Emotionally gratifying endingsare the go-to technique for making a rewatchable film. Cognitive bias towards films that ensure a satisfying closure is undebatable. There are hundreds of stories to be told and a thousand ways to end a film. This is why the third act in films is the most crucial, as it discloses the final verdict of the story’s journey. Did the story make sense? Did the characters get what they were looking for? A film reaches its ultimate validation when it can move its audiencetowards the end of the character’s journey. Here are 10 films with the most moving endings that make us want to watch them repeatedly. Needless to say, spoiler alert for all the entries on the list.
10The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemptionis the quintessential Hollywood prison drama, filled with tales of endurance, hope, and redemption. However, it is also an underrated buddy film. The film stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne, convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. He serves life imprisonment in Shawshank State Penitentiary, where he meets fellow prisoner Red, played by Morgan Freeman. The latter is the narrator of the film, who details Andy’s experience in prison and the inhuman treatment of the prison authorities. The two convicts become close friends and confidants, often aiding each other in their rebellion.
To everyone’s surprise,Andy manages to escape prison, startling Red and the prison warden. The satisfying third act of Andy’s escape is one of Hollywood’s most cinematically fulfilling moments. What is even more cathartic is the reunion between the friends at the end of the film when both characters are liberated of their crimes and embrace their friendship in a new, hopeful life.
9The Pursuit of Happyness
The Pursuit of Happyness
The Pursuit of Happynessis inspired by the real-life ordeals of American business person Chris Gardner. Will Smith plays Gardner, as the film chronicles his journey from a successful sales assistant to a homeless single parent. The film shows how Gardner’s miscalculated investment in being a portable bone-density scanner sales agent took a toll on his personal life. His marriage was broken, and he could barely make ends meet. He was also the father to a five-year-old son, who accompanied him as he was evicted from his apartment and forced to the streets.
The film shows how Chris tries hard to retain the innocence of a child’s world in his son’s life amidst the never-ending hardships. However, Chris lands an unpaid internship at a brokerage firm, which he completes while scrounging for shelter. When he is finally hired as a full-time employee, it is hard to stop the gushing tears. Chris is shown walking in a crowd, triumphantly clapping for overcoming his hardships, making him a noble example ofthe highs of the American dream.
10 Movies WIth Highly Ambiguous Endings
Some fans love these non-final finales and the debates that come with them. Others find them annoying and perplexing.
8Cinema Paradiso
Cinema Paradiso: The New Version
Cinema Paradisois an ode to films and nostalgia. The film was directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and takes the audience to a Sicilian village where a young boy named Salvatore grows up watching films. He becomes an assistant to Alfredo, a theater projectionist, who becomes his friend, mentor, and connection to his roots. However, Salvatore is warned by his friend to leave Sicily, pursue his dreams, and never give in to the nostalgic trap of returning to one’s hometown.
Salvatore takes his advice seriously and becomes a successful filmmaker. He returns to his village when he receives the unfortunate news of Salvatore’s demise, only to witness the village turn into a city and the film theater into a multiplex. He comes to terms with the irreversible changes in his hometown and finds it hard to process his friend’s death. He finally gets his closure when he receives a gift Alfredo leaves for him: a compilation of censored film reels. Salvatore is unable to stop his tears as a series of kissing scenes play in the theater. The scene reflects howcinema survived as the love languagebetween the two, even when separated.
7The Terminal
The Terminal
The Terminaltells the story of Viktor Navorski, who gets stuck in the no-man’s-land of John F. Kennedy Airport after his country faces a military coup. Even though the premise sounds dense, the film packages itself as a comedy-drama starring Tom Hanks as the amiable and witty Viktor. The film shows him making at home in the airport while the Department of Homeland Security wants to get rid of him.Victor develops a friendship with the airport staffand even manages a date with a flight attendant. One feels the undercurrent of a socio-political drama inThe Terminalas Viktor finds a home on American soil and the Department of Homeland Security remains constantly paranoid of the incoming visitors in the airport.
The third act of the film reveals Viktor’s motive for coming to New York, and in the end, he is finally ready to go home to his free country, Krakozhia. The relief and sense of fulfillment in Viktor’s eyes say it all.
Pixar reached a milestonewithUpas the film stood out forits esoteric humanism only a few films can achieve. The protagonist of the film is Carl Fredricksen, a widowed 78-year-old balloon sales agent who misses his wife. The couple dreams of a life filled with adventure, and Carl wishes to fulfill his wife’s dream of living in the wilderness. He ties his house with thousands of balloons and flies away to South America. However, he is accompanied by an uninvited guest, and what follows is an odyssey involving absurd creatures.
The film is laden with metaphors as Carl enters his second childhood at the last innings of his life. His flying balloons symbolize his yearning for escapism as they fly closer to the sky, spiritually bringing him closer to his wife.In the end, his house lands at the right spot, just like his wife envisioned it, making it an overwhelming experience of the adventure of life.
5The Blind Side
The Blind Side
The Blind Sidetells the endearing story of Michael Oher and his journey from homelessness to the National Football League. The film shows the role played by Leigh Anne Tuohy and her husband Sean in encouraging Oher to be the best version of himself. Leigh Anne finds Oher shivering on a cold night on the streets. She asks him if he has a home to go to and realizes he is homeless. He is welcomed into her family, and the couple becomes his legal guardians.
Gradually, the family witnesses Michael’s extraordinary skills in football. His size and protective instincts make him a potential student and a player.Offers from several elite universities rush in for Oher, and he must make the right decision in choosing his college. It is heartwarming to see Michael choose the university his father attended, as the film ends with an emotional Leigh Anne dropping him to his new college. Sandra Bullock won the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing the feisty and righteous Leigh Anne, proving she is way more than playing the clumsy girl in romantic comedies.
4The Descendants
The Descendants
The Descendantsproves George Clooney’s dramatic finesse as he embodies land baron Matt King of Hawaii and the unfortunate shocks that jolt his life. The film is based on the book of the same name written by Kaui Hart Hemmings and was directed by Alexander Payne, retaining the tragicomedy elements seen in the director’s filmography. Matt’s wife meets with a tragic accident, making her comatose. To his shock, his elder daughter reveals his free-spirited wife was cheating on him. Matt understandably loses his mind and questions the chaotic women in his life.
Moreover, he has to make a pivotal decision involving selling his ancestral land, complicating his state of mind. Matt juggles being a supportive husband, a doting dad, and a reliable cousin while handling the biggest crisis of his life. However, Matt finds peace by giving a respectful farewell to his wife, keeping his land, and embracing his family. The film is realistic, and the colorful backdrop of Hawaii balances the grief that falls upon the family.The Descendants is a bitter-sweet ode to bereavement, death, and the living who suffer from loss.
JunostarsElliot Page as the titular character who gets pregnant in high school. Juno and her friend Paulie Bleeker have an unexpected night, and the film opens with her taking a pregnancy test. The news sets a roller coaster ride for her, the child’s father, and her family, who support her during this challenging time. Juno decides to opt for adoption and finds a loving family who are unable to have children. However, the couple has a rough time in their relationship, unsettling Juno.
The film is a character study of its protagonist as it invites the audience into a teenager’s world. Juno is openly vulnerable, andPage sensitively portrays the ordeals of a teenage mother.The film ends with Juno giving birth to her baby and reuniting with Bleeker as they sing an acoustic rendition of ‘Anyone Else but You’ by Moldy Peaches.
2Notting Hill
Notting Hill
Notting Hillbanks on rom-com predictability and gets everything right.The film stars Hugh Grant as William Thacker, a bookshop owner who meets troubled American actress Anna Scott, played by Julia Roberts. He immediately falls for her, knowing their worlds cannot be any different. Anna gradually falls in love with William after her relationship with her partner falls apart. They bond, and William introduces Anna to his ordinary but jolly family, each member more eccentric than the other. Anna is swept off her feet by William’s simplicity. However, he wakes up from his dreams and realizes he will never be able to keep her happy. Do they get together at the end?
Of course they do!
The film stops the audience from asking too many questions about the absurdity of it and the real-life implications, with its tempting make-believe world where a common person can fall in love with an actress.
25 Movies with Perfect Endings
Sticking the landing with a good ending may be the hardest thing for a movie, but some have excelled. Here are 20 movies with perfect endings.
1Little Miss Sunshine
Little Miss Sunshine
Little Miss Sunshineis the apt cinematic response to the popular phrase, “When life gives you a lemon, you make a lemonade.” Sometimes, one does not like to hear, “Everything will be alright,” and the assurance of having a family beside you, no matter how tough life gets, feels more assuring. That is pretty much the plot ofLittle Miss Sunshine,where the dysfunctional Hoover family circumvents life as one mishap topples the other.The father is a failed motivational speaker, the uncle is suicidal, and the son just happens to know he is color-blind, crashlanding his dreams of becoming a pilot. The drug-addict grandfather adds his trouble to the family, barely holding up.
They are forced on a road trip when the daughter is selected for a beauty pageant contest, and the mother tries her best to keep the family together for the young girl. The troubles pile up as the film reaches the final act of the beauty contest, and the family faces public humiliation. Here lies the endearing end as thefamily sticks together and embraces the absurdityof their situation with a dance. This makes the film worth rewatching as it repositions family as a coping mechanism to the accidents of life.
