Hey I did a Walter Mitty and replied to this in my head but not irl.
Personally, my most "therapeutic" movie experiences come when I'm watching a movie in a theater, because it demands my full attention and the experience is so much more immersive. I can't just pause it and do something else or look at my phone during a scene that might make me uncomfortable.
Of course, all art is subjective, so you might not (and probably won't) get the exact same experience that I had, but I hope you still enjoy these.
I watched more movies in the theater in 2024 than I have my entire life, I'm pretty sure, so most of these are probably gonna be 2024 movies lol.
If you haven't seen The Wild Robot, I'm pretty sure it's streaming on Peacock now, and I can't recommend it enough. There's a scene that breaks me to my core every time I've watched it, and I think it always will. There's so much I could say about this movie, but the heart of it is a story about found family, and especially about motherhood. So, no matter what your relationship with your mother, I'd bet this makes you feel something. The song at the end makes me cry every time, too.
Following up with another Lupita Nyong'o movie from last year is A Quiet Place: Day One. I was not expecting to start bawling like a baby in the middle of this movie, but I think most people who lived through covid-19 and everything else that 2020 brought can really relate to what this movie has to say about finding the beauty in the simple things and enjoying life even when the world is falling apart around us. Omg I'm literally tearing up just writing about it. It is an action horror movie so it's kinda intense, but I'd highly recommend it even if you haven't seen the other Quiet Place movies. This one is just so powerful.
Another one that had me bawling my eyes out when I watched it was IF, the imaginary friend movie from John Krasinski. Now I was going through a few "grown-up" problems when I watched it, but aren't we all, like all the time? There's a pureness and beauty to IF, and the emotions that built throughout the movie broke through in the final scene, and I was blubbering in the front row. If you've ever wanted to grow up, or not wanted to grow up, or be a kid again, I think this will hit you where it hurts. In the best way.
These kinda go without saying, but the Inside Out movies will make you emotional, because their whole thing is emotion. The first one definitely still gets my tears flowing more than the second, but 2 got me thinking about more complicated emotions. Which makes sense, since that's kinda the whole plot of the movie lol. Walking out of Inside Out 2 literally felt like walking out of a therapy session.
This one is definitely more niche, but if you've ever struggled with your gender, or sexuality, or even just feeling like an outsider, like you don't belong, "I Saw The TV Glow" might just rip your heart out. It definitely seems to be one of those "you get it or you don't" movies, but if you feel like letting nostalgia tear up your entire perception of reality, I'd recommend it. I don't think I actually cried the first time I watched it, but I think that's because it took me to a place beyond tears. There's no easy way to explain I Saw The TV Glow, so I'd say give it a try if it piques your interest.
We Live In Time also made me feel a lot of things. It's a sad story, but the way it's told makes it very bittersweet, with more sweet than bitter. It's a beautiful love story and Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield are absolutely wonderful.
These last two are pretty uber-specific, but I feel like I need to mention them. The first is the Monk movie, Mr. Monk's Last Case. If you've watched Monk at all, you need to watch the movie. Me and my sister absolutely lost it at the end, it's just so beautiful we couldn't hold back our tears.
Last one is "No One Will Save You" on Hulu. I really wish I could see this in theaters, I need the biggest screen possible. If you watch this, watch it by yourself, with all the lights off, with headphones if you can. It's an alien invasion horror movie, but it focuses on one character, and she never speaks, because she has no one to talk to. The movie is so intimate, you're just holding your breath right along with the main character. No One Will Save You is one of my favorite movies for a lot of reasons, a lot of them I'm not even sure of myself. Sometimes I feel like no one else will get quite as much out of it as me, but if you want to follow a tragic character through an exciting but also extremely thoughtful ordeal, give it a try.
