15 Movies That Will Heal Your Troubling Emotions, If You Feel Low or Depress
(CLICK ON UNDERLINED LINKS TO PLAY THE MOVIE.)
Specifically talking of depression, there is a very thin line that we all agree to acknowledge and yet sometimes ignore to discern between. Feeling low in a day, or for several days because of existing problems in life can both have similar affects on us. Cinema, has always helped this world in understanding human psychology, human ethics and inspired millions to introspect breaking the stereotypes. I personally credit cinema for playing one of the major role in evolving me as a human, in getting a strong grip of myself.
A session with counsellor, or an open heart discussion with a close friend, and sometimes a heart-touching movie when feeling depressed can change the way we see things, see our problems, or in fact judge our emotions. We know that a film may not get you rid of your troubling emotions, but it surely can give insights, a new perspective, a new story to learn from.
You’ll notice that none of the films curated on this page peeks below 80% on our UNFILMY rating system, meaning the overwhelming majority of critics who saw these gave them a favourable Fresh review. These movies run the spectrum, from widely-seen popular movies (Forrest Gump) to historic art-pieces (Bringing Up Baby). The movies are by turns funny (The Truman Show, Lost In Translation), dramatic (A Brighter Summer Day), and introspective (Into The Wild).
And we’ve barely scratched the surface of Internet’s growing stable of formidable originals but to make sure you’re only seeing the cream of the crop, every movie featured here is Certified Fresh, meaning it maintained a high enough UNFILMY score after crossing a minimum critics review threshold.
Time to get comfy on the couch because we’re not just throwing good movies, not even just great ones, but the 15 Best Heart-Touching Movies, that possesses power of healing!
1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — 2008
- DIRECTOR — David Fincher
- GENRE — Drama | Fantasy | Sufficing
- WRITER — F. Scott Fitzgerald(short story), Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
- CAST — Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton
- PLOT — Beautiful story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts ageing backwards with consequences.
- UNFILMY RATING — 85%
- Netflix
2. Lost In Translation
- DIRECTOR — Sofia Cappola
- GENRE — Infatuation | Comedy | Delightful
- WRITER — Sofia Cappola
- CAST — Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi
- PLOT — A faded movie star and a neglected young woman form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo.
- UNFILMY RATING — 83%
- Vudu
3. Children of Heaven — 1998
- DIRECTOR — Majid Majidi
- GENRE — Sport | Family | Learning
- WRITER — Majid Majidi
- CAST — Mohammad Amir Naji, Amir Farrokh Hashemian, Bahare Seddiqi
- PLOT — After a boy loses his sister’s pair of shoes, he goes on a series of adventures in order to find them. When he can’t, he tries a new way to “win” a new pair.
- UNFILMY RATING — 87%
- Vudu
4. Cast Away — 2000
- DIRECTOR — Robert Zemeckis
- GENRE — Trapped | Adventure | Inspiring
- WRITER — William Broyles Jr.
- CAST — Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Paul Sanchez
- PLOT — A FedEx executive undergoes a physical and emotional transformation after crash landing on a deserted island.
- UNFILMY RATING — 87%
- Netflix
5. Shawshank Redemption — 1994
- DIRECTOR — Frank Darabont
- GENRE — Hope | Institutionalisation | Drama
- WRITER — Stephen King, Frank Darabont
- CAST — Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, Mark Rolston, James Whitmore
- PLOT — Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.
- UNFILMY RATING — 96%
- PrimeVideo
6. Silver Lining Playbook — 2012
- DIRECTOR — David O. Russell
- GENRE — Overcoming | Understanding | Comedy
- WRITER — David O. Russell, Matthew Quick
- CAST — Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro | Anupam Kher | Jacki Weaver
- PLOT — After coming back home from a mental institution, Pat Solitano tries to focus on the silver lining in life, after meeting Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.
- UNFILMY RATING — 88%
- You Tube
7. The Truman Show — 1998
- DIRECTOR — Peter Weir
- GENRE — Breaking Reality | Touching | Comedy
- WRITER — Andrew Niccol
- CAST — Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, Laura Linney
- PLOT — An insurance salesman discovers his whole life is actually a reality TV show.
- UNFILMY RATING — 94%
- Netflix
8. Forrest Gump — 1994
- DIRECTOR — Robert Zemeckis
- GENRE — Innocence | Destiny | Warming
- WRITER — Robert Zemeckis, Eric Roth
- CAST — Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise,
- PLOT — The presidencies of Kennedy and Johnson, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and other historical events unfold from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, whose only desire is to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.
- UNFILMY RATING — 88%
- Netflix
9. Into The Wild — 2007
- DIRECTOR — Sean Penn
- GENRE — Society-less | Life | Wilderness
- WRITER — Sean Penn, Jon Krakauer
- CAST — Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener
- PLOT — An Emory graduate abandons his possessions and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life and philosophy.
- UNFILMY RATING — 82%
- Netflix
10. Udaan — 2010
- DIRECTOR — Vikramaditya Motwane
- GENRE — Break-free | Despair | Individualism
- WRITER — Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap
- CAST — Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Manjot Singh, Ram Kapoor
- PLOT — Expelled from his school, a 16-year old boy returns home to his abusive and oppressive father.
- UNFILMY RATING — 86%
- Netflix
11. Her — 2013
- DIRECTOR — Spike Jonze
- GENRE — Loneliness | Desperation | Love
- WRITER — Spike Jonze,
- CAST — Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson
- PLOT — In a near future, a lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.
- UNFILMY RATING — 89%
- Netflix
12. The Green Mile — 1999
- DIRECTOR — Frank Darabont
- GENRE — Bond | Crime | Humanity
- WRITER — Stephen King, Frank Darabont
- CAST — Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse
- PLOT — The lives of guards on Death Row are affected by one of their charges: a black man accused of child murder and rape, yet who has a mysterious gift.
- UNFILMY RATING — 81%
- Vudu
13. Like Stars on Earth — 2007
- DIRECTOR — Aamir Khan, Amole Gupte
- GENRE — Empathy | Compassion | Children
- WRITER — Amole Gupte
- CAST — Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan, Tisca Chopra
- PLOT — An eight-year-old boy is thought to be a lazy trouble-maker, until the new art teacher has the patience and compassion to discover the real problem behind his struggles in school.
- UNFILMY RATING — 89%
- You Tube
14. A Brighter Summer Day — 1991
- DIRECTOR — Edward Yang
- GENRE — Conflict | Crime | Romance
- WRITER — Hung Hung, Mingtang Lai
- CAST — Chen Chang, Lisa Yang, Kuo-Chu Chang
- PLOT — A 14-year-old boy’s girlfriend conflicts with the head of one gang for an unclear reason, until finally the conflict comes to a violent climax.
- UNFILMY RATING — 92%
- You Tube
15. Bringing Up Baby — 1938
- DIRECTOR — Howard Hawks
- GENRE — Family | Romance | Comedy
- WRITER — Dudley Nichols, Hagar Wilde
- CAST — Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles
- PLOT — While trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard, Baby.
- UNFILMY RATING — 86%
- You Tube
