The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions.
Today’s prompt: What’s a movie that made you cry?
I like to think of myself as a pretty stoic moviegoer, able to take tearjerkers in stride and not get carried away with them…but it’s totally untrue. I cry in a lot of movies, and barely hold myself together in countless more. So there could be a ton of answers to this question, especially since it doesn’t even ask for a favorite or anything. Just any one that made me cry. I’ve just done a couple of older films; let’s jump way up to 2009 for this one, Pixar’s Up.
The five-minute segment of Up that tells the whole of Carl and Ellie’s life together is one of my favorites in all of cinema, and that’s a bold claim I rarely make for films this recent. Regardless of how you feel about the rest of the film (I enjoyed it, but it certainly pales in comparison to this), you can’t deny that this, taken alone, would be among the best shorts that Pixar has ever made, and by extension, that anyone has ever made. It’s joyous, it’s life-affirming, and it’s heart-wrenching. And all with no words whatsoever. It’s gotten to where all I have to do is think about this scene for a moment and I start tearing up. In a good way.