Top 5 Pessimistic Movies

It's not in any way pessimistic per se, but more slice of life - or struggle to put thing in perspective.

Films by Ulrich Seidl -

For example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olK4Ay2vBbs

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DswWfK8sVhw

Best of them are DOG DAYS and from 2014, Im Keller. Just humanity as it is, without cynicism or any particular empathy.
But most people are stupid or just easily buthurt so they prefer to call it pessimism.
 
The Hunt for sure. Scary in a realistic and very modern way.

Tideland actually strikes me as optimistic despite all the horrible things in the film. An important Gilliam comment on the film is that he said the girl might retrospectively regard that as the best or worst week of her life.
 
I don´t have a big dvd collection but about 90% of the movies I have are hopeless.
Thanks for the recommendations and sorry if I upset anyone by posting much more than five.
Hope I can bring attention to some obscure movies:

Cocaine Angel
Angel Dust
Session 9
Home Movie
Clean, Shaven
My Little Eye (not a good movie, but extremely pessimistic)
Kiss me Deadly
What ever happened to Baby Jane?
Diabolique (original version)
Eyes Without a Face
Exhibit A
The Last Broadcast
Hour of the Wolf
NARC
Bug
Take Shelter
Funny Games
Secuestrados (very realistic home invasion movie-the ending is pure bleakness)
Jacob´s Ladder
Angel Heart
Long PIgs
Red White and Blue
Little Deaths
Man Bites Dog
Grave of the Fireflies
Starred Up (the last scene tries to bring some light to it but it´s too late)
The Vanishing (didn´t like this one but i Can´t deny its pessimism)
The Howling
Angst
Them (not the 50´s movie but one from 2006 whose original title is "Ils" my favorite home invasion movie)
Hate Crime
Parents



Will edit this when I remember other ones...
 
Off the top of my head:

Paths of Glory

Barry Lyndon

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

Mulholland Drive

Requiem for a Dream
 
Naked

Gummo

Lilya 4-Ever

La Pianiste

Irreversible

25th Hour

Raise The Red Lantern

Here's a fan-trailer for Naked

https://youtu.be/pIeK4zLhUmY

Here's a trailer for Raise The Red Lantern

https://youtu.be/vivaoPZhIH8
 
I think the Toy Story series unintentionally provokes pessimism. Children are always going to think about what happens to toys for the majority of their existence. Most toys will be played with a couple of years then put in storage if not destroyed or buried somewhere, often mutilated beyond repair.
There should be a Toy Story 4 about how toys cope with being in storage or buried for decades.
 
1. There Will Be Blood - Lewis portrays the greatest misanthrope on film. Ever.

2. Chinatown - In the end, everybody but the bad guys lose.

3. Paths of Glory - illustrates the lot in life for everyone not in the top 1%.

4. Invasion of the Body Snatchers - the battle was over the moment it started, but no one realized it until the end.

5. Atonement - makes you want to slide into a warm bath and open a vein.
 
Robert Adam Gilmour said:
I think the Toy Story series unintentionally provokes pessimism. Children are always going to think about what happens to toys for the majority of their existence. Most toys will be played with a couple of years then put in storage if not destroyed or buried somewhere, often mutilated beyond repair.
There should be a Toy Story 4 about how toys cope with being in storage or buried for decades.
Click to expand...

I agree and this crossed my mind as well. Pixar has opened new vistas of guilt. As teenagers we had fun "playing" with our old toys and with darts. An unforgivable betrayal, I now realize.
 
I think I must lack the intellect to understand why Toy Story would inspire pessimism--all I remember are two goofy toys arguing about this and that and laughing--but I don't doubt you guys
 
teguififthzeal said:
I think I must lack the intellect to understand why Toy Story would inspire pessimism--all I remember are two goofy toys arguing about this and that and laughing--but I don't doubt you guys
Click to expand...

This is devastating. When I first saw this I felt like filling the bathtub with Mr. Bubble, grabbing my rubber duck for company, and opening up my veins. And I was in my 30s.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElhbTsKsros[/ame]
 
I haven't seen the Toy Story movies, but I always thought "Puff the Magic Dragon" was a terribly sad song. Never mind the rumor that it's really about dope; it's obviously about an abandoned toy dragon. Listen to it! It's heartbreaking.
 
I'll agree with The Mist, I remember being elatedly flattened after the very end. I was in awe.
No one has mentioned Spun. It's along the same line as Requiem for a Dream.
I would also add Satantango by Bela Tarr. It's incredibly long and slow, and, ultimately, fully defeating.
 
bendk said:
teguififthzeal said:
I think I must lack the intellect to understand why Toy Story would inspire pessimism--all I remember are two goofy toys arguing about this and that and laughing--but I don't doubt you guys
Click to expand...

This is devastating. When I first saw this I felt like filling the bathtub with Mr. Bubble, grabbing my rubber duck for company, and opening up my veins. And I was in my 30s.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElhbTsKsros[/ame]
Click to expand...

This is THE moment in the series when the horror of toy-being was revealed for what it truly is. Everything which followed was infused by and was an echo of this scene.

The third film had a golden opportunity to present an ending not unlike Hans Christian Andersen's "The Steadfast Tin Soldier." Sadly (but not surprisingly), Pixar didn't muster the guts to stick what would've made for a grim but poignant conclusion.
 
Toy Story made we cry as well and at that time I had also long since reached maturity.
I would add Terry Gilliam's brilliant Brazil to the list. The last segment is an incredible tour de force and when after all the twists and turns you realize that Sam Lowry has indeed not escaped it is more than just devestating.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlHe-hYMkqk[/ame]
 
Some excellent suggestions here, and lots to check out.

I'd like to add:

Un Jeu Brutal (1983)
Eldfjall (aka Volcano, 2011)
Peppermint Candy (1999)
Who Can Kill A Child (1976)
The Devil, Probably (1977)
You, The Living (2007)
The Rover (2014)
Tokyo Rampage (1998)
Mouchette (1967)
The Merchant Of Four Seasons (1971)
Out Of The Blue (1980)
 
"Eyes Without a Face" was excellent, but I have to say that my list would be something like this:

"Seconds" (1966) (this still unsung movie with Rock Hudson exhausts all the possibilities of life--even with fictive possibilities-- and still deems it valueless)
"Johnny Got His Gun" (1970) Even with the anti-war message intact, it never lets you forget how one person's life can in an instant be destroyed and turned into a torture chamber
"Buddy Boy" (1996)--an overlooked Polanski movie about a mentally ill man losing his soul
"The Riverman" (2004)--this was a made for TV movie about the FBI agent who interviewed Ted Bundy about his crimes. Cary Elwes did such a good job in this and the movie was so foul that it made me want to vomit and fucked with my head for a few days.
"River's Edge" (1986)--this is a soul deadening movie about a teenage atrocity that later helped "inspire" another teenage atrocity in 95. It also does a good job of showing what happened when hippie parents raised kids.
"The Haunting of 24"/"Lie Still" (2005) This movie by Sean Hogan is an absolute nihilistic nightmare with sort of MR Jamesish supernatural touches. A guy moves into an ugly apartment and can't get out. Campbell or Ligotti could have written this.
"Clean, Shaven" (1993)--after I saw this movie I wanted to get on top of my house and jump from the highest nook available. This is what it's like when you see mental illness on the street. Perfectly awful because it is so realistic.
 
Dr. Locrian said:
bendk said:
teguififthzeal said:
I think I must lack the intellect to understand why Toy Story would inspire pessimism--all I remember are two goofy toys arguing about this and that and laughing--but I don't doubt you guys
Click to expand...

This is devastating. When I first saw this I felt like filling the bathtub with Mr. Bubble, grabbing my rubber duck for company, and opening up my veins. And I was in my 30s.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElhbTsKsros[/ame]
Click to expand...

This is THE moment in the series when the horror of toy-being was revealed for what it truly is. Everything which followed was infused by and was an echo of this scene.

The third film had a golden opportunity to present an ending not unlike Hans Christian Andersen's "The Steadfast Tin Soldier." Sadly (but not surprisingly), Pixar didn't muster the guts to stick what would've made for a grim but poignant conclusion.
Click to expand...

...or have Woody's still animate head babbling to itself as it floats across the monotony of the Pacific. A sea turtle, mistaking Woody for a fish, emerges from underwater and swallows him. Woody rolls down the turtle's throat and lodges in the windpipe, crying out "Jessie, is that you?" The turtle is then seen flailing in the water as it chokes to death. Cut to credits.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOp_BF3VAVE


There was one movie nagging at me that I forgot: the original Black Christmas, which is just one of the bleakest, sickest, most effective horror movies I've ever seen.
 
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