The Life List, which was one of seven new movies and shows that was released at the end of March, is Netflix’s current most-watched movie worldwide, but it isn’t getting brilliant reviews.
The Guardian called it an “overly neat Netflix weepie [that] leaves dry eyes” and awarded it just two out of five stars. It’s currently sitting with a woeful 44% on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics, and while Sophia Carson’s performance is widely praised, the critics aren’t so keen on the movie itself – despite the movie’s best efforts, many found themselves unmoved.
That’s a shame, because crying is good for you: as the health experts at Harvard point out, “crying is an important safety valve” and emotional crying – the kind we do at sad movies – “releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, also known as endorphins. These feel-good chemicals help ease both physical and emotional pain.”
As TechRadar’s unofficial ‘Queen of Crying’ there’s nothing I like better than having a big ugly cry to a song, a show – has anyone else blubbed in every single episode of The Pitt ? – or a movie. And here are three very different Netflix movies that are guaranteed to turn on the tears.
Roma
ROMA | Official Trailer | Netflix – YouTube
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RT critic score: 96%
To date, Roma has won an incredible 256 awards worldwide – and it deserves every one of them. Set in 1970s Mexico City, Alfonso Cuarón’s beautifully shot movie focuses on Cleo, who helps Antonio and Sofía take care of their four children and whose life is about to take a very unexpected turn. It’s a tale of families, and of love, and of deep sadnesses too.
Roma is “an epic of tearjerking magnificence,” The Guardian says. It’s “thrilling, engrossing, moving – and just entirely amazing… Those coming to see this film had better prepare themselves to be emotionally wrung out”.
“It’s like nothing you’ve ever heard or seen,” Slashfilm says. “Roma is a story of motherhood, complicated by socio-economic boundaries, yet filled to the brim with tragic love. And its telling… is simply masterful.”
Private Life
Private Life | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix – YouTube
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RT critic score: 97%
Private Life isn’t billed as a weepie – it’s a comedy-drama – but this tale of two fortysomething New Yorkers’ IVF journey is often quietly devastating, especially if you’ve been through the process yourself: many online reviewers have written about having a big cry to this movie.
The Guardian’s Ann Lee picked it as her streaming gem, explaining that “its story of a middle-aged couple in New York struggling to conceive – inspired by writer and director Tamara Jenkins’ own experiences – feels genuinely authentic. It’s an intimate and unflinching look at the pain and heartache of infertility that is deeply compassionate and, at times, very funny.” And the New York Times [paywall] described it brilliantly: “Someone once said that life is what happens while you’re making other plans. This movie is about the plans that happen while you’re trying to make another life.”
If Anything Happens I Love You
If Anything Happens I Love You TRAILER – YouTube
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RT critic score: 100%
If Anything Happens I Love You is just twelve minutes long but you’ll be crying for a lot longer.
This one comes with a ton of trigger warnings because it’s about a very violent event.
This gorgeous, Oscar-winning animated short is “a bold, heart-wrenching tale of grief that asks discomforting questions about the realities of corporate America,” Flickering Myth says, while Decider says that “If Anything Happens I Love You is a stunner, a true heartbreaker.”
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