A Glean movie guide
Movies That Will Break Your Heart
Keep the tissues close.
From quiet grief to historical tragedies, these films are guaranteed to make you cry.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Grave of the Fireflies
A devastatingly beautiful look at two siblings struggling to survive the final months of World War II.
In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.
- 02
Manchester by the Sea
A raw and unflinching portrait of a man grappling with an insurmountable personal tragedy.
After his older brother passes away, Lee Chandler is forced to return home to care for his 16-year-old nephew. There he is compelled to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was born and raised.
- 03
Hachi: A Dog's Tale
A deeply moving true story about the unbreakable bond and lifelong loyalty between a dog and his owner.
Professor Wilson discovers a lost Akita puppy on his way home. Despite objections from his wife, Hachi endears himself to the family and grows to be Parker's loyal companion. As their bond grows deeper, a beautiful relationship unfolds.
- 04
Blue Valentine
A painfully honest depiction of a marriage’s slow dissolution contrasted with the hope of its beginning.
Dean and Cindy live a quiet life in a modest neighborhood. They appear to have the world at their feet at the outset of the relationship. However, his lack of ambition and her retreat into self-absorption cause potentially irreversible cracks in their marriage.
- 05
Aftersun
A subtle, shimmering reflection on memory and the hidden depths of a father-daughter relationship.
Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories fill the gaps between camcorder footages as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the troubled man she didn't.
- 06
Schindler's List
A powerful historical epic that finds profound humanity and sacrifice amidst the horrors of the Holocaust.
The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.
- 07
The Fault in Our Stars
A poignant exploration of young love and the courage required to face a terminal diagnosis.
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a patient named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.
- 08
Brokeback Mountain
A sweeping, tragic romance about two men whose lifelong connection is stifled by the world around them.
In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.
- 09
Bridge to Terabithia
A sensitive look at childhood imagination and the sudden, sharp pain of unexpected loss.
Jesse Aarons trained all summer to become the fastest runner in school. So he's very upset when newcomer Leslie Burke outruns him and everyone else. Despite this and other differences including that she's rich, he's poor, she's a city girl, and he's a country boy the two become fast friends. Together they create Terabithia, a land of monsters, trolls, ogres, and giants where they rule as king and queen.
- 10
Life is Beautiful
A bittersweet masterpiece about a father using humor to shield his son from the darkness of a concentration camp.
A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.