Have you ever cried over a film?

It's a film, book, or both?

That film reminds me of my last relationship

Nah book, too much movie talk in here, making me mess up

yeah I have over a few, but I can't really recall which ones. it's definitely been tears of happiness *and* sadness when I've really opened myself up to the frequencies that the movies I watched were putting out



oh come on, that movie *really* wasn't that sad. there was *no* music. that's a big deal at least in my opinion. there was nothing that added the emotional colour to the sad story to trigger intense enough emotion to really make it reactive. I thought "whisper of the heart" was a more "criable" watch, although not for the sadness. in terms of other animes, the ending of cowboy bebop is worse in my opinion in terms of "sad" scenes/stories. I mean, (spoiler alert for those that haven't seen GOTF) the child in that movie doesn't express very much pain or sufferng - sure we know she's relatively starving to death, but her determination to keep a happy face throughout most of it really deadens the sadness. it wasn't even a sympathetic "happy-face" - it was a "what are you doing? you're dying and you're merely becoming weak, as opposed to crying over things such as your mother's death (which is barely seen.)" situation... and things aren't getting worse and worse - merely the same, and death being an inevitability from the beginning. so in terms of what the audience is given to relate to her experience, they *sure* make it harder with no music and an absence of the reflection of the mother's death. if her older brother died first and she was left by herself, that, again ,would have made it MUCH more sad. the fact that, in my opinion, she's a bit of an annoying kid all along, whether she's suffering or not, makes it even less relatable. the voice actress for her in the english version at least (and knowing that japanese voice actors are higher-pitched would make it worse in the original japanese dub) doesn't have very much pain in her voice, but more "laughter", I should say

Shantaram is a 2003 novel by Gregory David Roberts, in which a convicted Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escaped from Pentridge Prison flees to India. The novel is commended by many for its vivid portrayal of tumultuous life in Bombay

I think the brother's death was a lot more sad *because* of the fact that he goes through all of that, and has a much harder time than the sister. he is very stoic about his suffering and never really seems to complain. I'm not saying that the sister's crying *wasn't* sad or relatable, but she just seemed to cry in a very causal and general manner, and she wasn't really presenting it in a way that showed that her real *pain* and misery was there like it was for the brother. the brother putting his sister's weight upon his shoulders, as opposed to the daughter who's having herself looked after and having sacrifices being made for her, is why the brother's death is a lot more sad. but again, I wouldn't say it was sad enough to make me cry because of the lack of any music (I mean, there's a time and a place for a lack of music to create emotion but this wasn't it) and the fact that they really didn't put enough emotional emphasis on the mother dying - for all we know, this was the only person the two characters *really* had some kind of emotional connection to, and they kind of just put up with it without any tears - and then the movie seems to be implying, with the grumpy auntie in the next part after her death being something that the two characters put up with rather well, that the mother's death wasn't life-changing for them emotionally. I know I keep putting stress on the mother, but honestly, the loss of a parent at *that* age really ought to have made more of a dent, and the movie focuses way more on the survival aspects of their life in the economically ruined/war-hit japan. a bigger emphasis or even a role for the mother really would have made the difference, because she dies with the context of a) the audience having really no idea who she was, and b) her death ultimately being emotionless - that's not something the audience, looking through the eyes of a child, can relate to in my opinion

with something like cowboy bebop, the main character (spoiler alert) dies for the woman he loves, whom herself dies in his arms, and his death scene is a very martyr-esque death, because he dies to kill somebody who deserved it (from memory, it was the person who kills his girlfriend, or at least causes her to die). and then when he finally dies, the music is *incredibly* emotional. it truly sounds like death and sadness. also, the main character's character is so immortal~ throughout the whole series that the fact that he dies essentially to kill this person really shows his determination to fight for that woman he loved, meaning that a totally stone-cold and cocky fighter is reduced down *so* much by love. if you honestly find this less emotional, given this context, I'd be concerned:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJqUEc1fUEw

the fact that, in GOTF, the two characters don't really die for anything (well, maybe the brother) except for simply avoding starvation, really retracts from the emotions, because it's not *driven* by emotion, but rather purely trying not to die, and to keep on living. we can all relate to emotions like love, but can we really relate to starvation without any feelings of long term loss? also, in terms of character change driven by emotions that we're meant to cry from, I don't really know how starvation and getting scratched up really counts for very much overall. also, the two characters are reunited in the end (through death and spirit), which really makes it seem not like a sad ending but more like a happy one. in CB, it is an ultimately lonely death for the person involved.

whisper of the heart (another ghibli film) in my opinion is a very emotional experience, with emphasis on its ending - if you haven't seen that I'd say watch that as well - it's an incredibly romantic and optimistic movie that puts out a lot of relatable sweetness which is difficult not to be touched by

Yes Marley & Me every time !