Manly Tears films

Have a great new year everyone. For my first post of the year, I'm going to be a little sentimental. It's usually not my style, since I more often given to cynical and biting remarks, but here we go anyway.

 The opening scene of Disney/Pixar's "Up". It was storytelling at its most simple and finest. The simple joys and travails of married life, the wonders of chasing a dream together as husband and wife.

Another scene I found very sad was in "Inception", when Cobb reminds Mal of how they did grow old together in limbo, and we see a flashback of old Mal and old Cobb holding hands as they walk, and then laying their heads down on the train tracks...

The death of Bruce Wayne's parents in Batman Begins, especially since no Batman film before that one had ever bothered to give Thomas and Martha Wayne any form of characterisation. We saw how much his mum and dad meant to young Bruce, and how the only person who truly understood him after that was Alfred.

Another popular choice of "male weepy" or "meepy" film is Tim Burton's Big Fish. I never was a big fan of Tim Burton, but when I saw Big Fish when I was 11, the emotion really welled up, especially at the end when Will finally believes all the tall tales his father had told him, after spending so long denying them.

"Tangled" had me tearing up during the "I See The Light" scene. It was a combination of the lovely song, gorgeous, gorgeous 3D animation, and very subtle and sweet character animation. I think I lost it completely when Flynn produced the two lanterns that he had prepared - one for him, and one for Rapunzel - and set them off into the sky. The scene before that where the King and Queen sadly and silently release the lanterns was very tearjerking too.

You know it's an accomplishment when an otherwise-crass, uninspired comedy has an emotional scene that is very effective. The Adam Sandler film "Click" has a scene where his character keeps on rewinding the moment when his father tells him "I love you, son", before breaking down. My Dad cried at that one too.

I enjoyed the biopic "Mao's Last Dancer". It felt honest and real, and I loved it when everything came full circle, and Cunxin was reunited with his parents under extraordinary circumstances.

(I may elaborate and add pictures at a later date)