1.) SECRETS & LIES
Although director Mike Leigh is credited with writing the screenplay for “Secrets & Lies”, most of the performances were actually improvised. Leigh told each of the actors about their roles, and let them create their own lines. The emotional scene in the bar towards the end of the film is the highlight of this film.
The “revelation” scene was filmed in a single uninterrupted take of almost 8 minutes. Academy Award nominee Brenda blethyn is out of this world in this role. This film has a beautifully crafted set up and a heart wrenching climax that will have you bawling. This is in one of my top ten favorite films of all time.
2.) FEARLESS
Max Klein is a survivor of a plane crash. Many people die in the crash, including his business partner. The trauma from the crash transforms his entire life. He enters an altered state of consciousness; soon after the crash he even thinks he is dead, and begins rethinking life, death, God, and the afterlife.
Existential questions start to preoccupy his life. Max soon tries to break the depression and apathy of another survivor who lost her baby son during the flight played by the astonishing Rosie Perez (who was robbed of an Oscar). This movie will move you to tears and make you rethink what is really important in life.
3.) A CRY IN THE DARK
Yes, this is the “a dingo ate my baby” movie. “A Cry in the Dark” is based on the disappearance and assumed death of Azaria Chamberlain, a nine-week-old baby girl who went missing from a campground near Ayers Rock in Australia in 1980. The film closely followed the actual events of the disappearance and the trial that followed.
The overriding theme of the film was how the media and often ill-informed public rapidly came to a judgment of the guilt of Lindy Chamberlain based on her “cold” demeanor. Many critics think it was her eyebrows and stoic religious stance that made her a target. Streep captures the horror and confusion of a mother accused of murder with painful perfection.
4.) TERMS OF ENDEARMENT
The story of a mother/daughter relationship has never been so heartbreaking as it is depicted in “Terms”. “Terms” won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Directing, Best Actress (Shirley MacLaine), Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson) AND Adapted Screenplay (James L. Brooks).
Debra Winger does a remarkable job as the daughter dying of cancer. Her scenes with MacLaine are intense and all too realistic. This emotional powerhouse of a film still holds up to this day. Forget the crappy sequel, “Evening Star”, it does nothing to improve upon the story. This is a classic “weepy”.
5.) MASK
Mask is a 1985 drama film starring Cher and Eric Stoltz. Cher received the 1985 Cannes Film Festival award for Best Actress. The film concerns the life and early death of Roy L. “Rocky” Dennis, a boy who suffered from craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, an extremely rare disorder known commonly as “lionitis” due to the disfiguring cranial enlargements that it causes.
Cher’s performance is a revelation in this film. At the end of the film, Rocky dies quietly in his sleep at the age of 16. In the words of a grieving Rusty, “Now you can go anywhere you want, baby”. Cher’s reaction to Rocky’s death will have you reaching for the Kleenex and wiping away the many tears.
6.) BEACHES
Even though critics loathed this movie, the soundtrack and performances won over audiences. “Beaches” is the story of a deep friendship, lasting from childhood to beyond death, between two very different women. Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey play the two friends that share a special bond in this sad, depressing film.
One girl is a poor but ambitious Jewish girl from the Bronx who goes on to become a famous Broadway star, and the other an attractive WASP from a wealthy San Francisco family who starts out with all the advantages in life yet manages to find nothing but disappointment. Watching their friendship evolve over time and finally end will have all the softies in the room bawling, if they have a heart.
7.) GHOST
“Ghost” is one of the biggest films of the 90’s. It is part romantic comedy and parts drama-fantasy-thriller. “Ghost” stars Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Academy Award winning Whoopi Goldberg. The blending of genres helped this film reach many audiences and become a “sleeper hit”.
I must have watched this film at least 4 times in the movie theater. The final few moments when Sam says goodbye to Molly had the whole audience in tears, you could hear the noses sniffling throughout the theater each time. The word “ditto” never had such a melancholy meaning as it does in this movie.
8.) STEELE MAGNOLIAS
“Steel Magnolias” is a 1987 off-Broadway play, made into a movie in 1989 with an all star cast. Based on the author’s experience with the death of his sister, Steel Magnolias is a comedy-drama about the bond among a group of southern women in northwest Louisiana. Julia Roberts recieved an Oscar nomination for her role as the dying “Shelby”.
The over the top performances by Olivia Dukakis and Sally Field are gut wrenching and painful, but in a good way. The loss of a close friend or daughter has never been depicted so beautifully and funny at the same time. Watch the funeral scene at the end and try not to laugh and cry, I dare you!
9.) HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT
This movie is cheesiest and the corniest film on this list. If you don’t like sappy, soap opera-esque plots that manipulate your feelings, then stay away from the weep-fest. I like to call this the “Joy Luck Club” or “Waiting to Exhale” for white folks, it’s not as rich and in depth as those films, but it’s a whole lot of drama!
The story centers on the stories of several women in a quilting bee as they construct a quilt as a wedding gift for a members’ granddaughter who is having second thoughts about her decision. Wynona Ryder does a better job in this film than in the horrible “Girl, Interrupted”.
10.) TITANIC
This is the most obvious “tear jerker” on this list. It is also still the highest grossing film EVER. Who on this planet has never seen the 1997 American romantic drama film directed, written, produced and edited by James Cameron? It still holds the record at 1.5 billion dollars in ticket sales.
“Titanic” also swept the Academy Awards in 1997 and spawned the awful “My Heart Will Go On” song by Celine Dion. It stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Jack Dawson who paly members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the ill-fated 1912 maiden voyage of the ship.
RUNNERS UP: “Cocoon”, “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”, “The Notebook”, “The Joy Luck Club”, “One True Thing”, “Happiness”, “Marvin’s Room”, “Lars & The Real Girl”, “Stella”, “Longtime Companion”, “Dancer In The Dark”, “Life Is Beautiful”
