Last year there was a very sudden and tragic death in my family that changed the lives of me and my loved ones completely.
That’s also the reason why I haven’t really posted anything on here in a long time because I was too occupied with other things to have energy to put into my hobbies.
Because I am me, one of the first things I did to cope with the situation was to make this list.

1. Aftersun (2022)
   There is no explicit death in this movie, but the movie is a semi-autobiographical retelling about a vacation the filmmaker had with her father, before he later killed himself. You’re not being told what is really happening, but the depression, helplessness and anticipatory grief is always in the air. Even without knowing you can sense that something is wrong, something that you should be concerned about.
2. Synecdoche, New York (2008)
   The movie is about many things and kind of all over the place but in my opinion the most central themes are (fear of) death and grieving what is lost.
   There is a deeply touching monologue at a funeral in it that is one of my favorite scenes ever.
3. A Single Man (2009)
   Visually incredibly stunning film. I first went into it thinking it was just a pretty period film set in the 60s and not knowing how devastatingly sad it is. So be warned! You will cry a lot.
   It’s about a man who has lost all hope after losing his life partner and wandering around on a single day trying to cope with his grief. TW: suicide!
4. The Virgin Suicides (1999)
   One of my favorite movies. It captures the sadness and weight of being a young girl feeling lost in this world.
   I watched it a lot when I was a teen and felt very seen by it.
   As you can tell by the title it deals a lot with suicide and how the people being left after one happens deal with the grief.
   Warning: there are a few very graphic scenes in it.
5. The Holdovers (2023)
   The movie is about 3 characters that I all relate to A LOT for various reasons. One of them is a grieving mother who has just lost her young son in war. The role is played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph whose acting in this is probably the best or at least my favorite I have seen related to grief.
   
6. All of Us Strangers (2023)
   The movie is about a very sad man played by my fav Andrew Scott who has lost both his parents when he was younger. He discovers that he can somehow magically travel back to his childhood home and spend time with his parents (now as an adult) and talk with them about all the trauma he had to endure as a child. It is one of the saddest movies I have ever seen and it has the most devastating ending I’ve probably ever seen. I was sobbing so hard. Be warned!
   
7. C’mon c’mon (2021)
   C’mon c’mon was made by Mike Mills during the time he split from his wife, mother of their child and fellow director Miranda July and you can really tell that he’s working through his own feelings and grief of the loss of his marriage via the movie.
   It’s a about a man who has to take care of his little nephew while his sister goes away to take care of her mentally ill husband. There are really great scenes in it about feeling abandoned, confused, overwhelmed and struggling to feel and vocalize your own feelings. Really, really great film.
   
8. Three Colours: Blue (1993)
   The movie deals with a woman who has lost both her husband and her young daughter in an accident and who is going through different stages of grief and trying to find her way back into life after this great tragedy. It’s really profound and sad and beautiful.
9. The Descendants (2011)
   This one’s about a man who is in the midst of making the decision to sell a piece of land in Hawaii he has inherited when his wife has an accident and goes into a coma she will probably never wake up from. He has to deal with their 2 daughters who are both very distraught and with his own complex feelings towards his wife, who was having an affair before the accident happened. I didn’t think I would like the film very much before I first watched it but ended up being really touched and impressed by it.
   
10. His Three Daughters (2023)
    The movie is mostly set in the apartment of a man who has cancer and is going to die soon. His 3 daughters share the responsibility of caring for him at the end of his life and have to deal with the anticipatory grief and their difficult relationship dynamics with each other as sisters at the same time. Each sister deals with it differently. During almost all of the movie you never see the father, even though he is the central figure. You only feel his presence and hear his daughters talk about him, which I find really interesting.

Honorable Mentions:

Harold and Maude (1971)
Magnolia (1999)
Garden State (2004)
Midsommar (2019)
My Old Ass
 (2024)
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Hereditary (2018)
Antichrist (2009)

PS: I intentionally left out Manchester by the Sea because I really dislike that movie.