Top 10 Movies of Your Loneliness Moments

1. Leaving Las Vegas - I saw this for the first time when I was about 19. I was laying on a couch kicking a drug habit for about 3 days, during which time I watched this film ten or so times. That was the first time I'd felt such a strong personal connection with a film. I longed for the unconditional love Sera and Ben give each other.

2. Five Easy Pieces - This is the ultimate loneliness/alienation film. A man surrounded by people, wanting to connect yet unwilling to let himself do so. The Chopin scene gives me chills every time. I tear up when he breaks down while opening up to his father every time as well.

3. Raging Bull - (Sigh) Oh the days when Scorsese made personal, impeccable, painterly films. I'm probably the least macho person I know, but this story of the rise and fall of an insecure, lonely man who, unable to express his emotions, lashes out in violence, self destruction, and excess, alienating himself from those he loves, is so near and dear to my heart. It's a beautiful, tortured melody.

4. Y tu mama tambien - This gorgeous, Mexican film makes me nostalgic for carefree, pleasure seeking teen age summer days that I feel like I never really experienced in my youth. The immaturity and impulsiveness of the boys makes me cringe yet feel wistful, but I identify more with the Louisa character who feels older than her years and wants to impart something of herself to the strange, innocent youth who are infatuated with her. Louisa turning on the jukebox and then dancing with the camera is simply one of the most comforting moments in cinematic history and a portrait of a strong, beautiful woman. A spontaneous, somber journey. A farewell note to innocence.

5. Vivre Sa Vie - When Nana dances by herself in the pool hall, it just plain makes me happy. Once in a while, I play that one scene and smile at the haunted beauty and misguided defiance of Anna Karina as the doomed, vulnerable amateur prostitute.

6. Days of Heaven - What a strange, haunting, distant film. There's something heartbreaking about the naive, christlike, dying farmer who is destroyed by the deceit of the woman who learns to love him and her greedy lover. Somehow, the film epitomizes loneliness and disconnection as scenes often cut just before dramatic moments, avoiding sentimentality, keeping the viewer at arm's length. Linda Manz provides possibly the most detached and mesmerizing voiceover of all time. "They were probably just buryin' somebody...or callin' out for help."

Also:
Diary of a Country Priest
The 400 Blows
Minnie and Moskowitz
Opening Night
Hannah and Her Sisters

Single Scene:
Before the Devil knows you're dead (Less than great film with several amazing scenes) -
"I'm sorry I couldn't be the son you wanted...... You somehow managed to still love Hank, and he was a lot more of a *beep* up than I was. Yeah, he needed you more. You sure it wasn't his cute looks, his puppiness. The four of you, I never felt like I was part of the club. Beautiful birds of a feather. Are you sure I'm your son."

Great topic. Thanks!

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Sorcerer (1977) always my choice of movie. If I feel really miserable I watch Combat Shock (1986) and Deadbeat At Dawn (1988) - always sets your mood

The Barber of Siberia
The Lake House
The Last Word
Dedication
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Scent of A Woman
Dead Poets' Society
4 months 3 weeks and 2 days

Lost in Translation
Chungking Express
La Notte
Paris, Texas
Sans Soleil
Two-Lane Blacktop
Fireworks
Taxi Driver
The Sun in a Net
Sundays and Cybele

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The darker the shadow, the more radiant the light it beams.

There are many movies I want to watch in loneliness moments, mostly depressing films, some of them are---

Leaving Las Vegas
Jacob's Ladder
Shutter Island
The Fountain
Little Children
The Machinist
Requiem for a Dream

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I like this idea for a list and agree with many of your choices.


Leaving Las Vegas
Into The Wild
The 25th Hour
21 Grams
The Hours
The Wrestler
The Pianist
Closer
Solaris
City of Men

I haven't seen Taxi Driver yet, but that is next on the que.