What about Dead Poets Society? I haven't seen it in decades but it made me cry a lot.
this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2025
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I can't believe nobody has said Coco. I dare anyone to get through the end without at least a tear or two.
Oh I'm so glad someone said Coco! Oh gosh, the final scenes and the final song always gets me
First movie that popped into my head was What Dreams May Come. Robin Williams goes through heaven and hell to try and save his wife's soul. Great flick with some amazing visuals (especially for the time).
Everything Everywhere All At Once
This has me all the way from to tears of sadness to tears of joy and really made me feel for the main character. It seems too whimsical to take seriously at first, but if you let it wash over you it rewards you. it can be an incredibly powerful movie and I loved the message.
Also, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s a really sad breakup movie. Lots of emotion. Some of Jim Carry’s best acting.
EEAAO is truly a masterpiece and I do not say that shit lightly. For all it's multiverse goofiness there really is a solid layer depicting the struggle of women, mother, and girls becoming women. There's also cultural bits obviously as well, and marriage. My god the dad breaks my heart every time. Just good from beginning to end.
The dad is just such a good person.
The googly eyes, the silliness, he just wanted to make his family smile.
It's how he fights!
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The Fountain Grave of the Fireflies
Came here to suggests these two choices!
haven't watched a lot of shows that aren't anime so here are my recs:
- Your name (movie, its really really good)
- A silent voice (movie, same as your name)
- Your lie in april (tv series, apparently really good at making you cry but haven't watched it)
- Anohana: The flower we saw that day (tv series, same as your lie in april)
your name and a silent voice have really good animation btw
i almost cried during weathering with you which is a movie in the same universe as your name but it isn't as emotional as your name ig
Thank you for introducing me to Your Name. I just finished watching it. Absolutely wonderful film.
Can confirm Your Lie In April made me cry like a baby. But I would say anime wise Violet Evergarden was even more cathartic. I ugly cried more than once watching it.
Violet Evergarden is an incredible show about grief. But wow, is the movie sketchy as all hell.
How so
spoiler
Violet starts a romantic relationship with, and is implied to eventually marry, Gilbert, her former commanding officer in the military who was also her father figure, Violet having been a war orphan that Gilbert took in when she was 10. Violet was a child soldier from the ages of 10 to 14, at which time the war ended. Gilbert had faked his death at the end of the war because he had developed romantic feelings for Violet. Gilbert is 11 years older than her. By the time of the movie, Violet is 18 and Gilbert is 29, but he was in love with her when he was 25 and she was 14, and probably before that. This is portrayed as a romantic and happy ending.
It also goes against the show's themes and messages about grief and moving on, but the above thing tends to overshadow that.
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Looks like you've got a long list already, but the last movie that made me lump in my throat cry was Awakenings with Robin Williams and Robert deNiro
Came here to say the same thing.
Also, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was better than it had a right to be.
Last movie that made me cry was The Whale. I saw it in a theatre and rarely I had to refrain myself from crying in public this bad. Once I got home though I just bawled my eyes out.
The Wild Robot is well worth a watch. It looks like a kids movie, but I think the themes work just as well if not better for adults.
Yeah I legit choked up at the scene where the little bird leave with the rest and the robot is watching, and I don't even have kids
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"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (2013 version) is beautiful and thoughtful. Completely unlike any other Ben Stiller movie that I know of.
"The Fountain" (2006) might qualify too, though it's a lot heavier.
"Amélie" (2001)
"Hector and the Search for Happiness" (2014) is decent too, though I'm a Simon Pegg fan so it gets extra points for that
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Big Fish
This is my recommendation too. I just watched again recently, and my dad is on his way out and I just bawled. Such a great movie.
Grave of fireflies - film that you watch only once as it's too sad to watch the second time.
Yeah this will wreck you, and knowing that the movie is a autobiographical story of its creators own experience during the war and what happened to his sister just makes it worse
Many good movies have been mentioned already (especially Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind, Big Fish, Manchester by the sea and The Fountain).
I would like to add:
- Finding Neverland
- Captain Fantastic
And if you want to absolutely destroy yourself: Prayers for Bobby.
I saw “What Dreams May Come” in high school and wept the entire way from the theater to the car.
Even met some friends on the way and had to explain I was crying because it was so beautiful.
What Dreams May Come is incredible in so many ways. It's incredibly beautiful, incredibly sad, and just hits everything so perfectly. It just hits on so many emotional points and uses in such artistry to convey it. I love it so much.
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Its not really a movie with a lot of depth but "Hachi: A Dog's Tale" wrecked me.
"Your Name", anime film about a high school age boy and girl that swap bodies in their sleep, they don't know anything about eachother and have to figure out how to not ruin eachothers lives and relationships, it's very bueatiful, and you'll cry for sure.
Requiem for a Dream
Life is Beautiful
Manchester by the Sea
The Green Mile
My recommendations are more sad than uplifting, but still beautiful and emotional.
Yeah, I still can't hear "Cheek to Cheek" without getting residually wrecked.
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Not knowing what usually makes you cry and what kind of movies you may enjoy, here are the first movies I know make me cry. Me being a a 50+ years old dude:
- Somewhere in Time
- The bicentennial man
- Love Story.
And those are from Ghibli:
- When Marnie was There
- The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
- From Up on Poppy Hill
- Only Yesterday
- The Red Turtle
- Porco Rosso
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Two movies that usually appear on lists like this, but I don't see them: The Fountain, and The Fall.
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No matter how many times I watch Flow, it never fails to make me cry by the end.
I was going to say this one, I was crying all throughout the screening 'cause the themes I picked up fom the beginning of the movie moved me deeply and resonated on a personal level. It's also visually astonishing, that alone would have made me cry. A fantastic experience.
A Silent Voice. I watched it while I was going through a rough time, and the visual metaphor used to portray the main character's isolation hit me so hard.
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Your list is getting quite long but here's another less week known movie:
Nine Days (by Edson Oda)
What's going to hit will be a bit dependent on where your soft spots are.
Kids: Grave of the Fireflies or Bridge to Teribithea or My Girl or The Cure
Romantic love: The Fountain
Existential trauma: Psycho-Pass (series) or A.I.
Dogs: Marley & Me or Hachi
Loss: Up
Also:
River
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