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Moods / bleak

Movies that feel bleak

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No comfort offered, none taken. The ones that stare into it and don't blink. Ranked by how strongly each film carries the mood, then by quality. Every film links to its kindred spirits.

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bleak films, best first

Dunkirk poster
Dunkirk
2017 Β· dir. Christopher Nolan
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.8war Β· action Β· dramaParamount+

The story of the miraculous evacuation of Allied soldiers from Belgium, Britain, Canada and France, who were cut off and surrounded by the German army from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk between May 26th and June 4th 1940 during World War II.

1917 poster
1917
2019 Β· dir. Sam Mendes
πŸ… 88%β˜… 8.2war Β· drama Β· historyNetflix

At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers.

Paths of Glory poster
Paths of Glory
1957 Β· dir. Stanley Kubrick
πŸ… 96%β˜… 8.4war Β· drama

A commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.

All Quiet on the Western Front poster
All Quiet on the Western Front
2022 Β· dir. Edward Berger
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7.8war Β· dramaNetflix

Paul Baumer and his friends Albert and Muller, egged on by romantic dreams of heroism, voluntarily enlist in the German army. Full of excitement and patriotic fervour, the boys enthusiastically march into a war they believe in. But once on the Western Front, they discover the soul-destroying horror of World War I.

Fury poster
Fury
2014 Β· dir. David Ayer
πŸ… 75%β˜… 7.6war Β· drama Β· actionApple TV+

April, 1945. As the Allies make their final push in the European Theater, a battle-hardened army sergeant commands a Sherman tank with a five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines.

Guy Ritchie's The Covenant poster
Guy Ritchie's The Covenant
2023 Β· dir. Guy Ritchie
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.5war Β· action Β· thrillerPrime Video

After an ambush, Afghan interpreter Ahmed goes to Herculean lengths to save US Army Sergeant John Kinley's life. When Kinley learns that Ahmed and his family were not given safe passage to America as promised, he must return to the war zone and repay his debt.

American Sniper poster
American Sniper
2014 Β· dir. Clint Eastwood
πŸ… 71%β˜… 7.3war Β· actionNetflix

U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle takes his sole missionβ€”protect his comradesβ€”to heart and becomes one of the most lethal snipers in American history. His pinpoint accuracy not only saves countless lives but also makes him a prime target of insurgents. Despite grave danger and his struggle to be a good husband and father to his family back in the States, Kyle serves four tours of duty in Iraq. However, when he finally returns home, he finds that he cannot leave the war behind.

Lone Survivor poster
Lone Survivor
2013 Β· dir. Peter Berg
πŸ… 75%β˜… 7.5war Β· action Β· dramaPrime VideoStarz

Four Navy SEALs on a covert mission to neutralize a high-level Taliban operative must make an impossible moral decision in the mountains of Afghanistan that leads them into an enemy ambush. As they confront unthinkable odds, the SEALs must find reserves of strength and resilience to fight to the finish.

Civil War poster
Civil War
2024 Β· dir. Alex Garland
πŸ… 80%β˜… 7war Β· action Β· dramaRent or buy

In the near future, a group of war journalists attempt to survive while reporting the truth as the United States stands on the brink of civil war.

Land of Mine poster
Land of Mine
2015 Β· dir. Martin Zandvliet
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7.8war Β· drama Β· history

In the days following the surrender of Germany in May 1945, a group of young German prisoners of war is handed over to the Danish authorities and subsequently sent to the West Coast, where they are ordered to remove the more than two million mines that the Germans had placed in the sand along the coast. With their bare hands, crawling around in the sand, the boys are forced to perform the dangerous work under the leadership of a Danish sergeant.

Patton poster
Patton
1970 Β· dir. Franklin J. Schaffner
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.9war Β· drama Β· history

"Patton" tells the tale of General George S. Patton, famous tank commander of World War II. The film begins with Patton's career in North Africa and progresses through the invasion of Germany and the fall of the Third Reich. Side plots also speak of Patton's numerous faults such his temper and habit towards insubordination.

The Pianist poster
The Pianist
2002 Β· dir. Roman Polanski
πŸ… 95%β˜… 8.5drama Β· war

The true story of pianist WΕ‚adysΕ‚aw Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a cafΓ©; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.

Grave of the Fireflies poster
Grave of the Fireflies
1988 Β· dir. Isao Takahata
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8.5animation Β· drama Β· warNetflix

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.

Greyhound poster
Greyhound
2020 Β· dir. Aaron Schneider
πŸ… 77%β˜… 7war Β· action Β· dramaApple TV+

A first-time captain leads a convoy of allied ships carrying thousands of soldiers across the treacherous waters of the "Black Pit" to the front lines of WWII. With no air cover protection for 5 days, the captain and his convoy must battle the surrounding enemy Nazi U-boats in order to give the allies a chance to win the war.

War Horse poster
War Horse
2011 Β· dir. Steven Spielberg
πŸ… 74%β˜… 7.2war Β· history Β· drama

On the brink of the First World War, Albert's beloved horse Joey is sold to the Cavalry by his father. Against the backdrop of the Great War, Joey begins an odyssey full of danger, joy, and sorrow, and he transforms everyone he meets along the way. Meanwhile, Albert, unable to forget his equine friend, searches the battlefields of France to find Joey and bring him home.

Apocalypse Now poster
Apocalypse Now
1979 Β· dir. Francis Ford Coppola
πŸ… 91%β˜… 8.4drama Β· warParamount+

At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.

The Longest Day poster
The Longest Day
1962 Β· dir. Ken Annakin
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.7war Β· drama Β· history

The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day"

Full Metal Jacket poster
Full Metal Jacket
1987 Β· dir. Stanley Kubrick
πŸ… 89%β˜… 8.2drama Β· warMax

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

From Here to Eternity poster
From Here to Eternity
1953 Β· dir. Fred Zinnemann
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.6war Β· romance Β· dramaPrime Video

In 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his captain's wife and second in command are falling in love.

Lifeboat poster
Lifeboat
1944 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7.6war Β· drama

During World War II, a small group of survivors is stranded in a lifeboat together after the ship they were traveling on is destroyed by a German U-boat.

The Captain poster
The Captain
2018 Β· dir. Robert Schwentke
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.3war Β· drama Β· historyPrime Video

Germany, 1945. Soldier Willi Herold, a deserter of the German army, stumbles into a uniform of a Nazi captain abandoned during the last and desperate weeks of the Third Reich. Newly emboldened by the allure of a suit that he has stolen only to stay warm, Willi discovers that many Germans will follow the leader, whoever he is.

Persian Lessons poster
Persian Lessons
2020 Β· dir. Vadim Perelman
πŸ… 80%β˜… 7.4war Β· drama

Occupied France, 1942. Gilles is arrested by SS soldiers alongside other Jews and sent to a camp in Germany. He narrowly avoids sudden execution by swearing to the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but Gilles gets assigned a life-or-death mission: to teach Farsi to Head of Camp Koch, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Iran once the war is over. Through an ingenious trick, Gilles manages to survive by inventing words of "Farsi" every day and teaching them to Koch.

The Shadow in My Eye poster
The Shadow in My Eye
2021 Β· dir. Ole Bornedal
β˜… 7.3war Β· drama Β· historyNetflix

On March 21st, 1945, the British Royal Air Force set out on a mission to bomb Gestapo's headquarters in Copenhagen. The raid had fatal consequences as some of the bombers accidentally targeted a school and more than 120 people were killed, 86 of whom were children.

Battle for Sevastopol poster
Battle for Sevastopol
2015 Β· dir. Sergey Mokritsky
β˜… 7war Β· drama Β· romancePrime Video

The story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the most successful female sniper in history.

bleak + contemplative

all contemplative movies β†’

Quiet, patient, unhurried. Room left to think.

Ideas as the action. Stories that hand your brain a puzzle and walk away.

Motion as language. Cut fast, hit hard, never stop moving.

Big canvas, big stakes, big feelings. Storytelling with sweep.

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