
You know the kind of movie we're talking about - the films that have you using up an entire box of tissues, or have you throwing things at the screen, or leave you so filled with rage you can hardly see straight. '
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire', which focuses on an inner-city African-American teen whose life is beyond hellish, has now joined the ranks of films that need only be seen once.
Generally, most of these movies have a point to make, or display an aspect of life that we'd otherwise ignore, so in that sense they're valuable. But when it comes to our emotions, we'd rather spare ourselves the immense pain and skip these flicks the second time around.
Check them out after the jump!

You know the kind of movie we're talking about - the films that have you using up an entire box of tissues, or have you throwing things at the screen, or leave you so filled with rage you can hardly see straight. '
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire', which focuses on an inner-city African-American teen whose life is beyond hellish, has now joined the ranks of films that need only be seen once.
Generally, most of these movies have a point to make, or display an aspect of life that we'd otherwise ignore, so in that sense they're valuable. But when it comes to our emotions, we'd rather spare ourselves the immense pain and skip these flicks the second time around.
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Once Is Enough, Thanks
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
Everything that you could ever imagine going wrong in your life happens to poor Precious, and it's almost like pouring salt into a fresh wound to sit through the film. Taking place in Harlem in the 1980s, things go from bad to worse for the pregnant 17-year-old. The movie is raw, touching, always emotional, and sometimes shocking. Perhaps one of the better aspects of it is you'll leave the theatre a lot more accepting of your own piddly problems.
Maple Pictures
Getty Images North America
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Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
Everything that you could ever imagine going wrong in your life happens to poor Precious, and it's almost like pouring salt into a fresh wound to sit through the film. Taking place in Harlem in the 1980s, things go from bad to worse for the pregnant 17-year-old. The movie is raw, touching, always emotional, and sometimes shocking. Perhaps one of the better aspects of it is you'll leave the theatre a lot more accepting of your own piddly problems.
Maple Pictures
American History X
Edward Norton plays the lead role - a white supremacist in California - perhaps a little too well, and that's part of the scariness of this movie. Watching Norton go from one horrific racist situation to another is a test of the nerves. I've never watched the infamous 'curb' scene (my eyes are closed every single time), but it's enough to scar you for life, apparently.
New Line Cinema
Dancer in the Dark
This Lars Von Trier musical film was accused of being made purposefully sad; it follows the lead Selma (played by Bjork), who moves from the Czech Republic to the US in the hopes of finding a better life for herself and her teenage son. Things, of course, don't turn out as she planned, and she realizes she's slowly going blind. Incredibly visceral, the ending will have you in tears...unless you're made of stone.
Warner
Boys Don't Cry
This successful movie (based on a real-life story) follows a transgendered youth as he tries to escape his abusive life to settle down anonymously in a rural town. When some locals uncover his true identity (i.e. that he's anatomically a woman), things start to unravel, and quickly. It's so incredibly depressing and heart-wrenching, especially realizing that this actually happened to someone.
Fox Searchlight
Requiem for a Dream
Ellen Burstyn's performance alone makes this a one-time watcher, simply because she's spot-on as a crazy-ass drug addict. Seeing her glued to her chair in front of the television is a horrifying vision of 20th century North America. Comparable are Jared Leto and Jennifer Connelly as heroin addicts - by the end I couldn't take seeing any more syringe injections. You want a drug prevention campaign? Show this movie at schools.
Alliance Atlantis
Schindler's List
The horrors of the Holocaust are terrifying on their own, let alone in film format. The harrowing spectacle of the showers, the train rides to the concentration camp, the endless executions - all of these are in the movie, and none of them are easy to watch. Though it's a beautiful movie (as a testament to those who suffered under the Nazi regime), it's tough to stomach certain things. The little girl in the red coat? Clinched it for me.
Universal Pictures
Kids
Set in the mid-90s, when HIV/AIDS was an emerging, scary phenomenon, this movie focuses on a group of teens who flout the rules when it comes to drugs and sex. Promiscuity is the order of the day, as main character Telly relishes stealing the virginity of any girl around him. This is the kind of movie that parents of young teens do NOT want to see. Imagining your child doing the things in this movie is the stuff of nightmares.
Lions Gate