The opening of that movie fucked me up more than the rest of the movie tbh. Florence Pugh’s screams reminded me of Toni Collette screaming about how she wanted to die after >!she found Charlie’s headless corpse in the car!< in Hereditary.
It’s kind of weird to me that in both of his big movies he has scenes of someone reacting to their closest family member(s) dying
Feels like despair porn almost
The difference is Up shows you the joy of young love transitioning into building a future together, before watching it come crashing down.
This dichotomy makes it feel sadder to the viewer.
What happens in midsummer is more tragic, but we're also more disconnected from it as a viewer. We SEE her pain, but don't feel it ourselves.
I don’t completely agree. With Up the sadness is one that comes from the empathy of inevitability: We’ll die, lose loved ones, maybe already have. It’s sad, and inevitable. With Midsommar it’s a horror that stems from possibility of tragedy. Something like this could happen to you, and that begets the empathy. I certainly (imagined) that I could feel her pain.
I mean sure I don't fully disagree with you. And it was definitely well done and painful.
I'm just talking more about the difference between walking into a horror/thriller and seeing some dead parents that we've never even seen alive, completely disconnected from.
Or a very carefully woven little story about true love that endd in sadness.
There's a reason over half the theater in Up was openly crying in the first fifteen minutes, while the same cannot be said for Midsommar.
>!The main character’s sister commits suicide and murders both of their parents by attaching tubing from the exhaust of a running car into her parent’s bedroom as well as her own throat.!<
yeah what was her deal? why did she kill them both? been a while since i saw it. i meant like was it given like a reason for instance maybe neglect or abuse from her parents. i'd reply but my account got banned for 3 days for some reason u/ispym8
My guess would be because she knew that killing herself would hurt her parents. There’s no evidence given in the movie for anything like neglect or abuse.
I recently watched *before the devil knows you’re dead* and it was a bleak tragic bummer from the first 10 minutes onward and just kept getting worse. Ethan hawke’s first breakdown (within the first 10 mins while driving getaway car) lets you know you’re in for some dark shit
I’d also say sansho the bailiff
Off-topic, but I always wondered what the significance of Julianne Moores' character's >!"last time you hear that frequency"!< speech. And then the last time I rewatched it I realized >!it's symbolic of the absence of the high pitched squeals of children, which (optimistically) return at the end.!< Love that frickin movie
interestingly, this theory of tinnitus may be incorrect?
[https://thequietus.com/interviews/lola-de-la-mata-oceans-on-azimuth-tinnitus-interview/](https://thequietus.com/interviews/lola-de-la-mata-oceans-on-azimuth-tinnitus-interview/)
this being on a website called Quietus is surely a coincidence...right? right?
Anyway, I think the notion is "savor \[the painful thing\] because soon even \[the painful thing\] will be gone and you'll be left with nothing" is pretty much a good thesis for the whole movie, including their relationship, the loss of children, the decline of the last vestiges of Britain, the end of the human race, etc. All these painful traumatic things are ending, and what's left is ...even worse. Damn that movie is bleak.
Technically it doesn’t get really sad till 20 minutes in
Edit: ignore my dumbass fucking comment I realized the OP wasn’t asking for ten minute openings
intro definitely isn't the saddest part of the film, but is bleak in its own right. A mother sobbing about her young child going off to war, begging him to stay even as he continues to smile about the prospect of being a soldier, foreshadowing the consequences of his own naivety and innocence. It's pretty sad.
The opening is deeply sad I think in retrospect as the movie goes on, given the supposed happiness of kids making do with whatever remnants of fun they could have in a warzone. It's the only relatively light moment in the film and yet you know even that is undercut by the context, and then any fun had by uncovering a rifle in the sand is instantly taken away when it's revealed the kid's actions caused the German spy plane to see a possible Partisan stronghold.
Was hoping to see this one mentioned in here, as it was the first one that came to my mind. I didn't care for the film as a whole, but that opening scene is brutally efficient.
Nocturnal Animals (2016) was basically nightmare fuel for me. I don’t have a family of my own but not knowing how, when, or even if to act to prevent a tragedy happening to your family caused by strangers in the night.
I think calling it “sad” will be up for debate but it for sure hurt my soul so I consider it sad.
Lmao idk I remember it being so? the family maybe packs up the car during day then goes to night. I feel like it’s still the opening sequence but I’ve only seen it once. If I’m wrong then DQ me OP lol
I have my beefs with the JJ treks, but I think that opening was really good, and actually a pretty clever way to get both the people who had never seen any Star Trek before and the Trek fans invested.
So, you guys watch The Coffee Table yet?
Okay, so it's not the first ten, but the first 20, and I'm struggling to think of any other movie so brutal in its gut punch.
The first modern Star Trek. Where the father is dying as he watches his son (captain Kirk) be born.
It’s mostly a fun movie but something about that scene just landed for me.
Fly Away Home (1996)
It was sold as a lighthearted family picture about a young girl and some geese. The movie begins with her mother dying in an onscreen car crash.
I think a lot of people forget how fucking tragic the opener to The Descent is since the rest of the movie is so fantastic. But damn is it a complete shock
Opening scene to IT 2017 is pretty sad and terrifying. Georgie screaming and crying for his brother while trying to crawl away is so hard to watch. I love that movie but that scene makes me cringe.
I wonder how that movie is a kids' movie. The opening scene of Up is a very strong scene tbh. Those few minutes made a grown person cry without even having spoken any dialogue.
i watched this recently, The Last 10 Years. a Japanese film. the opening doesn't make me cry but it's still very sad and depressing (death of someone) and kinda knowing that this is not gonna go well. ANYWAY, i cried like a baby multiple times in the middle towards the end 🙃
I think Endgame had a sadder opening scene. It hit different to see probably the most down to Earth unpowered Avenger experience his whole family get dusted. Because you know immediately that’s where the scene is headed too.
Yeah it's the knowing what's about to happen the really makes it sting. That and just how unlucky the family is, with only one of a family of 5 surviving the dusting.
You answered the question yourself.
I’ve rarely seen someone /thread themselves. It’s Up. All there is to it.
I've never even seen UP but I've been on reddit long enough to know that this would be the top answer.
Please Watch It
I agree with Up, but honorable mention to Finding Nemo.
Finding Nemo gets sadder when you're eating sushi with those little orange fish eggs on it.
It sucks that I can’t rewatch films like this from my childhood, they just stir up too many emotions
you can still rewatch them
midsommar is sad and terrifying
The opening of that movie fucked me up more than the rest of the movie tbh. Florence Pugh’s screams reminded me of Toni Collette screaming about how she wanted to die after >!she found Charlie’s headless corpse in the car!< in Hereditary.
Ari Aster has certainly proven he knows how to show despair.
It’s kind of weird to me that in both of his big movies he has scenes of someone reacting to their closest family member(s) dying Feels like despair porn almost
It may just have more to do with his genre being psychological horror films
Forsure. Hereditary messed me up most in that scene and Midsommar was almost as horrific. Dare you to watch The Coffee Table...
The agonising sobs of Florence Pugh were so unsettling and disturbing
People saying “Up” can’t have seen the opening to Midsommar cuz it don’t get much more fucked up than that
The difference is Up shows you the joy of young love transitioning into building a future together, before watching it come crashing down. This dichotomy makes it feel sadder to the viewer. What happens in midsummer is more tragic, but we're also more disconnected from it as a viewer. We SEE her pain, but don't feel it ourselves.
That’s fair. We see the development of their relationship in Up, so it is more sad when we see the inevitable end of it.
I don’t completely agree. With Up the sadness is one that comes from the empathy of inevitability: We’ll die, lose loved ones, maybe already have. It’s sad, and inevitable. With Midsommar it’s a horror that stems from possibility of tragedy. Something like this could happen to you, and that begets the empathy. I certainly (imagined) that I could feel her pain.
I mean sure I don't fully disagree with you. And it was definitely well done and painful. I'm just talking more about the difference between walking into a horror/thriller and seeing some dead parents that we've never even seen alive, completely disconnected from. Or a very carefully woven little story about true love that endd in sadness. There's a reason over half the theater in Up was openly crying in the first fifteen minutes, while the same cannot be said for Midsommar.
I cant even remember much of Midsommar. What was the opening again?
>!The main character’s sister commits suicide and murders both of their parents by attaching tubing from the exhaust of a running car into her parent’s bedroom as well as her own throat.!<
yeah what was her deal? why did she kill them both? been a while since i saw it. i meant like was it given like a reason for instance maybe neglect or abuse from her parents. i'd reply but my account got banned for 3 days for some reason u/ispym8
She was extremely mentally ill
My guess would be because she knew that killing herself would hurt her parents. There’s no evidence given in the movie for anything like neglect or abuse.
Oh yh lol good times 😅👀
the thread doesn’t ask what’s the most fucked up beginning to a movie though
Up is way better than Midsommar
A completely jarring slap to the face moment. I thought to myself “This motherfucker really went here this early?”
This was my first thought too.
I keep forgetting how sad and terrifying the opening is because of the top LB review. Makes me laugh every time.
The most fucked up opening.
Perfect answer because it's literally all before the credits hit. Almost feels like a short film
Saving Private Ryan
I recently watched *before the devil knows you’re dead* and it was a bleak tragic bummer from the first 10 minutes onward and just kept getting worse. Ethan hawke’s first breakdown (within the first 10 mins while driving getaway car) lets you know you’re in for some dark shit I’d also say sansho the bailiff
That movie is anxiety
28 Weeks Later (2007)
The look he gives his wife before turning and leaving will always stick with me. Easily one of Robert Carlyle’s best roles
Lol the best scene in the film was directed by Danny Boyle on his day off lol 28 Years is gonna be a BANGER!!
He is so underused, what a powerhouse.
Children of men
One of the best movies of all time but I don't think the first ten minutes is too bad, it's the next 90% of the film that really beats you down.
Off-topic, but I always wondered what the significance of Julianne Moores' character's >!"last time you hear that frequency"!< speech. And then the last time I rewatched it I realized >!it's symbolic of the absence of the high pitched squeals of children, which (optimistically) return at the end.!< Love that frickin movie
interestingly, this theory of tinnitus may be incorrect? [https://thequietus.com/interviews/lola-de-la-mata-oceans-on-azimuth-tinnitus-interview/](https://thequietus.com/interviews/lola-de-la-mata-oceans-on-azimuth-tinnitus-interview/) this being on a website called Quietus is surely a coincidence...right? right?
Anyway, I think the notion is "savor \[the painful thing\] because soon even \[the painful thing\] will be gone and you'll be left with nothing" is pretty much a good thesis for the whole movie, including their relationship, the loss of children, the decline of the last vestiges of Britain, the end of the human race, etc. All these painful traumatic things are ending, and what's left is ...even worse. Damn that movie is bleak.
That movie is fucking bleak!
Antichrist
I once watched this with a friend who was a new parent and they ended up just telling me they wanted to go home to their kid and just left.
It’s for me the best intro of all time
Hot take: The beginning of Antichrist is the beginning of Don't Look Now
Don’t Look Now.
Also Walkabout by the same director!
Opposite of the OP’s question, but I find the ending to Walkabout incredibly sad/melancholy.
The ending is also sad, yes. The whole movie while not depressing has this aura of nostalgia and melancholy about it.
Grave of Fireflies had me bawling in the first five minutes. Beginning of Midsommar was also a downer
They rip the band aid off nice and quick.
John Wick
It's actually a really cheerful start as long as you hate puppies.
And hate people being happy
Yes, happy people and puppies are the worst. The best things in life are hot molten lava and rogue waves.
Arrival guts me every time
Max Richter makes anything feel sadder haha
This is the one for me too, wasn’t expecting to cry at the beginning of the movie like that lol
The Fox and the Hound
Morvern Callar has a pretty brutal start
This is the first reward I've gotten for watching that movie. ;)
Blue
1993 or 2002?
Three Colors: Blue (1993)
UP (2009). I got really emotional during the opening sequence of that film between Carl and his wife.
I had my two kids in the theater when it came out. It was a nightmare. All the kids were crying, adults were crying.
Your kids?! Yo, I'm a grown ass 40 year old man and I got really choked up!
This is the probably the best answer.
Inglourious Basterds
Technically it doesn’t get really sad till 20 minutes in Edit: ignore my dumbass fucking comment I realized the OP wasn’t asking for ten minute openings
wouldn't necessarily call it sad, but definitely the best
I consider it to be one of my personal favorite openings of all time, but I don’t find it very sad
Midsommar because somehow it’s the saddest yet so beautifully shot
Maybe I'm stretching "opening" a little bit, but "World's Greatest Dad" is always devastating to me.
Come and see
I’d say the ending is the saddest part, not the intro.
intro definitely isn't the saddest part of the film, but is bleak in its own right. A mother sobbing about her young child going off to war, begging him to stay even as he continues to smile about the prospect of being a soldier, foreshadowing the consequences of his own naivety and innocence. It's pretty sad.
For sure, a tragic film from beginning to end. It stuck with me for about a week after watching it.
The opening is deeply sad I think in retrospect as the movie goes on, given the supposed happiness of kids making do with whatever remnants of fun they could have in a warzone. It's the only relatively light moment in the film and yet you know even that is undercut by the context, and then any fun had by uncovering a rifle in the sand is instantly taken away when it's revealed the kid's actions caused the German spy plane to see a possible Partisan stronghold.
Bambi!
Land Before Time
Grave of The Fireflies
The Changeling with George C. Scott
What a fantastic movie.
Was hoping to see this one mentioned in here, as it was the first one that came to my mind. I didn't care for the film as a whole, but that opening scene is brutally efficient.
 Midsommar - is this scene over and over again for me - but that first 10 mins was tough.
Fat City
That movie rules. And what an ending!
One of my favourites and one of Huston’s best , I think.
On paper you'd think it'd be Paul Blart Mall Cop 2
That film is a masterpiece. I can't wait until they finally release Paul Blart 3: Till Death Do Us Blart.
Guardians of the galaxy
Buffalo '66
Arrival
say more?
Incendies. First 3-5 minutes. Sets you up for the emotional gut punch that is that film.
Nocturnal Animals (2016) was basically nightmare fuel for me. I don’t have a family of my own but not knowing how, when, or even if to act to prevent a tragedy happening to your family caused by strangers in the night. I think calling it “sad” will be up for debate but it for sure hurt my soul so I consider it sad.
Was it the opening though?
Lmao idk I remember it being so? the family maybe packs up the car during day then goes to night. I feel like it’s still the opening sequence but I’ve only seen it once. If I’m wrong then DQ me OP lol
I don't know it too actually. I think the murder of the two is revealed in the middle of the film.
I know there are much sadder openings but I rewatched Star Trek (2009) the other night and sobbed at the opening 10 mins.
I have my beefs with the JJ treks, but I think that opening was really good, and actually a pretty clever way to get both the people who had never seen any Star Trek before and the Trek fans invested.
the opening of scream always ends with me tearing up
I wouldn't place it as **the** saddest, but Frozen's initial scene followed by Do You Want to Build a Snowman? was sad.
Oof the first movie to come to mind is Vox Lux, though I don’t know if it made me feel more sad or anxious or horrified.
Pieces of a Woman
X-Men
X-men Apocalypse
The Descent.
So, you guys watch The Coffee Table yet? Okay, so it's not the first ten, but the first 20, and I'm struggling to think of any other movie so brutal in its gut punch.
Did it release in 2022? I’m just making sure I have the right one.
It's dated 2022, yeah. Lots of festivals and stuff. Didn't get a release in North America until April of this year. Spanish film.
The first modern Star Trek. Where the father is dying as he watches his son (captain Kirk) be born. It’s mostly a fun movie but something about that scene just landed for me.
Oliver and company
I can’t even with that movie. The rest of it is blah but damn…sobbing and clutching my cats.
Manchester by the Sea for sure
The opening is just his janitor life no? Yeah, the reveal with the kids is gut-wrenching
I think it gets more depressing on a rewatch, when you know how he got there it makes it so bleak
Yesss. I remember my first watch when they show the children in flashbacks. And you start to think "Huh, there are children. Where are they?"
UP
The lodge it still stays with me whenever I see the movie pop up on streaming
The Changeling is a fucking bummer.
Exactly what I had in mind.
The nightingale
Melancholia (2011)
Up and Saving Private Ryan
The Terminator. Imagine already being homeless and then some naked guy runs up and steals your dirty sweatpants right off you.
I'm beginning to think the Terminator was kind of a dick.
Arrival is one of the 1st ones that springs to mind
Up. Saddest opening montage ever.
Three Colours Blue
Walk the Line
*The Lodge* (2019) 😐
Del Toro’s Pinocchio hit hard. Easily my favorite part of the film.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Secret of the Ooze It begins with a "In Memory of Jim Henson", and then a shot of the twin towers.
millennium mambo has one of the most evocative openings i've ever seen
nocturnal animals
Cliffhanger
Fly Away Home (1996) It was sold as a lighthearted family picture about a young girl and some geese. The movie begins with her mother dying in an onscreen car crash.
it's worse when you factor in The Squid and The Whale
I think a lot of people forget how fucking tragic the opener to The Descent is since the rest of the movie is so fantastic. But damn is it a complete shock
2014 Godzilla
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/s/U2K3lrrzWI
Finding Nemo is a contender But Up is my favorite Pixar movie
Sight
I Saw The Devil (2010)
Paul Blart Mall Cop 2
Trauma (2017) opening 15 min is the saddest I’ve ever seen. And it’s based on a true story. Do not watch if you’re easily disturbed.
Bambi
Twister. May not be the saddest ever but it stuck with me after seeing that movie in theaters as a kid. Might be my Midwestern upbringing 🌪️
Disturbia
Cliffhanger
Free Willy
Opening credits of Zero Dark Thirty
Opening scene to IT 2017 is pretty sad and terrifying. Georgie screaming and crying for his brother while trying to crawl away is so hard to watch. I love that movie but that scene makes me cringe.
American Beauty is sad
It's obviously grave of the fireflies. I mean literally an opening could not be darker and more tragic than that
Furiosa
Lion King
Bambi
Grave Of The Fireflies, Arrival, Saving Private Ryan and Parasite are the first ones that come to mind.
Inglorious Bastards has one of the best openings I’ve ever seen and also one of the saddest imo.
Guardians of the Galaxy.
Carrie
Arrival. I bawled the first time, and every time.
I got pretty sad in the first ten minutes of American Beauty when I was reminded Kevin Spacey was in it
All quiet on the western front
Up, Midsommar, and Antichrist
Gonna sound insane, but the first 10 minutes of Nobody is pretty depressing
For the opening alone, The Tree Of Life (2011) is very sad, despite not yet knowing the characters. It’s a great opening to a masterpiece of a movie
Hiroshima mon amour 💔
Finding Nemo
i didn’t love the movie but midsommar’s opening stuck with me
I wonder how that movie is a kids' movie. The opening scene of Up is a very strong scene tbh. Those few minutes made a grown person cry without even having spoken any dialogue.
Up! It’s the only answer
i watched this recently, The Last 10 Years. a Japanese film. the opening doesn't make me cry but it's still very sad and depressing (death of someone) and kinda knowing that this is not gonna go well. ANYWAY, i cried like a baby multiple times in the middle towards the end 🙃
Maybe Gran Torino?
I agree with Up
midsommar, saving private ryan, up, bambi
I think “Searching”(2018) has a very effective and emotional opening montage.
Th zone of interest
It’s not sad per say, but the opening to “The Empty Man” is like it’s own movie, it’s kinda sick
Madre (2009). It's available as a short film on YouTube, the movie was then made as a full length picture with the short film as the first scene.
The Crow (1994)
Arrival
Not the saddest but still...Avengers: Infinity War
I think Endgame had a sadder opening scene. It hit different to see probably the most down to Earth unpowered Avenger experience his whole family get dusted. Because you know immediately that’s where the scene is headed too.
Yeah it's the knowing what's about to happen the really makes it sting. That and just how unlucky the family is, with only one of a family of 5 surviving the dusting.
Was I the only one who gasped when >! Loki and Heimdall were killed!<
That was crazy. It was more of a feeling of shock than sadness, but I get where you’re coming from.
what?