which I know will make me cry, just so I can have that release. I think it's all part of the magic of film and music: they allow you to empathize in a way which seems safe and can be said to be devoid of personal context. 'Why are you crying?' 'Oh, because such-and-such is such a good actress, or blah-blah is so talented', etc.

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

You know, I have never seen A Walk to Remember. I really had no urge to see it at all, but then it was included in canon for the show Entourage, as the film during which Vince and Mandy Moore fell in love, and I got tempted. Maybe I'll rent it for a night when my husband is at work and therefore can't mock me. (He cries a lot in movies, he just doesn't like Mandy Moore.)

God, Doomsday is a killer. Billie Piper sold that performance, huh? I just felt like her heart was breaking, and it made me hurt for her. The Body is an incredible episode, too. It's Anya's fruit punch speech that gets me. I think the one where Tara dies is Seeing Red. It's so hard to watch a second time, knowing what's coming. I also cry when Oz leaves. When Willow says, "Don't you love me?" and her voice breaks just a little. I know Willow's not your fave, but you have to admit that's good TV.

[xanzpet.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge Mandy Moore fan (seriously, I'm a junkie; her last CD is so good, it's been in my personal rotation for several months), so when A Walk to Remember came out, my ex-wife (also a huge fan) and I had to go and support our girl. Neither of us had read the book which, in retrospect, was a mistake, because we had no clue about the story going in. We sobbed *buckets* during that movie, and were only slightly embarrassed that we were doing so amongst a theater filled with teenyboppers.

Billie was phenomenal in Doomsday, which is why I get irritated when her acting prowess is ripped apart in comms. She's really a rather good actress, IMO.

And Anya! *heart clutch* More than SMG or AH or anyone else, it was Emma Caulfield who sold that episode for me. She was just breathtaking.

And, no, Willow isn't my favorite, but Alyson Hannigan is a great actress, and she's never delivered an inauthentic performance that I've seen, so I agree fully with your 'Oz leaving' statement. *nods*

[roxy-palace.livejournal.com]

I never fail to cry like a baby at the end of Shakespeare In Love.

Also The Iron Giant...oh my god...that film wrecked me.

[allyndra.livejournal.com]

Iron Giant! Man, I still have no idea why that movie wasn't a huge hit. It's so very good. At least Brad Bird is getting the respect he deserves now.

[chrisleeoctaves.livejournal.com]

Hi. You have no idea who I am, but I surfed over here from nwhepcat's It's the Writers Stupid! Ficathon page...as I am always on the lookout for new-to-me writers. Then I was scrolling and saw this and I couldn't resist. I hope you don't mind indulging me and my list of movies that make me cry.

1. The Notebook - I saw this in the theater when it came out. I went with a friend and I think we had one tissue between us...and there was copious snot because we bawled our eyes out. I love that movie.

2. Bridges of Madison County - I read the book while I was living in the UK. I cried through the book; it just felt so vivid and real to me. Then I saw the movie, which I think was well done. I was glad they didn't try to make the characters younger than they were in the book, because I think that's why the book is so effective. And the scene where Meryl Streep's character is in the truck with her husband and Clint's character is standing in the pouring rain...omg. Bawled. It's something about having this interior life- a life that your children will never know anything about and about the sacrifices you make.

3. The Way We Were - I have so much love for this movie and I cry throughout but especially the very last scene where Hubble sees Katie across the street and runs over and they have this conversation and there is just so much love and history between them. And the song- I can't hear it without welling up.

4. Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet. (The Clare Danes/Leo Di Caprio version was also well done, but...) I first saw this movie when I was in high school. A whole row of girls sat in the front row and just sobbed. The language, the beautiful lead actors- everything about it. I am a sucker for the whole star-crossed love thing and this is the epitome of that.

5. Big Fish - I was reluctant to see this movie...but it worked its considerable magic on me and the final scene when Billy Crudup carries his father into the water. Yep - bawled like a baby.

6. Legends of the Fall - was Brad Pitt ever prettier than he is in this film? And the whole story- the sweeping landscape and melodrama, the brothers torn apart by war and their choices and a woman. Just beautiful and sad.

7. Ghost - because I am a sucker for the big, epic love of all time. And that last scene between Patrick and Demi. Sob!

8. ET - come on...who can sit through that movie without crying?

9. Field of Dreams - that final scene when Kevin Costner gets to throw the ball with his dad. I'm wailing by then, of course, but...

10. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King- the trilogy was amazing, but the end- just made me so sad...partly because I would now have to part company with these characters I had grown to love so much and partly because...it's just so wah!

Honorable mention to: Schindler's List, Sophie's Choice, Dr Zhivago, Mr. Holland's Opus, Dead Poet's Society, The Green Mile, Gladiator, The Little Princess (not the Shirley Temple version *g*) and The Secret Garden...and, you know, Grease makes me cry now. It came out the summer I was 17 and I saw it about 20 times in the theater...and now it makes me really nostalgic.

Movies that made me cry- but I felt manipulated the whole time: Stepmom (even though I am a huge Julia Roberts fan), A Walk to remember and Beaches.

As for TV shows- yep, I cry all the time:

My So-Called Life, Once and Again, Sisters, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (usually the bits with B/A - I Will Remember You guts me every single time I re-watch, but also when Joyce died and when Oz left and when Oz came back and left again and The Gift...okay, I cried a lot during BtVS) and Ats (when Fred died, and Wes...), Grey's Anatomy, ER (when Mark Green died I was a MESS), Alias...I could go on, but clearly...

I am a big cry-baby.

I'm so sorry for hijacking your LJ...I need Kleenex.