Something in my eye...

Last night I started watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Its a long movie, but a damn good one - so far. It was about 59 minutes in when I started crying, and when, at, the 72 minute mark, I was still crying, I decided to leave it for the day, as it was super late and I didn't want to go to bed a teary, sniffly wreck. As I was drifting off it occurred to me that I don't cry very much, not without the assistance of 17 or so amaretto sours, and I couldn't remember having a seriously good cry at anything from real life since Mandy's baby died in Hollyoaks. Then I remembered that Hollyoaks was not real life.

Movies, however, make me cry a fair bit, so here is (specifically) a list of Movies That Have Made Me Cry While At The Movies (in no particular order, in any way).

Pans Labyrinth - I went to see this with my then-boyfriend Sam, who had completely opposite film taste to me - to the extent that after a particularly stressful two hours for him at the movies with me, as we emerged blinking into the sunlight, he declared that if I ever tried to make him see another movie that had the word 'bittersweet' mentioned in reference to it in anyway, he would unceremoniously strangle me with my copy of Sight and Sound - but he did announce Pans Labyrinth to be the third best film he had ever seen, after Gladiator and Dodgeball, and we both tried to pretend we hadn't balled like babies at the end.

The Pianist - I went to see this at my University cinema with my friend Therese. I started crying at about 36 minutes in, cried all the way through, and for most of the 20 minute walk back to Halls. Therese didn't even sniffle, but she's from Leeds, and studied feminist literature.

Castaway - Cried for most of the second half, but only because my Dad sails, and I got worried that if he was ever shipwrecked, he would be lonely.

The English Patient - Oh I know, I know - but only when the dude cant get anyone to understand him and his lady's dying in the cave. Saw this with my Mom in a cinema in Slough.

Titanic - This is super-embarrassing, I must have been about 14 when this came out, and it was a big deal. I tried twice to see it at the movies, the first time I was removed by an usher for being hysterical, and the second time I excused myself. I have since tried to watch it twice on television, and have never even got close to the end. Not remotely close. I can make it to the bit with the third class passengers behind the gate, then its game-over.

A Little Princess - Again I was about 14 when I went to see this with a schoolfriend named Zoe. We wept openly, while a group of tear-free 8-year-old girls peered curiously at us in the dark.

Transformers - Unexplainable. It was the nobility of the damn things. Saw it at the IMAX.

These are just films I've seen in a cinema, by the by, there is no room on this list for other embarrassing causes of emotion-show, like The Green Mile, The Notebook, Armageddon (seen twice on airplanes, and cried both times, and not just because of the shitty script), Dead Poets Society, The Railway Children (even seeing a clip of this can get me twinkling), Awakenings, Good Morning Vietnam (double whammy for Mr Williams there), (don't even get me started on anything horrific like Bambi, Dumbo, The Land Before Time, The Lion King etc) oh and that weird flick with Marissa Tomai (sp?) and the autistic kid. Oh God Lord, and nothing with evil parents like Radio Flyer or This Boys Life, and while we're with Leo, Basketball Diaries, and while we're on drugs Requiem for a Dream and American History X.

I have just checked with my sister, and she says the only film that has ever made her cry was United 193.

So what have we learned? Don't sink my boat, beat your children or inspire classrooms of privileged man-boys in front of me, or I might just cry. Carpe Diem, boys, seize the day!