The past 10 years, especially, have been an exceptional time for approaching heavier topics in film, as the advent of the digital era and the internet has allowed for there to be a dedicated audience for even the heaviest of films. However, these select films go above and beyond in terms of tapping into some exceptionally heavy concepts, treating them with the utmost importance, and delivering upon the weight that they deserve to make a maximum impact.
10
‘Marriage Story’ (2019)
Noah Baumbach‘s films have often struck a striking balance between witty comedy and heavy subject matter, yet none of his films is quite as heavy and emotionally devastating in its execution as Marriage Story. The emotional breakup movie follows Charlie and Nicole Barber (Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson) as they navigate the challenges of their coast-to-coast divorce. While they try their best to stay friendly for the sake of their child, the difficulties of their separation drive them both to their emotional tipping points.
Movies about breakups and divorce are already inherently treading into heavy territory due to the emotionally painful nature of the end of a loving relationship, yet it’s the heartbreaking duo of performances from Johansson and Driver that make this film such an especially heavy watch. Their performances do a perfect job of balancing the love that they once had for one another, combined with the anger and sometimes hatred that they hold for each other now, still fighting for the sake of their child.
9
‘On the Count of Three’ (2022)
Suicide is a largely difficult topic to discuss with nuance within the medium of film due to how much it has been glorified and simplified in its depictions in film, yet On the Count of Three utilizes humor and painful earnestness to make for a beautifully heartbreaking look at suicidal ideation. The film follows a duo of best friends (Jarrod Carmichael and Christopher Abbott), who decide to end their own lives by shooting each other, so they don’t have to deal with the pain of ending their lives themselves. However, as they spend the day tying up loose ends, they gain a different perspective on the life that they’re about to end.
Considering just how much suicide is among the heaviest and most depressing topics to explore within film, it’s all the more commendable that On the Count of Three makes its premise more approachable through a form of distinct dark comedy. While this never truly takes away the weight and heaviness of its subject matter, it helps place a greater perspective and look into these characters’ psyches and fleshes them out as more than just their suicidal ideation.
8
‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ (2023)
A scathing and emotionally powerful reflection of the atrocities of the past and the glorification of such stories of mass death and genocide, Killers of the Flower Moon is a distinctly powerful and important period film for the modern era. The exceptional modern gangster film from legendary director Martin Scorsese follows the widespread murder of the Osage people in 1920s Oklahoma in order to take control of their oil-rich land. The subject matter alone is to make the film an incredibly heavy experience, yet it’s the departure from Scorsese’s expected style that makes the film an especially heavy watch.
While many of Scorsese’s previous crime films would play up and glorify the actions of those committing crimes, Killers of the Flower Moon makes no effort to hide the despicable and reprehensible nature of those committing such widespread genocidal murders. The film simmers in the pain that an entire community feels as they are being wiped out, paralleling that with a story of heartbreak and deception at its center that amplifies the emotional hurt of it all.
7
‘The Brutalist’ (2024)
While the film is largely recognized and associated with its gargantuan run-time and sense of scale as a true modern-day epic, The Brutalist utilizes this scale and weight to tell a heavy and emotional story of loss and sacrifice for the sake of betterment and the American dream. The film sees Adrien Brody as a celebrated European architect fleeing to the U.S. after World War II, struggling to make use of his talents and becoming yet another cog in the machine. However, after acquainting himself with a wealthy, high-class patron, he begins work upon what could be considered his masterwork as an architect, sacrificing everything in the name of his art.
The weight and emotional difficulty of The Brutalist is one that is much more subtle, slowly building throughout the film before it unleashes the true pain and sacrifice that its characters experience. It’s a ruthless depiction of the sour reality that many immigrants have experienced, being abused, crippled by addiction, and brought to their absolute breaking point for simply attempting to seek out a future and livelihood.
6
‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ (2021)
The Bosnian film Quo Vadis, Aida? makes for one of the most painful and shocking depictions of looming genocide and mass destruction in film, as it emphasizes all the pain of this shockingly recent real-life event. The film follows the lead-up to the ruthless Srebrenica Massacre that resulted in the deaths of 8,300 Bosnian men and boys, showing the failed attempts by the UN to communicate and understand the weight of what is about to occur.
It’s a film about the pile-on effect that miscommunication can have between countries, as a difference in language and understanding across levels of communication can lead to a massacre that many saw coming but couldn’t do anything to stop. As the painful inevitability of this event encroaches upon the character as the film goes on, it never fails to leave a pit in the stomach of the audience, maximizing the impact of its heavy subject matter to create one of the best underseen movies of the 2020s.
5
‘The Zone of Interest’ (2023)
Movies about the atrocities committed by Germany during the holocaust are far from a new phenomenon in filmmaking, being a frequent topic of cinematic pain and heavy filmmaking for generations at this point. However, The Zone of Interest manages to break new ground with its scathing portrayal not of the atrocities directly, but of the meandering willingness to ignore such evil for the sake of one’s own personal benefit. The film follows Commandant of Auschwitz Rudolf Hoss, attempting to live a normal life with his family despite living right next to the Auschwitz death camp.
The Zone of Interest makes a powerful statement about the mentality that leads to such evil and despicable actions to occur, showing that evil doesn’t exist from a sort of cartoonish, over-the-top display of inhumanity, but instead how people can ignore such overwhelming death if it means living a “normal life”. Through exceptional sound design and striking editing, The Zone of Interest is a film that overwhelms the senses and shocks the audience without ever needing to show the infamous atrocities firsthand.
4
‘Vortex’ (2021)
Gaspar Noé has not shied away from films that push the boundaries of uncomfortability and pain throughout his career, and while this has previously been established in the forms of striking horror films and thrillers like Irreversible and Enter the Void, Vortex is an entirely different beast of heavy subject matter. The film follows an old married couple dealing with the difficulties of their struggling aging bodies, with it reaching a breaking point when Elle begins to succumb to the effects of dementia.
This exceptional movie about aging proves to be so much more than the weight and heaviness of its initial premise, as it utilizes every aspect of its filmmaking to amplify the pain and shock that dementia has on one’s life and everyone around them. Noé makes a point to utilize a minimal, much more restrained approach compared to his previous films to amplify the weight and impact of this slow-encroching disease. It makes for one of the most heartbreaking cinematic experiences of recent memory as well as one of the all-time most well-made films about dementia.
3
‘Pihu’ (2018)
Image via RSVP Movies
While Pihu may not be as immediately recognizable as any other film on this list, its premise is the type of shocking, unbelievable heavy content that has one immediately understand why it is so high on this list. The Indian social thriller follows the titular 2-year-old baby girl, Pihu, who is trapped inside her home with no method of escape, following the suicide of her mother, who was to care for her. It’s one of the most shocking and deeply disheartening thrillers of recent memory, utilizing some deeply painful and heavy concepts to amplify its emotional pull.
Pihu sheds light on one of the ramifications of suicide that is often overlooked, as the pain of young children being left to their lonesome and not having a guiding figure to keep them safe makes for one of the most heartbreaking and difficult concepts imaginable. Such pure innocence being taken away and placing such a kindhearted infant soul in danger makes for a genuine shock to the senses, yet considering the film is based on a real-life incident, it makes its story all the more important.
2
‘Manchester by the Sea’ (2016)
Just barely making the cut as it has its 10-year anniversary this upcoming December, Manchester by the Sea has stood as the defining icon of heavy, emotionally distraught cinema that has defined the last decade. The film is often considered to be one of the heaviest movies of all time, not only tackling some incredibly difficult and painful subject matter in an exploration of grief, but also amplifying the pain of said grief in each aspect of its filmmaking.
The film sees Casey Affleck as Lee Chandler, who returns to his hometown to care for his 16-year-old nephew after his older brother passes away. He now finds himself not only balancing caring for his nephew with his grief, but deciding to finally deal with the tragic nature of his past and the reasons that he has been seperated from his family and community for so long. The film already starts off dealing with heavy subject matter and only grows more painful and emotional as more twists and revelations pile on. For as long as heavy filmmaking in the 21st century is concerned, Manchester by the Sea will continue to be an icon.
1
‘Mass’ (2021)
Utilizing some of the greatest pain that a parent can experience at its core and amplifying the emotional hurt of this pain through a quartet of absolutely perfect performances, Mass is the defining example of how a film with so little can feel so heavy and leave such a big impact. The film follows two sets of parents who have both been impacted by a school shooting, with one couple being the parents of one of the victims, while the other couple are the parents of the shooter, who took his own life. Having been intertwined in each other’s lives in the continued aftermath of this tragedy, the parents meet up for a raw and painful conversation in the private room of a church.
As school shootings continue to be a shocking yet painfully consistent tragedy that impacts more and more people with each passing year in the U.S., Mass‘s reflection and depiction of grief in the wake of such tragedy hits especially hard and leaves an undeniable impact. While the setup and themes of the film are heavy enough, the emotional performances from the likes of Jason Isaacs, Ann Dowd, Martha Plimpton, and Reed Birney are what push the film over the edge in terms of being the absolute heaviest film of recent memory.
