Top 10 Movie and TV show moments that made me cry
Are you a big old softie? I sure am. Let me prove it to you with a list of the top ten moments in movies and TV shows that reduced me to a babbling ball of tears.
Below are the ten scenes, ranging from heartbreaking portrayals of loss to soaring triumphs found in self sacrifice, that most effectively render me a temporarily broken man. As with all my rankings lists, remember that this is an opinion piece, so don’t chew me out for forgetting your most emotion inducing movie/tv show scenes.
Also,
⚠️ THAR BE SPOILERS AHEAD MATEY ⚠️
P.S. I apologise for the potato quality of some of these pictures. It’s surprisingly difficult to get screen captures of movies, especially since programs such as Netflix forcibly prevent it.
10. When Taki and Mitsuha finally meet in Your Name
I generally consider myself a fan of the concept and ideas behind most anime, but not so much the execution. There are some movies and shows, such as the Studio Ghibli movies or Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood that are exceptions to this rule. Unfortunately Your Name isn’t one of them. I find it to be heavily over dramatic, as if it feels the need to tell the audience that this is most certainly meant to be a heartwarming romance movie with heavy application of touching music and dramatic cinematography at every turn, rather than allowing the audience to draw those conclusions at least a little bit on their own.
Rant over. Despite this, Your Name still manages to tug at my heartstrings. The premise of the movie is two youths, one living in Tokyo and the other in a small town in rural Japan, swap bodies, with a three year separation between when they experience these switches. So Taki would take over Mitsuha’s body three years earlier for a day, while Mitsuha would leap forward three years time to spend the day in Taki’s body. The two leave notes for each other and have a deep impact on the others’ lives, eventually realising they have feelings for each other. However the small town Mitsuha lives in is destroyed by a comet in Taki’s past, shortly following the brief time the two find themselves linked. The comet seemingly kills Mitsuha, and when suddenly their connection ends, Taki goes searching for her. The two struggle with forgetting each others’ names and all their notes and memories of their time “together” mystically fade away. They manage to somewhat avert the catastrophe of the comet by evacuating the town, but still forget about each other.
That is, until five years later the two are in Tokyo, following vague feelings of familiarity and unwittingly searching for each other. Passing by on the bridge, seeing each other in brief moments through the window of a train and so on. This continues until a dramatic sequence where they frantically chase each other and finally meet on a staircase. Taki asks Mitsuha if they‘ve met before, and tears streaming down their eyes, Mitsuha replies that she thought so too.
Cliched, weird and overdramatic though the movie may be, that scene always manages to bring a tear to my eye. Sometimes even the cheap takeout version of a romantic movie will still hit you good.
9. Ellie’s passing in UP
UP has one of the most infamous opening sequences in animated movie history, and for good reason. As with many a Pixar film, it is a lovingly crafted piece from start to finish, albeit with some silliness (talking dogs anyone?) filling in the gaps.
But the part of the film that remains free of any wacky shenanigans is the beginning, where we see a young, quiet Carl Frederickson meet the outgoing and boisterous Ellie. The two bond over a shared love of exploration and admiration for Charles Muntz, the famed explorer. This leads to a beautiful montage of their life together. Marriage, building a home, planning for a baby, discovering they are unable to bear children, planning to travel and eventually growing old together.
The gut punch comes at the end of the sequence, when Ellie dies, leaving Carl alone. It’s a painful moment, and so masterfully built that it’s hard not to feel Carl’s loss right alongside him. Ellie was the fire in his life, and without her we see him become several shades greyer, both literally and metaphorically.
8. Saying goodbye to Dad in About Time
The premise of About Time is that the main character, Tim, has inherited the ability to time travel within his own life, effectively allowing for infinite do-overs and the opportunity to experience everything over again. It’s a trait all the men on his side of the family experience.
Over the course of the movie Tim uses this power to woo the girl of his dreams and start a family with her, as well as learning some strong lessons about the nature of happiness. One such strong lesson comes about when he discovers that once he’s conceived a child, he can no longer return to the past and alter events, as doing so will mean a different sperm meets the egg and he has a different child. This effectively means that when a baby of his is born, everything up till that point is locked in and he can’t risk returning back beyond that point.
This becomes especially poignant for Tim when his father, whom he loves dearly, reveals a cancer diagnosis and only a few weeks to live. Nothing can be done to fix the issue due to the damage being done before Tim’s birth. But the true heartbreak comes when Tim’s wife expresses the desire to have another child after his father’s passing, meaning he can no longer go back and visit him in the past. Cue a very emotional and tearful farewell as Tim visits his father in the past for the last time, both of them knowing what’s coming and enjoying their true final moments together.
7. Tony Stark’s Death in Avengers: Endgame
Tony Stark was the first leading man of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of the quick witted selfish billionaire genius sucked us in from the moment he first hit the screen. Over the course of dozens of appearances, ranging from lead roles to cameos, Tony Stark has become one of my favourite characters portrayed on screen. We’ve seen him battle everything from universe threatening pseudo-gods to his own inner demons, and come out the other side a family man of surprisingly strong moral character.
His character arc may be one of the most satisfying and complete to ever grace the big screen, and certainly among the deepest portrayed across multiple blockbuster cinematic releases. So even though it’s satisfying, well written and hard earned, Tony’s self sacrifice at the end of Avengers: Endgame, to stop the ruthless and relentless mad titan Thanos from wiping out all life in the galaxy, is a huge tear jerker. Seeing him pull a smooth sleight of hand move to relieve Thanos of the Infinity Stones and then say the words “I am Iron Man” was poetic and beautiful, and gosh darn if I didn’t shed a few very manly tears.
6. Riley hugs her parents in Inside Out
Inside Out was a fantastic movie, I think it deserves a position near the tippity top of the pantheon of animated family movies. But where most people point to the Bing Bong scene as the most emotional, I’ve always been a big sucker for Riley’s reconciliation with her parents at the end of the movie.
Riley is a young teen who finds herself relocating to a new city, something she is not happy about. Much of the movie is a personified depiction of her emotions, namely Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear, learning to cohabitate a space that Joy had previously dominated. We see Riley go through the spectrum, rejecting her parents and her friends in her downward spiral, and having multiple bad experiences that make her believe that the best decision she could make to find Joy in her life again would be to run away back to her old home and her old life.
This conflict reaches a crescendo when Riley runs away, but her Joy and Sadness are able to return and she goes back home to her parents.
The moment when she walks through the door and breaks down to her parents, sharing how sad she feels and how much she loves them and the whole family has a big group hug, that moment gets me every time.
5. Matt’s wife dies in Fatherhood
Kevin Hart stretches his acting muscles in this beautiful movie about loss and parenting. He plays the role of Matt, who starts the movie attending a funeral. We soon find out through a flashback that he and his wife Liz were expecting a child, and needed to have an early C-section to deliver the baby. All seemingly goes well until a day or two after the procedure, when Liz goes to try and visit their newborn baby. She passes out and a medical emergency is declared. Matt is left pacing and wringing his hands until a somber doctor and tearful nurse inform him of the passing of his wife.
Like many of the other entries about losing a loved one on this list, this scene is brutal. I find it especially so thanks to Kevin Hart’s performance. The moment really sucks you in, and seeing Matt frantically moan at the doctor “Don’t tell me my wife is dead” is beyond hurtful. It’s downright devastating to watch, and as a man also deeply in love with a woman, I can’t help but relate just a little bit with that pain.
4. The robot from Next Gen deletes his memories to save his friend
I loved Next Gen, I found it to be far more than just a knock off of Big Hero 6, which it had the outward appearance of being. But this movie managed to tug my heartstrings in a real and raw manner that I really appreciated.
The movie stars a rebellious teenage girl called Mai, who lives with her mother and pet dog in a world filled with personal assistance robots, quite reminiscent of the likes of WALL-E or i-Robot. Mai has an intense dislike of robots that stems from how much her mother loves them, and seems to ignore Mai in favour of them.
Mai accidentally activates a unique prototype robot that doesn’t seem to have a name. This robot (called 7723 by its creator) develops a relationship with Mai after following her home to return her bag to her, which she had left behind. Together they break robots and beat up bullies, and we see the robot become apprehensive about all the violence, but his love for Mai and the huge value he places on his memories of time spent with her supersede his misgivings.
Unfortunately for the robot, he sustains some damage that limits the amount of storage he has for memories, and thus needs to start deleting memories or core systems. He ultimately chooses to delete his weapons control systems to free up space for more memories of time spent with Mai. However, when the villain kidnaps Mai’s mother and threatens to kill everyone, including Mai, the robot is forced to make a choice. He can’t defeat the villain without his weapons systems, and so he performs a system reboot that gives him back his weapons systems while gradually deleting his memories with Mai.
This scene, where we see memories disappear amidst an epic robot battle with a soaring musical score, provides a very powerful emotional experience. I found tears in my eyes when Mai finally realised that she had lost her friend.
Whoo boy, this list is getting hard to write.
3. Emily meets Ezra in Seven Pounds
Seven Pounds, along with a few other movies on this list, entirely revolves around emotionally wiping viewers out. Suffice it to say it delivers.
The premise of the movie is a slow reveal of the actions and motives of a man called Tim, posing as an IRS agent running about performing good deeds for people. Tim donates bone marrow, part of his liver and other parts of his body, as well as giving his house, all to people desperately in need. In particular he meets a woman named Emily, and seemingly intent on helping her improve the quality of her life while she hopes and prays for an unlikely heart transplant, he goes about fixing her printing press, tidying her garden and helping her with her medical bills. When she falls ill and ends up in the hospital again he stays by her side the whole night, despite her barely knowing him. Eventually she invites him to a romantic dinner that she prepares, determined to make the most of whatever life she has left.
Here we see how the two have come to care for each other. Tim spends the night with Emily, but leaves before she wakes, visiting her doctor to ask desperately about her chances at life. Clearly looking for an alternative to what he’s planning to do, perhaps holding onto a tiny glimmer of hope that he and Emily can have more time together. Unfortunately Emily’s doctor does not give a reassuring answer.
So Tim enacts his plan and the movie finally shows its hand. Tim is responsible for a car crash that killed his fiancée and seven others. He seeks to make amends by giving of his financial success and his own body to seven people in desperate need. Emily and a man named Ezra are the last two, as they need from him things that a living man can’t provide.
Tim commits suicide via Box Jellyfish in a pool of ice water to preserve the condition of his organs. His heart goes to Emily and his eyes to the blind Ezra.
The whole ending and reveal of Tim’s story and intentions is an emotional roller coaster ride, but the part of the move that I consider the most blubber inducing is right at the end, when Emily, who is both heartbroken at her loss of Tim, and grateful at a chance at life, meets Ezra for the first time. Emily sees Tim’s eyes again, looking back at her. Ezra recognises her by her chest scars. There’s a moment of compassion and hurt and love, and it’s one of the most raw scenes I’ve ever watched in a movie.
2. Just about all of P.S. I Love You
P.S. I Love You starts right out the gate with a rip-your-heart-out-and-jump-on-it-repeatedly sequence very reminiscent of UP. The main character, Holly, and her husband, the charming and roguish Gerry, portray their occasionally volatile but mostly just deeply loving relationship. They fight, they make up, they plan for their future.
And then Gerry dies. We see Holly attending his wake and progressing through various stages of grief as she locks herself away in her apartment.
The story of P.S. I Love You centres around Holly receiving a series of letters from Gerry from beyond the grave, encouraging her to continue living her life to the fullest even without him, while also taking her back through some of their fondest memories.
It’s hard to pick just one scene that brought tears to my eyes. There’s the one where a bar band plays one of the songs Gerry played for her, and we see that memory through her eyes, experiencing the joy and pure human love the two shared. There’s the scene where Holly gets home from Gerry’s wake and the first thing she does is curl up in bed, crying, while repeatedly calling Gerry’s work phone to hear his voicemail. There’s the moment where Holly strolls through a park with her mother, talking about losing someone and how deeply it can hurt you, before Holly’s mother, who never liked Gerry, reveals that she was the one helping him to send letters after his death.
But for me, the most heartbreaking scene in P.S. I Love You is when, not long after Gerry’s wake, Holly awakens in bed at night and turns to the place where Gerry used to sleep. She asks him to get the light, forgetting he’s gone. She gets up and goes to the lounge, where we see her imagining Gerry playing his guitar, and she talks with him, asking how to go on.
The whole movie is a tear jerker from start to finish, but that one scene always hurts me the best.
1. Uncle Iroh forgives Zuko
And here we have the reason this list is for movies and TV shows, because I cannot make a list of most emotional moments without including this one.
Those of you that know Avatar: The Last Airbender already know why this scene is number one. Prince Zuko is a character we see evolve and change from a relentless villain into a friend and hero over the course of three seasons of what I consider to be the highest quality animated product ever created.
Zuko’s character arc is intrinsically intertwined with his Uncle, Iroh. The two are members of the antagonistic Fire Nation royal family, and initially they enter the stage as villains themselves, hunting the Avatar to allow Zuko, a banished prince, to return home in honour. Right from the start we see Zuko portrayed as extremely angry and focused on his mission, while his uncle maintains a position of light heartedness. Iroh trains Zuko in the art of firebending, but also with wisdom and life lessons to make him a better man. We see Iroh most often portrayed as a bit of a goof, with a kind heart and gentle nature (and of course, deep passion for tea) that is in direct contrast to Zuko and many of the other Fire Nation members seen in the show.
The two of them chase the Avatar for most of the first and second seasons of the show, but we see Zuko fail to capture Aang, and face antagonism from his own family, namely his father and sister, that make him question his ideals. During their tenure as refugees on the run from the Fire Nation, Iroh tries to get through to his nephew with lessons about kindness, forgiveness and most importantly, self determination and the true meaning of honour. The lessons seem to stick, and Zuko becomes very conflicted about whether his search for honour involves loyalty to his father, sister and his home nation, or introspection about what is truly right and wrong.
But then, when Zuko’s sister Azula makes a play to take control of the Earth Nation capital Ba Sing Se, Zuko is faced with a choice, to either side with his sister or side with the Avatar, the Earth Nation and his Uncle. In this moment we see him go down the wrong path and reject his Uncle. It’s a deep and heartbreaking moment for both the audience and Iroh, Aang and Katara too.
So seeing Zuko later turn the tables and realise that he made the wrong decision, in turn confronting his father and deciding to side with the Avatar, is greatly therapeutic to watch. But even moreso is the moment when we see Zuko meet his Uncle again.
Zuko enters Iroh’s tent and breaks down in tears, acknowledging his wrongdoing and expressing regret. Iroh takes him and hugs him, to which Zuko asks “How can you forgive me so easily?”, and Iroh replies “I was never angry with you, I was sad, because I was afraid you’d lost your way”.
This is the ultimate reconciliatory moment in all of entertainment media in my humble opinion.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have subjected myself to two days of the most emotional and heartbreaking moments in movie and tv history that I am aware of, so I need to take a rest from crying like a giant man baby.