The 20 best sad movies streaming on Max right now

20th Century Women (2016)

It’s a testament to Mike Mills' delicate directorial touch that, for a movie where one woman battles cancer and another keeps mentioning her Depression-era upbringing, 20th Century Women isn't depressing. Instead, twinges of melancholy and loss pervade the work; it's sad the way an old photograph or happy memories of your mom are sad. Mills' late mother is the basis for Dorothea (Annette Bening), who raises her teenage son in 1970s Santa Barbara. His subsequent coming-of-age story feels lived-in, with gauzy nostalgia for a time, place, and group of people fading into history.

Where to watch 20th Century Women: Max

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Director: Mike Mills

Cast: Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning, Lucas Jade Zumann, Billy Crudup

50/50 (2011)

This acclaimed indie dramedy delves into heavy themes with a refreshing balance of lightness and darkness. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Adam, who is diagnosed with cancer that has a 50/50 survival rate. Embarking on a difficult process alongside his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen), Adam must deal with difficulties in his personal life while trying to find hope wherever he can. Will Reiser wrote the film based on his own cancer diagnosis, as well as his friendship with Rogen and producer Evan Goldberg. "It's the Rogen-Goldberg touch," writes EW's critic, "with the duo’s characteristic Superbad mash of the sweet and the bracingly coarse, that sells this unusual downer/upper of a life-and-death comedy." —Kevin Jacobsen

Where to watch 50/50: Max

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Jonathan Levine

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston

Bicycle Thieves (1948)

The defining accomplishment of Italy's neorealist period, Bicycle Thieves is deceptively simple: A man gets a job. To do it, he needs a bike. Another man steals his bike. As a moral premise, this is easy, right? After all, Antonio (Lamberto Maggiorani) has a young son and a newborn to feed. But the film's profundity lies in its understanding that the thief, like so much of postwar Italy’s working class, is in the same boat as Antonio. In other words, the desperation is circular. It's inevitable that, eventually, Antonio will be desperate enough to steal a bike himself, which is just one of the film's many brutal ironies. 

Where to watch Bicycle Thieves: Max

Director: Vittorio De Sica

Cast: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Ang Lee's deeply empathetic romantic Western is built on a forbidden love that complicates the lives of two men. Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) are cowboys herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain in 1963 Wyoming, where an unexpected connection is forged. The pair become lovers, but, after their herding comes to an end, they struggle to keep their relationship hidden as they both marry women, raise families, and try to live within society's punishing strictures. Guided by Lee's sensitive direction, Brokeback Mountain is, "that rare thing," as EW's critic puts it, "a big Hollywood weeper with a beautiful ache at its center." —K.J.

Where to watch Brokeback Mountain: Max

EW grade: N/A (read the review)

Director: Ang Lee

Cast: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Linda Cardellini, Anna Faris, Randy Quaid

Cries and Whispers (1973)

If you're looking for sad cinema, Swedish director Ingmar Bergman can help. This harrowing Oscar-nominated drama centers on a pair of sisters, Maria (Liv Ullmann) and Karin (Ingrid Thulin), as they attend to their other sister, Agnes (Harriet Andersson), who is dying of cancer. But the relationship between the sisters is extremely complicated, plagued with jealousy and traumas that make this far from a sentimental tearjerker. Bergman brings his trademark uncompromising realism to the film — as well as a stunning red color palette — making us feel every agonized moan of despair. —K.J.

Where to watch Cries and Whispers: Max

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Cast: Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin, Liv Ullmann, Inga Gill, Erland Josephson

Definitely, Maybe (2008)

Deadpool has occasionally shown some sensitivity. That side of Ryan Reynolds has never been put to better use than in Definitely, Maybe, which is equal parts tearjerker and romantic comedy. Will (Reynolds) is a soon-to-be-divorced dad telling his daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin), about how he met her mother. With refreshing honesty, the film focuses on failures and what-ifs — unexpected breakups, missed connections, bad timing. It's about the unromantic reality that, more often than not, things don't work out. But, there are silver linings, like a precocious daughter with whom you get to share your stories. The film earns its tears, but they're happy tears.

Where to watch Definitely, Maybe: Max

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Elizabeth Banks, Abigail Breslin, Rachel Weisz, Kevin Kline

Dope Sick Love (2005)

Dope Sick Love gets its power from its powerlessness. This unfiltered depiction of two drug-addict couples on the streets of New York — hustling, scoring, surviving — isn't framed by an inspiring message of recovery. There are no talking-head interviews putting addiction into a moral context, nor are there romanticized vagabonds. Instead, the camera simply observes these lives, which are astonishing in their ugliness, danger, and dread. The very idea of intervention — by filmmakers, by medical professionals, or by family members on the periphery of these addicts' lives — is a no-go. What makes the documentary so affecting is that it simply refuses to look away.

Where to watch Dope Sick Love: Max

Directors: Felice Conte, Brent Renaud, Craig Renaud

Every Brilliant Thing (2016)

Every Brilliant Thing, the HBO recording of British comedian Jonny Donahoe's one-man show, takes pleasure in the little things. The conceit is simple and strangely moving: A young boy creates a list of things that make life worth living to cheer up his depressed mother who attempted suicide. The performance invites the audience to participate, reading out various bits from the list — "the smell of old books" is one, "sunlight" another — and finding joy in the small things that populate our daily lives. The show's inherent sorrow is alleviated by Donahoe's sense of hope, humor, and the notion that being alive is beautiful. 

Where to watch Every Brilliant Thing: Max

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Directors: Fenton Fox Bailey, Randy Barbato

Cast: Jonny Donahoe

Fruitvale Station (2013)

A year before the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown gave racialized police violence the mainstream visibility it had long lacked, and seven years before George Floyd's killing took that awareness to another level, Ryan Coogler teamed with Michael B. Jordan to tell the story of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old who was killed by a transit officer in Oakland in 2009. What makes Fruitvale Station sting so much is Coogler's doggedly ordinary slice-of-life approach. He paints a realistic portrait of a young man going about his day — running his errands, visiting his daughter — which ultimately ends with his death under painfully avoidable and unjust circumstances.

Where to watch Fruitvale Station: Max

EW grade: A (read the review)

Director: Ryan Coogler

Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Kevin Durand, Chad Michael Murray

A Ghost Story (2017)

C (Casey Affleck) died in a car accident, leaving behind his wife, M (Rooney Mara). Covered in a white sheet, he lingers and watches as she moves on, moves out, and makes way for new tenants to move in. The more temporal distance he gets from life on Earth, the more slippery the idea of time becomes. Years, decades, and centuries pass. Still he remains — still in the same physical space, still in that white sheet — but lost and confused. There's a specific wrinkle that should go unspoiled, but suffice it to say David Lowery's approach to loss and memory is not purely linear, as A Ghost Story finds an entirely new way to mourn and understand mourning.

Where to watch A Ghost Story: Max

Director: David Lowery

Cast: Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Will Oldham

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Good Will Hunting follows the brilliant, stubborn Will Hunting (Matt Damon) who learns to embrace his potential with the help of Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), a kind-hearted therapist. There are too many crowd-pleasing moments for this to be a total downer, but it doesn't shy away from pain and trauma. Dr. Maguire's memories of his late wife hit both hilarious and devastating notes, and the resentments between him and his old friend, Professor Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgård), strike a painful chord. Will's life will probably turn out all right, but the film's lingering sadness concerns those he leaves behind — namely best friend Chuckie (co-writer Ben Affleck) — even though they know it's for the best.

Where to watch Good Will Hunting: Max

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Gus Van Sant

Cast: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, Robin Williams, Stellan Skarsgård

Ikiru (1952)

What does it mean to truly live? Akira Kurosawa explores this with aching honesty in Ikiru, which tells the story of Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura), an aging bureaucrat who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Despairing over thoughts that he's wasted his life, Kanji searches for meaning in his remaining months on Earth, finding solace in an optimistic young woman who inspires him to finally make a difference in the world. Tender yet damning in its depiction of soulless bureaucracy, Ikiru is one of the most emotionally wrenching films of all time. —K.J.

Where to watch Ikiru: Max

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Cast: Takashi Shimura, Miki Odagiri

In the Mood for Love (2000)

No film has ever ached quite like In the Mood for Love. Mr. Chow (Tony Leung) and Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung) are doomed, seeking each other's company because their unfaithful spouses aren't around. A shared loneliness evolves into an overwhelming need, but their love can never be spoken or acted upon, hiding underneath a thin façade in polite society, circa 1962. There's a good reason this is considered one of the best movies ever made, and if any romance is likely to consume you with regret for the one that got away, this is it.

Where to watch In the Mood for Love: Max

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Wong Kar-wai

Cast: Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Rebecca Pan

The Iron Claw (2023)

The true story of the Von Erich wrestling family was so unrelentingly tragic that when The Iron Claw finally got made, director Sean Durkin opted to leave one brother out entirely. (He later told EW that that call was "one of the toughest decisions I had to make.") The film has more than its share of anguish, but that's no reason for audiences to avoid it. There's joy in the bonds of brotherhood shared between the Von Erichs, in and out of the ring, even amid their darkest moments. And the movie makes room for hope, particularly embodied by Kevin (Zac Efron, in a career-best performance).

Where to watch The Iron Claw: Max

Director: Sean Durkin

Cast: Zac Efron, Holt McCallany, Harris Dickinson, Lily James, Jeremy Allen White, Maura Tierney

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

That the writer of Leaving Las Vegas took his own life is sadly informative about the film his book became. The novel, as EW wrote in 1995, is essentially a "189-page suicide note." True to that spirit, Ben (Nicolas Cage) has only one ambition: to drink himself to death. He's lost his family and his purpose and sees no reason to keep going. Even when he bonds with the kind, beautiful sex worker Sera (Elisabeth Shue), he makes it clear that he's not meant for this world. Though there's a surprising degree of levity, this is ultimately a bleak, unrelenting film.

Where to watch Leaving Las Vegas: Max

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Director: Mike Figgis

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands

Melancholia (2011)

The all-too-real anxiety surrounding the end of the world looms large in this Lars von Trier-directed drama, in which a rogue planet is predicted to collide directly with Earth. The true power of Melancholia, though, is in its portrayal of depression, as Kirsten Dunst's Justine experiences on the day of (and after) her disastrous wedding at her sister and brother-in-law's castle. Justine's feelings of impending doom lead to her accepting the apocalypse, contrasting with her sister Claire's (Charlotte Gainsbourg) growing existential fear. Von Trier may be known for his provocative style, but, as EW's critic wrote, the director sets aside his need to shock here, "to create striking visual tableaux that, in their majestic simplicity, convey a profound emotional depth that transcends words." —K.J.

Where to watch Melancholia: Max

EW grade: A (read the review)

Director: Lars von Trier

Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsgård, Kiefer Sutherland, Cameron Spurr, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt

My Sister's Keeper (2009)

My Sister's Keeper is built on a certain moral, medical calculus. A couple (Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric) has a daughter (Sofia Vassilieva) who was born with leukemia. To help save her life, they decide to have a "savior sister" (i.e. a child conceived through IVF to be a genetic match for donating blood and stem cells). That sister, Anna (Abigail Breslin), is the film's emotional and ethical centerpiece, as her bodily autonomy becomes the basis of a lawsuit against her own parents. The film does not have easily satisfying answers or solutions. Simply by the nature of its premise, it rarely lets its characters or their emotional contradictions off the hook.

Where to watch My Sister's Keeper: Max

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Cast: Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Jason Patric, Alec Baldwin, Joan Cusack

Ordinary People (1980)

Ordinary People's inciting incident is every parent's worst nightmare: the death of a child...followed by the attempted suicide of their remaining child (Timothy Hutton). Robert Redford's Oscar-winning directorial debut only gets thornier from there, if only because, perhaps for the first time in this otherwise privileged family's life, they have to confront certain harsh truths about themselves and each other. The film's authenticity allows it to go to uncomfortable places. Here, even the things we take for granted — a couple's understanding of one another; a mother's feelings toward her child — aren't as simple as we expect.

Where to watch Ordinary People: Max

Director: Robert Redford

Cast: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton

Wit (2001)

Emma Thompson delivers one of her most moving performances in this smartly written TV movie. The Oscar winner stars as Vivian Bearing, a brilliant English professor who is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. Grappling with her new reality, Vivian tries to retain her strength while reckoning with her life's work. Though there is an inherent sadness in its premise, Wit is indeed worthy of its title, a witty, clear-eyed look at life and death that forgoes easy sentiment. —K.J.

Where to watch Wit: Max

EW grade: N/A (read the review)

Director: Mike Nichols

Cast: Emma Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, Audra McDonald, Eileen Atkins

A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

John Cassavetes' portrait of a woman unraveling is a raw, unflinching examination of depression and marriage. Gena Rowlands plays Mabel, a housewife whose mental illness puts a strain on her relationship with her husband, Nick (Peter Falk). As Mabel's erratic behavior intensifies, Nick faces difficult decisions to get his wife proper treatment. Rowlands' performance is shattering, giving us a deeply vulnerable look into Mabel's fractured psyche. —K.J.

Where to watch A Woman Under the Influence: Max

Director: John Cassavetes

Cast: Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk