Grab the Tissues, Because 'A Walk to Remember' Is Officially Back on Netflix
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When it comes to watching a good movie, everyone has different opinions about what makes it, well, good. For some, it could be the romantic elements while for others, it's about having a scary premise that leaves your heart racing in ways you wouldn't expect. Sometimes a must-see film is a feel-good comedy that has your stomach hurting from laughing so hard. But every once in a while, we all need something that will just open the floodgates and bring on the tears.
Thankfully, Netflix has you covered with some of the best sad movies that will certainly pull on anyone's heartstrings. Of course, Netflix has a ton of heartbreaking romantic films, but then there are historical dramas, depicting a life in an era we may know little about, movies about families that anyone can relate to and plenty of teen-focused flicks, which manage to evoke nostalgic emotions no one planned on revisiting, but here we are...
No matter what type of sad movie you're looking for, the popular streamer is here to give you a chance to let it all out. So grab a blanket and a tissue box, and get ready for the waterworks.
Irreplaceable You (2018)
When Abbie (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) learns she is suffering from a terminal cancer diagnosis, she decides to take on the challenge of finding a partner for her childhood sweetheart and fiancé Sam (Michiel Huisman). This leads her on a journey that teaches her how to make the most of the life she has now while she still has time left.
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence star as two strangers each dealing with life's tough breaks… though perhaps not in the healthiest of ways. Pat (Bradley) is looking to reconcile with his estranged wife when Tiffany (Jennifer) comes into his orbit. She offers to help him, if he agrees to enter a dance competition as her partner. This starts an unlikely friendship that leads to romantic feelings and heart-wrenching moments.
A Walk to Remember (2002)
One of the most well-known coming-of-age stories from the early 2000s, Nicholas Sparks' A Walk to Remember centers around Landon, a troubled young man who falls in love with Jamie, the daughter of the town reverend. The teenagers embark on the quintessential, if unexpected, journey of young love… until Landon learns the heartbreaking truth.
The Vow (2012)
Inspired by the true story of Kim and Kitt Carpenter, Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams play Leo and Paige, a couple who find themselves in crisis when they end up in a car accident. When Paige wakes up from a coma with amnesia and therefore no recollection of their romance, Leo decides to risk it all in order to remind her why they fell in love in the first place.
A Man Called Otto (2022)
Based on Fredrik Backman’s 2012 novel A Man Called Ove, Tom Hanks stars as a curmudgeon older man who lost his wife from cancer. When a new family moves next door, they decide to bring Otto into their world and out of the isolation he put himself in. As he realizes there’s more to the world after losing a great love, he starts to soften in ways he never expected.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
Chadwick Boseman's final film is based on the August Wilson play of the same name, and was inspired by a real-life blues singer Ma Rainey. The fictionalized story follows the musician's band as they brace for a recording session amid rising racial tensions in 1920's Chicago. The film will certainly pull on your heartstrings, for many reasons other than seeing the late actor onscreen for the last time.
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, the war drama follows a barely-legal adult named Paul as he joins the Western front in World War I. While he initially is thrilled to be drafted, he soon discovers that there are many horrors that come with fighting a war... all while living in trenches that bring more harm.
The Boys in the Band (2020)
Based on the 1968 play of the same name, Jim Parsons and Matt Bomer star in a film that follows a group of gay friends who attend a birthday party in 1960's New York City. As the men get together to play a drunken game with an unexpected guest, everyone learns unseen truths and hidden feelings that may lead to a breakthrough none of them say coming.
Blonde (2022)
This not-quite-true account of the life of Marilyn Monroe, as imagined by writer Joyce Carol Oates, focuses on what she had to give up for fame, and how others used her image for their own ends. In addition to sad, it's also racy, earning an NC-17 rating.
Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022)
On the outset, this may look like just a steamy romance, but once you consider the thwarted lives of the characters, the sadness really comes through. It starts when Sir Clifford Chatterley returns from World War I unable to walk, causing him to move his family out to the country where he can get full-time care. His wife, the Lady Chatterley (born Constance Reid) then falls for the gamekeeper, which breaks all sorts of societal norms.
Pieces of a Woman (2021)
Director Kornél Mundruczó and writer Kata Wéber based this movie on their own experiences with infant loss, so it's intensely personal as well as powerful. In the film, Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf play a couple who figure out if it's possible to move on after their baby does not survive childbirth.
A Jazzman's Blues (2022)
Pick any movie in Tyler Perry's catalog, and there's bound to be a range of emotions in it; he really knows how to swing the dial from humor to melancholy to melodrama. A Jazzman's Blues is heavy on the latter two, focusing on a 40-year-old murder and the secret love that may have incited it.
tick, tick...BOOM! (2021)
This movie is sad for what happens off-screen as well as on. It's based on a play by Rent scribe Jonathan Larson, and it's about his struggles to find success on and off the stage. In that way, it also serves as a moving portrait of an artist who died before he could see his biggest hit go to Broadway. The movie was directed by another Broadway hit-maker: Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Purple Hearts (2022)
This movie follows Cassie (Sofia Carson), an uninsured musician in need of insulin, and Luke (Nicholas Galitzine), a soldier about to be deployed to Iraq. They decide to enter into a marriage of convenience — her for the insurance, him for the spousal benefits he needs to pay off debts — which seems like it'll solve all their problems. But, of course, the best plans never go smoothly, and Cassie and Luke have plenty of tearjerking drama ahead of them,
Fatherhood (2021)
Kevin Hart is known for being a comedian, but Fatherhood is a movie that strives to give audiences all the feels. It's based on the book Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss and Love by Matthew Logelin, a man who, after his wife dies soon after childbirth, has to learn how to raise his daughter alone.
Passing (2021)
Rebecca Hall directs this story, based on a novel from 1929 by Nella Larsen. It follows Irene (Tessa Thompson) and Clare (Ruth Negga), childhood friends who reunite in adulthood. Only something is different: Clare has been "passing" for white, and is married to a man who despises African Americans. Leading a double life — one with Clare, one with her husband — is never without its consequences.
The Midnight Sky (2020)
This movie begins as humans are evacuating Earth as the result of a global catastrophe, so there's a lot of end-of-the-world sadness right off the bat. George Clooney plays a scientist who is one of the few who stays behind, and he forges an emotional bond with the crew of a spaceship as he tries to warn them not to return to the planet.
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I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
This movie is ostensibly a break-up film, but since it's from director Charlie Kaufman — who also wrote Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — it's anything but straightforward. It's sad, confusing, cerebral, disturbing and surreal, all at the same time.
The Last Letter from Your Lover (2021)
Nothing brings up the waterworks faster than tales of lost love. This movie recounts a romance unfolding in the '60s, and a reporter in the present day who uncovers their correspondence and goes searching for what happened to all the parties involved.
All the Bright Places (2020)
Based on the bestselling book by Jennifer Niven, All the Bright Places seems on the surface like a teen romance. But as the two main characters, played by Elle Fanning and Justice Smith, get to know each other better, they reveal truths about living with mental illness.
Marriage Story (2019)
Noah Baumbach's Best Picture-nominated film takes a close, unflinching look at a family going through divorce. From tender moments to blow-out fights, the movie really makes you feel for everyone involved.
Worth (2020)
All movies about 9/11 are, on some level, harrowing — the events were just too horrific. Worth is about answering an impossible question: How much is a life worth, and who gets to be compensated when one is lost? The film stars Michael Keaton as Kenneth Feinberg, the man who must figure it out for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
All Together Now (2020)
Amber seems like a typical teen, but she's harboring a secret: She's homeless, and living on the bus that her mom drives. Can she keep her optimistic spirit in the face of all that adversity? Auliʻi Cravalho, the voice of Moana, plays Amber.
Tell Me Who I Am (2019)
Sometimes real life is sadder than we can imagine. This documentary follows twins Alex and Marcus Lewis. When Alex loses his memory in a motorcycle accident, Marcus helps him with his lost memories of his childhood — but omits other traumas they've faced in their lives.
First Match (2018)
First Match has a toughness behind its sadness: After years in foster care, Mo finds her home in the wrestling ring. On a mission to reconnect with her estranged biological father, Mo tells a story of a fight that's as emotional as it is physical.
Our Souls at Night (2017)
Our Souls at Night is a movie about loneliness, and what people do to push back against it. Robert Redford and Jane Fonda play two people who, after losing their spouses, start sleeping in the same bed platonically as a form of companionship.
6 Balloons (2018)
Abbi Jacobsen and Dave Franco play brother-and-sister Katie and Seth. When it looks as if Seth has relapsed into heroin use, Katie tries to check him into rehab while taking care of his toddler. Though it takes places over a limited period of time, you get a powerful portrait of drug addiction and how it affects families.
Mudbound (2017)
This film follows two families from different backgrounds, yet live on the same plot of land. But when a son from each family returns from World War II, they develop an unexpected friendship that contradicts (and rejects) their Mississippi homeland's racist roots.
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The Zookeeper's Wife (2017)
Like many World War II stories, The Zookeeper's Wife is both heartbreaking and uplifting. It tells the true story of the couple who ran the Warsaw zoo, and used its tunnels to help Jewish families evade and escape the Nazis.
The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)
This movie is about a writer who finds himself a caregiver for a teen with muscular dystrophy. When they set off on a road trip together, sure, there's plenty of learning and growing, but with stars Paul Rudd and Craig Roberts at the forefront, there are lots of heartwarming laughs, too.
The Book of Henry (2017)
Henry, an 11-year-old genius, lives with his flighty mother and precocious brother in a small town in the Hudson Valley. When a death rocks the family, the grief affects them in unexpected (and sometimes head-scratching) ways. Throw this on when you're in the mood for something sad, but also tonally offbeat.
Blue Jay (2016)
Ah, the sadness of what could have been. This movie follows two former high school sweethearts who run into each other in their hometown, and reminisce while also revealing what remained unsaid in all those years.
Brain on Fire (2016)
Based on the memoir by Susannah Cahalan, this movie follows a young reporter who searches for a reason behind her seizures, psychosis and memory loss. It's a tearjerker that also acts like a medical mystery.
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