Downbeat Endings

[morphitologist]

Re: re:

I almost forgot the biggest blockbuster with a downbeat ending: TITANIC!

Okay, so after Leo dies, we cut forward to Rose in old age looking at her locket (or whatever) for some feelgood nostalgia to walk out of the theater on.

But the hero dies. By most Hollywood rulebooks, that would be a downbeat ending.

[peakbeach]

Re: Memorable Downbeat Ending

Life is Beautiful (La Vita è Bella). The protag (Roberto Benigni - Best Actor Award) gets another laugh from his kid just before he knows heâ€TMs going to be shot to death by a Nazi the moment they walk to a side street and are out of sight from the kid.

All along heâ€TMs been shielding his kid from the horrifying fact that thereâ€TMs no joke here, theyâ€TMre indeed death camp Holocaust victims. Thanks to his funny stories and slapstick humor his kid truly believes theyâ€TMre only participants in a bizarre contest whereby he will win a real war tank if they just hang in there and play it smart.

I hardly cry in movies, but this scene really hit me hard and long. Iâ€TMm sure my dadâ€TMs experience in WWII has a lot to do with it. He was another Schindler type of guy (but in a smaller scale, as part of the Resistance) who risked his life by helping Jews escape to Spain from the South of France.

[freebaser14]

downbeat

I've always loved The Ice Storm. It ended in such a quiet yet powerful and chilling way.