a very human struggle (in film)

The movies that I emotionally connect with the most are simple human stories of immense personal struggle with an emotionally meaningful ending. The ending itself need not necessarily be happy as long as it clearly resolves the main characters’ development throughout the movie. I’ve put a handful of my favorites below and want to talk a little bit about each of them.

• Minari: One of my favorite parts of this movie is the soundtrack Jacob and the Stone — it’s a masterpiece that captures the essence of the movie quite well by combining elements of childlike wonder amidst a prevailing undertone of nostalgic sadness. For some reason, the movie itself reminds me a lot of all the nature parts of Calvin and Hobbes but involves a story of true American struggle.
• The Pursuit of Happyness This is definitely my favorite Will Smith movie (followed closely by the MIB series). It’s a true story of a guy, Chris Gardner, who is going through tough financial times while trying to land a new job at a trading firm and taking care of his son by himself. The quintessential scene is at the end when Chris finally gets the job, and the audience understands how much it means to him given all the struggles he has endured to make it that far. It also seems like Will Smith’s performance was greatly aided by the fact that his son in the movie is also actually his son (Jaden) in real life.
• Manchester by the Sea: This movie is what I call a masterclass in portraying “realistic grief.” Grief definitely manifests in very different ways for different people, but I personally think that the way Lee experiences his grief is very underrepresented in film — yet it reflects how a significant portion of people experience it. It doesn’t hit you when it “should” and does when it “shouldn’t.” It shows that healing doesn’t come in the form of momentous leaps at significant occasions like funerals but rather in small steps over time, like fishing trips with your nephew.
• Beautiful Boy: The first time I watched this movie, I was emotionally moved for at least a week afterward. Even the thought of someone doing drugs made me inexplicably mopey and anxious because of what it did to the relationship between Timothée Chalamet’s character and his family. This movie and The King are what first made me start liking Timothée Chalamet, and I’m pretty eager to watch A Complete Unknown as well. Also, Steve Carell is a phenomenal dramatic actor (I admire comedic actors who can also excel in dramatic roles — like Robin Williams). One last thing I want to say about this movie is that it does a great job of showing the familial side of drug addiction.
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower: It took me a while to get around to watching this movie (I only did a few months ago), but it’s definitely the one I can relate to the most. All the other movies on this list tell stories of people in vastly different physical or socioeconomic walks of life, but this movie is just the story of a high schooler in Pittsburgh. What I love most about this movie is that the foreshadowing was so subtle and that they didn’t show many of the trauma-inducing scenes on screen. Unbeknownst to me, this made the tension rise so gradually until it finally crescendoed with the music in the final breakdown scene, hitting like a truck. I still cry during that scene no matter how many times I’ve rewatched it. Plus, I love anything that has to do with Pittsburgh and feel an emotional connection to a lot of the places the friend group is also emotionally connected to — there are simply so many scenic places around the city that I’ve formed strong nostalgic bonds with.
• Marriage Story: I knew this movie was all the rage when it first came out, and I actually tried to watch it but stopped 15 minutes in for some reason. It wasn’t until I revisited it during my senior year that I watched it the whole way through, and I didn’t regret it at all. Once again, the parts I enjoyed the most were the beginning and the ending — it tells a true human story that I’m sure many people have experienced. There’s no perfect happy ending, nor is it overly dramatized, but the movie keeps you engaged and emotionally connected the whole way through. Chef’s kiss.
• Sound of Metal: The focus on sound in this movie was stellar, and the way it intertwined sound with Riz Ahmed’s character arc was masterful. I did not expect to like this movie as much as I did, but I connected deeply with the ending and thought it gave a new meaning to learning to accept one’s fate and making the best of it.

The movies that I haven’t seen yet but feel are of a similar vein are Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and If Beale Street Could Talk (there is this piece called Agape from If Beale Street Could Talk that I love so much — I deeply wish the entire movie is thematically exactly like this song).

Finally, in other news, the Oscars are happening this Sunday, and I’m looking forward to watching them. I haven’t watched as many of the movies up for nomination as I usually do, but I did watch The Brutalist — which, on a side note, I loved the opening shots/scene from. I think it conveys the true elation that immigrants from difficult parts of the world felt when they landed in the U.S. — the true immigrant experience from back in the day that you hear fading anecdotes about nowadays.