Last Oscar season, Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga took the world by storm with a contemporary remake of A Star is Born.
The story is decades old, but it’s timeless. Every generation has its own version of A Star is Born, and thanks to impeccable performances and chemistry from Cooper and Gaga, a script that does interesting things with the now-familiar story structure, and deft, minimalist direction by first-time filmmaker Cooper, this generation’s version is a doozy.
However, unless you’re in the mood to cry, it’s a tough watch, because it’s also really, really sad. Here are 10 tearjerkers to watch if you like A Star Is Born.
The Pursuit of Happyness
Before a series of vanity projects that would get slated for their blatant nepotism, Will and Jaden Smith had one great on-screen pairing, The Pursuit of Happyness. The film chronicles the true-to-life struggles of entrepreneur Chris Gardner, who was homeless for a year while looking for work and trying to raise his five-year-old son.
Gardner is living proof that you should never give up hope, because no matter how dark the future might look, it could always turn around if you just keep trying. The incredible true story is gripping enough, but Will and Jaden Smith keep it anchored on-screen.
Call Me By Your Name
Every once in a while, a visionary director comes along with a trilogy of films connected by a theme: Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War trilogy, John Ford’s Cavalry trilogy, Edgar Wright’s Three Flavors Cornetto trilogy etc. With 2017’s Call Me By Your Name, filmmaker Luca Guadagnino wrapped up his “Desire trilogy,” which also consists of 2009’s I Am Love and 2015’s A Bigger Splash.
It’s the story of the forbidden love between a 24-year-old grad student (Armie Hammer) and his boss’ 17-year-old son (Timothee Chalamet), and it was flooded with critical praise and awards nominations when it first reached audiences a couple of years ago.
Blue Valentine
One of the worst movies to watch as a couple, Blue Valentine tells the tale of a doomed relationship. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams carry the whole movie with incredible chemistry and riveting individual performances.
Both characters have come from deeply dysfunctional families, so in their current situation as a married couple with a daughter, they have no idea how to live their lives and create a “normal” home environment. All they can do is try to avoid the mistakes that their own families made, but naturally, they lean towards those tendencies and their marriage crumbles in spectacularly heartbreaking fashion.
Titanic
In an episode of HBO’s Entourage, when asked about his artistic intentions with Titanic, a comically exaggerated James Cameron says, “I just wanted to make young girls cry.” This was just a joke made up for the show, but it wouldn’t be surprising if this was his actual goal.
Titanic tells the story of Rose (Kate Winslet), an illustrious socialite trapped in a dead-end relationship with a douche (Billy Zane), who falls for a working stiff named Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) when he sneaks onboard the titular ship’s ill-fated maiden voyage. We all know what’s coming, so there’s an overriding melancholy attached to the romance.
Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby was marketed as a female-led boxing movie following the well-worn Rocky formula. But it takes a dark turn about halfway through the plot and becomes something much bleaker and more depressing than that. The shot of Maggie (Hilary Swank) falling onto an overturned stool after her defeated opponent throws a cheap post-match sucker punch has become iconic.
What follows is a series of scenes in which disability changes her, and she realizes she’ll never be able to realize her full potential as a boxer. It’s a real downer movie, bound to elicit tears from even the stoniest-hearted of viewers, but it’s ultimately a tribute to the human spirit.
Up
If Pixar released the first eight minutes of this movie as a short film, it would be revered as a classic. But the story of Carl and Ellie’s relationship, from meeting as kids and bonding over a shared love of adventure to getting married and growing old together, is just the prologue in Up.
After Ellie’s death, Carl decides to fulfill their lifelong wish of traveling to Paradise Falls by deploying hundreds of helium balloons to carry his house there. The premise is absurd, but because the story is rooted in such real, relatable, human emotions, it comes together as a beautiful work of art.
Brokeback Mountain
Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain controversially lost out on the Academy Award for Best Picture in favor of Paul Haggis’ Crash. Most critics agree that Brokeback Mountain is the finer film, by a wide margin.
They’re both “social issues” movies, but while Crash really wants you to know its stance on race with on-the-nose commentary, Brokeback Mountain succeeds as a movie about LGBTQ rights by focusing less on the issue and more on the love story.
We follow Jack and Ennis’ romance as we would follow any other – but tragically, theirs is placed in a shameful part of history in which they’re made to feel they can’t be who they are.
Still Alice
Julianne Moore’s performance in Still Alice is revelatory. It’s a tremendous showcase for the actor’s talent. She plays a linguistics professor who, at the age of 50, is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The movie is about Alice’s attempts to adjust to this change, and her family’s attempts to support her through it.
It was a personal story for directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, as they were approached to direct the film shortly after Glatzer had been diagnosed with a similar neurodegenerative disease, ALS. Moore dedicated her Best Actress win at the Academy Awards to Glatzer, a couple of weeks before he passed away.
Manchester by the Sea
Kenneth Lonergan is one of the best writer-directors working right now for naturalistic dialogue and subtle drama. He tells stories about characters that feel like real people, living in the all-too-bleak real world. Films are primarily a form of escapism, but there’s also a sort of catharsis in facing your worst fears in movies like Manchester by the Sea.
This is the gut-wrenching tale of Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) and his wife Randi (Michelle Williams), whose marriage quickly falls apart when Lee accidentally starts a fire that kills their children. It’s ultimately hopeful, because despite what Lee did, his brother still leaves him custody of his son after he dies, giving him a second chance to prove himself as a parent.
The Fault in Our Stars
It doesn’t get much sadder than the burgeoning romance of two likable teenagers with terminal cancer. The film adaptation of John Green’s YA bestseller The Fault in Our Stars mainly coasts by on the chemistry shared by its young stars, Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort.
Hazel and Gus are two kids who have accepted that they might not have long left to live, and decide to spend their final months together, living life to the full. There are heartbreaking twists and turns along the way, and the movie boldly does away with having a hopeful light at the end of the tunnel.