Even though the weather doesn’t show it, winter is just around the corner, bringing with it unfortunate bouts of seasonal depression. What better to do than cozy up and cry your eyes out to a sad movie? From The Notebook to Titanic, there are bountiful options to keep those heavy emotions satisfied.
Up first, The Notebook. If you’re looking for a classic love story mixed with a touch of heartbreaking tragedy, this movie will be perfect to ugly cry to. It’s a 2004 movie starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton. Allie is a rich girl from Charleston SC on her summer vacation in the small town of Seabrook Island, where she meets Noah who works and lives there. For these two, it’s love at first sight, but after consideration, Allie’s parents make her part ways with Noah in hopes that she will marry someone wealthy. They spend years apart and end up with different people, but by chance, they meet again and realize their love has never died. Noah, ever the lover, writes their love story down in a notebook. He reads it to Allie every day when they’re older to help her remember as she tragically gets dementia.
For another romantic heartache, The Fault in Our Stars makes you believe in love and cry your eyes out. The 2014 movie stars Shailene Woodley as Hazel Grace Lancaster a sixteen-year-old cancer patient who falls in love with Ansel Elgort as Augustus Waters, another cancer patient. Hazel Grace is living with thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs. Her mother is worried that she is depressed and encourages her to attend a weekly teen cancer support group. There she meets Augustus “ Gus” who lost his leg to cancer. The two bond over their shared love of literature and agree to read each other’s favorite books. Hazel recommends An Imperial Affliction, a novel about a girl with cancer parallel to Hazel’s own experience. Its author, Peter Van Houten, retreated to Amsterdam following the novel’s publication and has not been heard from since. Weeks later, Gus tells Hazel he has tracked down Van Houten’s assistant, Lidewij, and has been talking with Van Houten via email. Gus then surprises Hazel with tickets to Amsterdam, from his make-a-wish. Love blossoms between Hazel and Gus, although things take a turn for the worst.
Maybe live-action isn’t for you? In that case, there are countless gut-wrenching Disney cartoons from Bambi to Inside Out. However, Coco takes the cake for the best Disney tear-jerker. This 2017 animated film takes place in a small town in Mexico around the time of Dia de Los Muertos and follows a young boy named Miguel. Miguel’s biggest aspiration is to be a musician, just like the very famous (and very dead) musician Ernesto de la Cruz. Sadly for Miguel, his whole family hates music because his great-great-grandfather left his family to pursue a career in music. This doesn’t stop Miguel though, and on the night of Dia de Los Muertos, he realizes from the torn photo on his family’s ofrenda that de la Cruz is his forgotten great-great-grandfather and runs to his crypt to ask for help in escaping his music-hating family. However, when he strums de la Cruz’s guitar, he is transported to the land of the dead! There, he embarks on a night-long mission to find Ernesto and get his blessing to return to the land of the living. Along his journey, he learns the truth about his family and learns what it truly means to be remembered.
Perhaps a classic romance set in 1912? If that is the case, the movie adaptation of the real-life events of the Titanic is for you. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as star-crossed lovers split between different social classes. Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a poor traveler who won a ticket on the Titanic from a poker game, and Rose DeWitt Bukater is a high-class woman engaged to a wealthy man, Cal Hockley. Though her engagement is loveless and she feels trapped in the high society world. Rose struggles with the decision to jump from the ship’s stern but is saved by Jack before it is too late. Jack and Rose form an unexpected friendship, but Jack confesses his growing love for her. Though resistant, Rose realizes she has fallen in love with Jack, despite Cal’s and her mother’s disapproval. The two secretly begin a love affair but are abruptly interrupted by the collision of the ship into an iceberg. As the ship begins its tragic descent into the cold waters, Jack and Rose fight to stay together while surviving the fate below.
Whether you want to cry over heartbreak or to love, these movies are sure to bring you to tears. So make sure to get comfortable, grab your tissues, and get watching!
