Come to think about, Platoon, The Deer Hunter, Unforgiven, No Country For Old Men, the first two Godfathers have won best picture. This isn't even mentioning dark genre films like Silence Of The Lambs and The French Connection.


However, to be fair, I think I'll consider any major award for a depressing film - like Best Adapted Screenplay for The Midnight Express, or The Exorcist - as such an Oscar. Any you would like to bring to the table?

Would you consider a nomination?
Rob

Well, it IS Oscar-related, so I actually don't have a choice.


In this case, 'Deliverance' (nom. Best Picture, Director) and 'Testament' (nom. Best Actress) are about as good as you can get.

Nope - much more depressing - The Sweet Hereafter

A small town has one school and the school bus with all the kids on board crashes, slides onto a lake covered by ice and slips under.......

That's the first few minutes. Now we have grief.......

As a parent, you cannot imagine

Rob

I thought this was about unworthy Oscar Winners that made you depressed!

Anyways I think you guys already took the real depressing movies.

The Sweet Hearafter is a soul crushing movie. I saw it not really knowing what it was about, I just knew that Sarah Polley was in it. The school bus scene is horrifying to watch, mostly because it's from such a distance. No closeups required.

Hi Munroe,

Yeah that scene is immensely powerful. However, I'm not sure if you're a parent?

The quiet follow up scenes capture grief and loss better than any film I can think of. I can only imagine (in fact I don't think I want to even imagine) what it must be like to go through something like this. I remember quietness as theme in this film.

Can you imagine the Hollywood remake? The bus would be doing 50 miles an hour careering round corners, the driver would have a heart attack and struggle to maintain control, the music would be ramping up, camera angles and cutting would be at bay like speed. The stricken bus would jump the curb and roll down a hill falling to pieces and explode at the bottom. The FBI would arrive, helicopters would be buzzing overhead, sirens wailing, journalists circling and the characters would never stop talking cliches! Hmmm.

James gave the film the rare 4 star treatment and he was right.

Some people reading this are going to think. Why would I want to see this film? I bought the DVD, it's a masterwork, it really is. I've seen many movies with depressing central themes, that turn out to be memorable experiences. of course, it's not a Friday night beer and pizza movie....

Rob

No I'm not a parent. So some of the grief scenes didn't play as heavily on me, but it didn't negatively affect the movie overall. I still think it's a near perfect movie, and it should be seen by anyone who claims to be a film buff.

I'll tell you what's depressing: Silence of the Lambs and Shakespeare in Love winning over Beauty and the Beast and Saving Private Ryan.

Hi Munroe,

Being a parent, it did not spoil it at all for me. It made it hard though. If I am sad or depressed after a movie I am strangely quite happy later on.

Ultimately I want the movie to impact me strongly in a way that the film makers intended. I hate not laughing at a comedy or being bored by a thriller.

Sweet Hereafter is a very powerful and brilliantly executed movie. It's also very sad.

Rob

Terms of Endearment is pretty sad, though I suppose it's bittersweet on some levels. A Clockwork Orange is kind of depressing, too, but for atypical reasons. Waltz With Bashir doesn't really end on a high note, though it's technically a Best Foreign Language Film nominee.

I love the animation style for Waltz, even if it is pretty simple.

I love Silence of the Lambs, but UGH... Shakespeare in Love was a straight up travesty, of epic proportions. Does anyone really look back and think, gee, that movie was so much better than Saving Private Ryan!?

It's funny, I don't see Silence de la Lambs as being that depressing when I think back. Perhaps its dark genre film status as you mentioned just makes it seem like.. well, a really good dark genre film.

I don't they are comparable, but I will agree that the 1998 Best Picture battle was the second most disappointing thing Oscar has ever done, only topped by what they would to the #1 film in America from 2008. After they snubbed The Dark Knight, I have decided never to watch another Oscarcast or mind their choices before or after ever again.

By the way, not to totally go off topic, but Requiem For A Dream did get nodded for Best Actress, so there you go. Also, Raise The Red Lantern got a nod for best Foreign Film (which it, of course, did not win ), and Se7en got a nomination for editing.

Hi Evanflow

I don't think the Dark Knight decision was the worst at all

Ordinary People beat Raging Bull
How green was My Valley beat Citizen Kane and Maltese Falcon

These films were also not nominated:
2001 A Space Odyssey - It's true!
Rear Window
Do the Right Thing
Duck Soup
King Kong (1933)
Singin' In the Rain
The African Queen

Then these three directors never won an Oscar for directing:
Alfred Hitchcock
Stanley Kubrick
Charles Chaplin

Other huge gaffes IMHO
Rocky beat Network and Taxi Driver
Patton beat Airport - just kidding James
West Side Story beat The Hustler

I'm sorry, but the Oscars.....

Rob

Gotta side with Robert here -- Do the Right Thing not getting a nomination is infinitely more of a snub that TDK. Not to mention that politics actually played a role in that snub. And Saving Private Ryan not winning is also a much bigger snub than TDK not getting a nomination.

As far as depressing from an emotionial standpoint, I agree that The Sweet Hereafter -- for many reasons -- is much more depressing than Requiem, Deliverance, Testement, etc.

Didn't 2001 get a special Oscar for having such awesome visual effects?

Patrick,

It did win best FX, but the issue for me is that it was nominated for best film. Hard to believe that the oscar noms that year were:

Oliver
Funny Girl
Lion In Winter
Rachel Rachel
Romeo and Juliet

Rob

Will echo many of the thoughts above, but a special mention about Sweet Hereafter, a superb film, one of my top films. ( I don't have a ranked list per se, but a group of films I love)

Ah ha! 'The Fly' got a win for best make-ep effects. I had to look for this, but damnit, I found it.