Bubbling brooklet

I like to cry. But that’s not exactly the sort of thing one brags about in the locker room, so I generally don’t go around telling everyone. Except I guess that’s what I’m doing right now. ~sigh~ ;)

Anyway, the reason I like crying is that it makes me feel more alive, more in tune with the human experience. It’s like a spiritual shower. Or like squeezing a water-heavy sponge. Or like eating watermelon.

In talking about this with a friend tonight, I realized what my main metric is for how good I think a movie is: how much it makes me cry. Sure, there are other facets to movies that are quite important — script, cinematography, acting, etc. — but the clincher, the thing that makes me tag a movie as “good” or “favorite,” is whether I cry. (I should mention here that I’m not really a bawler; I’m more of the quiet baby waterfall. And I don’t even cry that often. But I wish I did.) I don’t dislike movies that don’t make me cry, but they often leave me feeling somewhat dry.

So, if you have any good, clean tearjerkers to recommend, leave ‘em in the comments. :)

Man, you sure do reveal a lot about yourself on this blog… :)

I’ve never not cried at the end of The Testaments.. I recall being in the MTC, turning around as they flipped the lights on afterwards, and watching 2,000 19 year olds wipe their eyes with their ties. Hilarious.

Ben,
You are so unique… I don’t know anyone as creative, obedient and honest as you are. I am glad you cry, it reminds me you are human, which sometimes it is hard to believe when one sees your amazing accomplishments. Well, I would love to know which are the movies that you consider good (o sea, those that make you cry). I won’t tell you which mine are because some might be rated R (remember I come from Argentina) :) I will be waiting for your list of favorite movies.

Funny you should mention The Testaments.. this is an example of a movie I’d cite as a warning story about the dangers of putting heartstring-pulling ahead of quality storytelling and filmmaking. Everybody gives it a pass because it makes them cry (me included), but the love story is contrived, and the whole (fictionalized portion of the) story is cliched, so after the fact I feel manipulated.

I guess the movie does what it’s supposed to, but it’s pretty hackneyed as far as cinema goes.

Try watching the movie “Shadowlands.” I watched it for the first time the other night…not being a writer, I can’t express my feelings about it very clearly. Watch it, that’s all. :) The movie is about C.S. Lewis and his relationship with his wife. Wonderful.

As far as church movies that bring tears to my eyes, I would have to say Lagacy, The Testiments, The Joseph Smith movie, and my mission DVD entitled “By small and simple things…”.

Ben,

Alli’s right. Shadowlands is excellent, and has been known to make a man cry. But you’ve probably already seen it.

Ghandi is another excellent movie that’d probably make you feel alive.

Try Empire of the Sun.

I am quick to allow my eyes to tear up when watching a good movie, but the tears rarely ever fall out down onto my cheek. Having said that, here are a few of my “tear jerkers.”
-The movies already mentioned above and…
Dances With Wolves
The Family Man
It’s a Wonderful Life
Life is Beautiful
Field of Dreams
Forest Gump
more that I can’t think of now.

Ditto on Empire of the Sun.

I cry all the time… But usually because I’m a wuss and not because I feel on deep emotional levels.

I think I also cried during Spiderman 3… because it was so horrible. :)

Zhang Yimou’s The Road Home and Not One Less always get me.

Connor: We do believe in personal revelation, do we not? ;)

Leandro: Aw, shucks. Thanks. :) (And yes, I’m very human.) As for favorite movies: Anne of Green Gables (though I can’t remember if I cry or not when I watch that — it’s been too long since I’ve seen it), Shadowlands, Bridge to Terabithia, Charly, and Little Women, to name a few.

Rikker: I agree that the fictional part of The Testaments is cliché and not quite the caliber I’d like it to be. From a religious point of view, the parts from Christ’s life are the reason I watch the movie, and I’d be fine if the rest was stripped out. (Or replaced with a more substantial story.) That said, the heartstring-pulling does work, but only (I think) because of Christ. So we’re bringing all of those feelings in with us when we watch it. Kieth Merrill (the director) is actually coming to talk to BYU about it in a couple weeks, as part of a new “Director’s Cut” series of Q&As. (Other directors coming at one time or another include Sterling van Wagenen and Christian Vuissa.)

Speaking of cheesy films, I found out about the LDS Film Festival scriptwriting contest on Tuesday, and I really wanted to write something so I could start making a difference, but the deadline was Thursday and I just didn’t have time. But I am going to start writing screenplays. And hopefully they’ll be better than what’s out there. :)

Alli: I heart heart heart Shadowlands. :)

Julia: How about non-Church movies?

Bart: I haven’t yet seen Ghandi, but it’s now on my list. Thanks! :)

Anna: I think I watched that several years ago, but I can’t remember if I really did or not. It’s now on my list, too. Thanks!

Matt: Thanks for the list!

sixline: Haha, I don’t know about that. :)

Connor the Second (Time, that is, not Person): LOL, I haven’t seen it, but it seems like all too many sequels suffer from that phenomenon. It’s like the cast and crew rest on the laurels of their past achievement and don’t try as hard to make a good film. Except usually it seems to be the scripts that are lacking (and a bad script will make even a good actor look pathetic). Which is why we need better scripts. :)

Ann: I’ve never heard of it — thanks!

The Fourth Wise Man made me cry. And I’ve heard that An Affair to Remember is a tearjerker.

Thanks, Andy. :)