Pajiba

There are a few on here I won't even see once because I know traumatic they are.

Good list. Strangely, I wouldn't mind seeing The Pianist again. I remember that ghetto scene and all that, but perhaps it was because I was only a teenager at the time and may have forgotten a few things.

Personally? Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. I know, it's not as good as Oldboy, but I genuinely love that film. Still, I'd buy it for my shelf, but not for me.

I will never watch Sophie's Choice period. Ugh.
Good List. I'd add Kalifornia.

This is just odd. I never contemplated this idea that a movie could be good but I'd never want to see it again until I watched Requiem for a Dream. And that is exactly how I've described it to friends ever since I saw it. Then it's #1...

My friend watched this alone past midnight one time. After the viewing he decided he wanted a snack. Then he saw the fridge. He went to bed hungry that night.

Wait, there was a Sophie's Choice movie? Jesus, it makes me sick just thinking about it. Not for the reasons you might think, though. That book is a blight on the face of philosophy. Every goddamn highschooler or college freshman reads that book and thinks they are a fucking expert in the field. I know a lady who teaches freshman level philosophy and the mere mention of that book makes her physically ill. So no, I will never be watching that one. wouldn't mind watching requiem again though...

Looks like I have to see "Requiem for a Dream."

*adds to to-do list, page 47*

It's understandable if we're not including docs, but I'd make special mention of Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father unless you like being ruined for days (if not longer).

Even just mentioning it, I have to go hug my wife and daughter.

Motherfucking "Happiness" would definitely be my #2.

Fucking hell, branded, can we never talk about that movie ever again?

dang. couldn't agree more. solid list.

one night my friend brought over 'dancer' & 'requiem'. i was like, 'you gotta pick one or the other cuz' i don't think we can do both in one night unless we wanna kill ourselves later.'

never seen 'irreversible'...doubt i ever will...

See, I've watched Requiem a few times. It's totally worth the ache for me to see those harrowing performances again. So, so good.

Jay, just the mention of that one gives me the ooglies.

I have never seen, nor have I read, Sophie's Choice. I should get on that.

I think Million Dollar Baby belongs on this list. That movie got to me. I went into that movie expecting something like Rocky, but with a girl...and, well, if you've seen the movie then you know that my attitude yielded some severe disillusionment.
I loved it, and I keep telling my wife it's great, but when she suggests renting it, I just can't do it.

One and two are a toss-up for me, but I would have to put irreversible in first - just seeing the header image was enough to make me wish I could forget the ending all over again.

I have seen all of them and am in total agreement.
Jay mentioned Todd Solondz' "Happiness" and, yes, it definitely belongs on the list. Disturbing on so many levels, it's as close as I've ever felt to being physically violated by a film.

Pan's Labyrinth is almost there for me, mostly because of its setting. I will, however, admit to being supremely creeped out by that thing at the table with all the food.

In college about 10 guys and girls piled into my dorm room to watch Requiem for a Dream. After the last scene I clicked "stop", and there was dead silence for about five minutes. Then everyone got up and went back to their rooms. Even the guys who could find dark humor in anything had nothing to say.

Will never see Irreversible. Would rather watch all the torture-porn/horror/B movie crap in the world than a realistic rape scene. Rape and child molestation (see: "Happiness") are the two things that can even bring down grown men.

I've seen four of the ten and I wouldn't care to see Requiem again. American History X and Schidlers list, however, I've watched multiple times. I'll have to check out the other six to confirm your assessment.

Er, so branded and TK - I should take that film that we're not mentioning by name off my dvd rental list...or should it still be watched?

Good call on Hotel Rwanda. I loved it so much that I bought it after I watched it. And you're totally right: still sitting on the shelf in the shrink wrap. Why would I need to watch it again when it haunts me so?

And, branded, at the mere mention of Dear Zachary, tears spring to my eyes. Oh, boy, here I go again...

I would add Mysterious Skin. Also, The Descent--I thionk it is a great horror film that I recommend all the time, but I don't think I could survive a second viewing. I HATED Schindler's List when it came out, and walked out of the theater in a state of rage--it just seemed so crassly manipulative and phony. Maybe I should try it agin with a cooler head...

Christ on a cracker people! Most of the movies on this list I had heard of and had only seen 3 (see above comment). Since I wasn't familiar with a few of them (Happiness, Irreversible, Dancer in the Dark, etc) I looked up the synopsis.

Who would want to see any of these movies in the first place? God I am depressed just reading about them!

I think I'm still waiting on it getting a release date here, but hopefully it'll be soon. I do remember the review that was done here though, so I 'look forward' (but not really) to watching it one day.

"In The Company of Men" is an experience I wouldn't wanna go thru twice. Great flick, but man...No interest in 'Irreversible.' I can stand a lot when it comes to on-screen violence, but extended rape scenes...no.

Schindler's List is the only one I haven't revisited. It's due to embarrassment, not content.

I had to watch it during my Junior year of high school in February. That would be when every single county/region/state/coast select music ensemble is auditioning/rehearsing, the spring musical rehearsals are picking up in intensity, and the local community theater groups are begging high school students they know to fill in for the people who flaked out a week or two before their production. Needless to say, I was exhausted.

I fell asleep watching Schindler's List. When I woke up, the history department supervisor was looming over my body and said, "Good morning," with more bitterness and sarcasm than I could ever convey with words alone. I looked up at the big screen and asked, "Why's it snowing?" He started to cry. I mistook the ash of the Holocaust victims for a gentle German snowfall and promptly went back to sleep.

The memory haunts me to this day. I can never revisit Schindler's List because I believe I'm morally obligated to never comment on a Holocaust film again thanks to the unintended wisecrack about the snow.

Oh, Robert....

Ugh. Speaking of trauma, that header pic is having a wonderful triggering effect on me. I'll now be reliving my childhood rape this afternoon. Hooray! I've been wanting to practice my breathing/coping exercises. :( At least now I know to never watch Irreversible.
I know it's a bit selfish but is there any way that you could change it, please?

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.

I hated it while I was watching it, but afterwards decided that I liked it in a weird way. I don't ever want to see it again.

Agreed with the list for the most part except Schindlers List, Hotel Rwanda and American History. Those films are worth a revisit for the acting alone.

Taxi Driver would be my #1. Great movie, have no interest in ever seeing it again.

I think you could add Eraserhead to this list, too.

I admit to watching Dear Zachary twice. I don't know what's wrong with me.

I can never watch either Hotel Rwanda or The Last King of Scotland again. I was unable to make it through Schindler's List at all. Apparently genocide is my kryptonite.

I have seen 'Schindler's List' multiple times, and there is a part of me that considers it a duty to revisit it, if not in it's entirety, at least on fragments. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, and by making that movie Spielberg has done mankind a service. Autopsy's , cinematic or otherwise, are never pretty, and that one revealed a raw depravity that must never be forgotten.

I have a very dear friend who is a journalist. He specializes in war zones and the aftermath. Last year, as a break from the Middle East, he spent time in Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, etc, writing about the independence of Kosovo. I did his interview transcriptions from audio files to typed when he returned. I transcribed the interview of a 30-something man whose Albanian family and neighbors were forced from their urban homes, and herded into boxcars at gunpoint by Serbs. There were 10's of thousands of them at the rail yard. They had seen 'Schindler's List.'
Just think about that for a moment:
They knew what was happening, they had seen it before.
At every stop the train made people were selected from the train, marched off at gunpoint by Serbian Militia, and never seen again. The girls were forced into prostitution or sold into slavery. The men were executed.
This was in 1999.
It was not in Black and White.
When I heard this man say these words in his interview my blood ran cold. I transcribed hours of this stuff:
From "An Abominable Blood-Logged Plain":
"...We reached the train station. There were about 15,000-20,000 people on the field by the station. The train was there. We had seen Schindler’s List. Everything comes into your mind, you know? Then we got into the train. Getting on the train was hell. It was a fight for survival."
"...when you watched Schindler’s List, you sympathize with the Jews. But without going through that situation yourself, it is impossible. Now when I watch Schindler’s List, goose bumps go all over my body." Luan Berisha, interviewed by Michael Totten http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/07/an-abominable-b.php
(About 1/2 way through the piece. Read the whole thing though. )

There is also an interview in that series of articles with a man whose family sheltered Jews in their home Anne Frank style for years, protecting them from execution. The descendants of the people his family saved still keep in touch from Israel. Doing first hand work on this subject is life changing I can only imagine what Spielberg went through when he made 'Schindler's List'. It changes your soul.

Having said all of that, I cannot bear to watch 'The Pianist.' Just the advertisements and trailers fro that movie and Brody's achingly beautiful anguish were enough to burn the imagery into my brain. I will stipulate that it is a masterpiece, and it would turn in me.

'American History X', with the exception of the disturbing 'curbing' scene, is well worth repeat viewings though. I caught about 2/3 of it on cable recently, and Norton is magnificent.

'Leaving Las Vegas' doesn't bother me a bit. Having spent a few years in the bottom of a bottle, I think it hits me differently than it might for others. Maybe not though. I'm not that special.

I haven't seen 'Hotel Rwanda', but having seen 'Tears of the Sun', 'Blood Diamond', and 'Welcome to Sarajevo', I think I get the gist.

'A Beautiful Life' really deserves place on this list. Bernini's balance between hope and horror is haunting.

Well, that's intriguing. Who broke the site?

Oh, I had to watch American History X through my fingers after the curb scene. Like a horror movie.

And Lindsey with an 'e', could you tone it down a little bit? That last post was 586 words, 3,424 characters with 8 paragraphs and 52 lines. Seriously, you're making some of the slackers around here (i.e., me) look bad. Not that it takes much, but still.

@ Xtreme:
If that was a snarky comment:
Well, pardon the fuck right out of me. I will endevour to condense my heartfelt non-rants on intensely moving subjects to 100 words or less in the future.

I'll stick to dick and tit jokes from now on.

Seriously, I felt the need. Scroll down if it makes your head hurt, that's what I do if someone is B O R I N G. You try listening to first person modern accounts of ethnic cleansing for hours on end and NOT be compelled to speak up when the subject is topical.

If that was a friendly jab:
Fuck you very much, I love you too. :-}

Really, I can go either way. I'm easy that way.

Thank you. All of you. And I seriously thought I was the only one feeling that way about Requiem (which, ironically, I bought without knowing that it was and which is still standing right there on my shelve reminding me that I'm NEVER ever to go buy a pig in a poke again.)
Does anyone feel like "Se7en" should be on this list, too? Also, filed under quite the same number in my head is "Amores Perros".
Curiously, for some time I even thought "Crash" was really disturbing... I don't know when but it seems I've grown out of it. I almost can look at Matt Dillon again without retching and protectively crossing my legs.
Some movies just make mental and emotional emergency patiens out of people...

Nice list. For me, Sybil and Hard Candy were the films too emotionally affecting to watch more than once.

I agree with the others who mentioned 'A Clockwork Orange.' It makes me nauseous just thinking about it.

Also, '4 Months, 3 Weeks, and Two Days.' That movie made me want to die.

Synechdoche, New York. Two and a half hours of surrealism, symbolism, and mind-fuckery, and when it was over, I curled up into the fetal position next to my girlfriend and I couldn't speak. It hit me so hard I almost couldn't take it. My emotional center was shattered. I don't think I'll ever watch it again.

Side Note: I watched The Pianist again on IFC, and it seems to get better with repeat viewings (having read the book, I was a little disappointed the first time, but having forgotten details now it's a bit more enjoyable).

I'd put The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on this list, but Dustin would probably rape and/or murder my future children.

i've watched leaving las vegas and requiem numerous times, mostly because i relate on a personal level.

but yes, requiem, exquisite film that it is, is like rubbing all of your skin off with a cheese grater then pouring vinegar all over yourself. your nervous system overloads and leaves you feeling vacant and cold and kind of afraid. there just arent many films that leave you feeling like the muscles in your face will never lift again. i remember wondering why he would have made such a film, so traumatic to the viewer, and thought he must have lost someone to addiction.

i know many people who either refuse to see it, or wouldn't watch it right through to the end

One interesting note about "Requiem for a Dream" that I read on imdb.com. When Ellen Burstyn is giving her speech in the kitchen to her son Harry about growing old alone ("I had a place in the sun...") you see the camera slightly move off-center. The director was furious until he realized the cameraman was crying while hearing her talk about her age and frailty. The director kept it in. If you can't stomach the movie, look up her speech online. I also read that Ellen Burstyn thinks this was her best acting role she's ever done.

No Schindlers ever again. No way. And I missed the first third of it.

Interesting that so many of these have notorious rape or sex scenes in them. Is it because they are so realistic that they are so disturbing? If so, the movies did us a service. As unpleasant as they are to watch, at least the film makers have the decency not to try to make them sexy or pretty.

Having seen "The Pianist," "Leaving Las Vegas," "Hotel Rwanda," "Schindler's List" and "Sophie's Choice" (saw that last one long, long ago, I barely remember it), I'd only hesitate to see "Leaving Las Vegas" again, because it is so damn depressing. Good movie, I guess, but man, it kind of curdles your soul. Knowing the plot of "Irreversible," I have no desire to see it, the rape scene is a large part of the reason why. I don't need to see Monica Bellucci being violated in a movie to know that people do horrible things and the movie otherwise doesn't sound quite good enough to make up for the repellent parts of it.

And reading at my list above, it looks like I have a genocide fetish. I don't.

Se7en? Oh hell no. NEVER again. That movie ruined a certain food item for me forever.

Razor-wang?

As soon as I saw the title of this diversion, I immediately thought "Requiem for a Dream." And I would add "Audition," and I agree with branded & TK's choice that shall not be named.

Gummo.....Other than that great list

I've seen "Leaving Las Vegas" multiple times, and will not hesitate to watch it again.

Also, the last 15 minutes of "Requiem for a Dream" are among the most harrowing ever put on film. And that's after all the harrowing stuff that came before it. That's probably why I own it on DVD.

A) Irreversible is not a great movie (though I'll grant you that I will never watch it again).

B) My vote for "I can't believe you left off so-and-so" would be The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. Glad I saw it. Will gouge my eyes out if I ever see it again.

Watching BJORK die in Dancer in the Dark was the BEST PART! I could watch her swinging on repeat over and over for hours, HOURS I SAY!!!!!!

I couldn't watch Grave of the Fireflys all the way through the first time.

I know I'm in the minority for thinking this, but I didn't think Requiem for a Dream was that great a film. Too one-note; no light to balance out the dark. And I felt that Aronofsky was yelling "DRUGS ARE BAD!" at me. Gee, thanks Darren, never heard that one before.

I'm never going to watch Irreversible. I'll watch films with violence, war, murder, whatever, but seeing a rape on screen makes me physically uncomfortable. The Melfi rape in the Sopranos nearly turned me off the show.

would definitely add Monster to this list.

And I watched Requiem for a Dream with my mom and stepdad. On my first break home from college.

Greer, you are absolutely right re: Edward Norton looking hot in American History X. Same goes for Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List. That's two—count 'em, TWO—cinematic Nazis I've lusted after in my lifetime.

*weeps quietly…again*

No Oldboy makes this list a fail.

Totally agree with House of Sand and fog. Hands down one of the most horribly depressing movies I've ever seen. I could barely get through it.

Another one!

The Constant Gardener

Depressing as all hell. Good movie, pretty people, riveting performances. Will never watch it again.

Out of these I've only seen American History X (which I love and have seen several times), Hotel Rwanda (which I found ok, a bit "safe" and I would put Last King of Scotland over that one for a horrific genocide movie), and Requiem for a Dream. I never ever want to see Requiem ever again. I was so traumatized.

I've watched American History X on numerous occasions. Schindler's List is my go-to after a bad day at work when I need a good cry.

I cannot force myself to rewatch Hotel Rawanda. Maybe it's because it's closer to now than Schindler's List, but it was agonizing getting through it once.

I agree that Sleepers should be on there too. I've not watched most of these, on purpose, but I've seen Schindler's List and Leaving Las Vegas. Leaving Las Vegas didn't really depress me or leave any lasting impression really. I know another poster mentioned Se7en- it traumatized me when I saw it, but knowing what happens took all the sting out of it for me.

irreversible was intense but great; you cant really get an idea of it without seeing it though - unfortunately the rape scene was what it was and couldnt break with overall continuity and direction of the whole that it was but a part of - i had only one friend that i ever recommended that one to - i'm more put off by films where people just go batshit crazy, genuine depictions of very plausible and jarring madness, Clean,shaven comes to mind or even Aviator where leonardo retardo mindfucks himself to internal disorder

as far as A Clockwork Orange goes, read the book, with the full 21 chapters (not the original 20 that were published in the U.S. that the film was based on). it will forever change your opinion of young Alex and his droogs.

"Apocalypse Now." Fell asleep.

Whatever, I've watched Schindler's List at least 20 times. It's just so good.

But I will never watch Monster again. Seriously, I cried throughout the whole thing, alternating between silent tears streaming down my face and huge, racking sobs.

I'd add Mike Leigh's Naked.

It was powerful, and awesome, and great and all that, but I don't ever, ever want to even be near it again.

Who mentioned 'Human Centipede?' You sick bastard you got me curious and I actually looked that shit up!

Anyways...Irreversible makes sense, as does Sophie's and Requiem; I only watched the Pianist once but that was for a depression and war class and didn't wish to watch it again because I hate Adrian Brody (it was also boring as shite), Schindler's I'd watch again, American History I've seen at least three times, and I like watching Hotel Rwanda with people who don't know the real story (still makes me a little upset that modern genocides can go on without it being common fucking knowledge)

This list is missing, in my humble opinion, Takashi Miike's 'Ichi the Killer', I recommended it to a friend who really digs Saw and other "torture porn" b.s. (which he knows I despise) and the next time he saw me he declared a sick bastard and told me to find jesus

How has There will be blood not made this list?

True conversation I had at work many years ago:

Me: What's wrong with you today, Mark?

Mark: I watched Leaving Las Vegas last night.

Me: AGAIN?

Mark: I was BORED! Nothing else was on! DAMN HBO.

Me: You HAVE to stop watching that movie.

Mark: I know. Sigh.

Me: OK EVERYONE LISTEN UP. IT'S PUPPIES, RAINBOWS, BUTTERFLIES AND HUGS DAY AROUND HERE, GOT IT?

Receptionist, nearby: Did Mark watch Leaving Las Vegas again?

(True story.)

Sooooooo, Requiem at #1 then?

Watched it the first time and followed the descent down through the seasons along with the gloriously painful arc on screen. Wanted to jump in and divert them but you just end up feeling like you're complicit somehow. Utterly wonderful movie and as a dissection of life it's unbeatable, even if it's not exactly uplifting.

Around a year later I thought "Ah, it's been a while, why not give it another play?". Turns out it actually hits even more the second time - you know what's coming so even the positive start feels doomed. Now, even the soundtrack CD puts me on edge. Brilliant, but just too powerful.

Oh, and Dancer In The Dark? That was bleak raised to the power of soul destroying.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only person who doesn't really like Requiem. The only character I gave a shit about was Ellen Burnstyn, simply because she didn't have that much of a choice in what happened to her. The other people made me think is hould be called "Requiem for a Loser," and instead of making me only want to see it once, it makes me wish I had never seen it in the first place.

All this talk about rape has me thinking about the rape scene in Showgirls, that one guy who does a Showgirls showing thing says he always skips over because that movie hasn't earned the right to have pathos.

I'm suprised Kids isn't on this list.

Those on the list that I have seen, I would agree: I have no desire to see them again.

I would also second (third) the commenters above who suggested A Clockwork Orange, Kalifornia, and Million Dollar Baby.

For me, although I have seen it twice, twice is quite enough: The Vanishing. Not the American remake although, I hate to admit, until the last 20 minutes or so there's some pretty freaky shit in that too. The all-too-open conversation between Keifer Sutherland and Jeff Bridges freaked the shit out of my friend and he had to leave the room during the scene.

Still... the original... the final scene will leave you quite disturbed.

Now, I hear, and I don't know if it's simply P.R. or not, but Paranormal Activity, it has been reported, will leave you completely freaked out as well.

@the_wakeful: Do you mean Sophie's World? I vaguely remember not bothering to finish that in grade seven.

Seriously, Gummo and Kids should both be on the list, although I wouldn't call them 'great' films.

However, if you want to feel great despair and if you crave to have reason to shriek at the screen in a "civilization is at an end" yawp, well then Kids is the way to go.

I would totally add the Killing Fields to this list.

Requiem for a Dream? You candy ass. Watch The Machinist. Then erase it from your memory.

Brokeback Mountain.

Still in the plastic.

Not a bad list at least concerning the movies I've seen on there, put the rest on Netflix. I would add An American Crime movie fucked with me for days, made me feel dirty but I could not deny the quality of all aspects.

Since at least one documentary's been snuck in here - I can't resist. It's hard to surpass the beauty and drooling-sob inducing power of "The Bridge."

I think Slash nailed it in calling out the utility in films that deal directly and blankly with stark subject matter. Honestly, how many of us get bored with the ever-increasing "intensity" of the latest dramatic tricks, the purpose being to convince the viewer that the previous "most over-the-top" film has been bested and the one being watched presently now holds the title. In the end they only serve to numb the viewer.

By contrast, I would argue that films like "Irreversible"--which I hold in very high regard--needn't to be watched multiple times. SPOILER ALERT: Part of the reason is the reverse chronology delivers a surprise that only works the first time. But I think it could also be said that the film is so effective that a repeat viewing would also only numb the viewer to the subject matter. That effectiveness is underscored by just how many people in this forum say they'd never go there again.

I watched it because "people who viewed XXXX also saw Irreversible" (can't remember what XXXX was) so I had no expectations. In the end, I felt hollowed out and angry, for days. Not at the writer/director, but for being brought so close to the subject matter. I felt as if it had happened to MY girlfriend and was left wanting the same vindication as that portrayed in the beginning of the movie. In an odd way, I felt educated. Brutally so, but I think more movies that aspire to make a point about important subject matter should be this ballsy ... and VERY few are.

All of which, I guess, means I agree that it belongs on this list. I think it is a VERY well done movie.