What are the most depressing movies that don't have a death? (Spoilers)

The ending of The Last American Virgin was pretty sad

The wrestler

It technically doesn't have a death

The Wrestler

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Saturday Night Fever

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Up there with Born in the USA {song) as maybe the two most mismarketed/publicly misunderstood pieces of major popular culture in the last 50 yrs.

One is about a Vietnam vet who whose life was ruined because of the war and one is about a group of scumbag Brooklyn losers whose lives are so sad, they only have Saturday nights at the danceclub to look forward to every week, and treat women like dogshit.

But both have really catchy, poppy tunes that the largely ignorant public/zeitgeist latched onto and immortalized as some sort of jubilant celebratory pieces of nostalgia, when they are actually both very dark, semi-nihilistic and depressing looks at young lives.

Kind of amazing what an all-time #1 Billboard spot can do to the perception of a piece of culture.

I think that Lemmon's performance in Glengarry was the GOAT (either leading or supporting). I was rooting for him, felt sorry for him, and was disgusted by him, all at the same time. The scene where he visits the guy's house to sell him shitty property (because his wife fricked up and got on a list) makes me feel sick, but I kind of want to give him a hug once he gets kicked out into the rain.

He was a standard shady salesman for a living for most of his life. If that was still the case in the film, he wouldn't be even remotely sympathetic (which is the case for every other character IMO except for possibly Alan Arkin's, whose character was pretty dim). But now he's doing it to help his sick daughter. I wonder if his goals changing is what caused his shift from The Machine into the pathetic and ineffective salesman that he was in the film. Dude was a stud when he simply needed to provide for himself, then lost it when the pressure ramped up.

Also, to be fair to Shell Levine, the leads that he got were absolute shite. But that was probably the case back when he was still the Machine.

ETA: I'd always assumed that Mamet directed the film himself. He directed his own material with "State and Main" and "Spanish Prisoner" with great results. GGR was one of the best films ever, but the director (James Foley) has an absolutely embarrassing resume outside of GGR.

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I think that Lemmon's performance in Glengarry was the GOAT (either leading or supporting). I was rooting for him, felt sorry for him, and was disgusted by him, all at the same time. The scene where he visits the guy's house to sell him shitty property (because his wife fricked up and got on a list) makes me feel sick, but I kind of want to give him a hug once he gets kicked out into the rain.

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The character Gil from the Simpsons is based on Lemmons performance and it very accurately captures all of those things, in obviously a more comedic way. He's pitiful, beaten down, and you feel sorry for him while simultaneously finding him annoying and are disgusted by his overall patheticness and attitude.

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The scene where he visits the guy's house to sell him shitty property (because his wife fricked up and got on a list) makes me feel sic

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That husband got so fed up he went to law school only to find out his disagreeable personality couldn't match wits with a mob boss with an IQ of 136.

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Also, to be fair to Shell Levine, the leads that he got were absolute shite. But that was probably the case back when he was still the Machine.

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I went on a deep-ish dive last night on the leads. Symbolism isn't my strong suit and I thought they were more symbolic than they apparently are. Basically the consensus is simply that they're examples of how our success is determined by the opportunities others give us, which I don't think I 100% agree with. Roma shows how to make your own opportunities to become the best (referentially, at least).



I also learned last night that in the play, Roma is only winning because he already had the same deal with Williamson that Levene tried in the car.

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Saturday Night Fever - outside of the dancing scenes, it’s actually pretty depressing especially the end

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Which includes a death

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Kramer vs. Kramer - depressing movie about divorce and custody with Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep in the lead roles.

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it had a happy ending she leaves the child with his father.