As I have gotten older I am not afraid of having a good old-fashioned ugly cry in the cinemas when the time calls for it, and hell I probably got emotional just writing this list (Spoiler: I did). Sometimes they are tears of grief, sometimes they are tears of joy, and even still sometimes they are tears of anger.  

Emotion is a core part of the cinema experience, and if you can’t get us to emotional respond to your characters and/or the situation, well then I am sorry you have failed in making a good film.

So without further ado, these are the films of 2018 that emotionally wrecked us. Be warned that there will be some big spoilers ahead for the films in question.     

Also, there were so many films that emotionally moved me this year, these are only the top five, you can see them all HERE

Cargo

Cargo is at its heart a film about a parent trying to do what is best for their child in the worst situation. However, what happens when the one person that can protect your daughter, you, will become her biggest threat. It is a haunting look at a father desperate to save his daughter, but time is running out.           

Directed by – Ben Howling & Yolanda Ramke
Written by – Yolanda Ramke
Full Review Here

Chappaquiddick

With Chappaquiddick these were not joyous tears, or even sad tears, these were angry tears. Angry about the senseless lose of life, angry about the cover-up, angry about the use of power to cover up a crime, and most of all angry that if he had acted sooner a life would have been saved.       

Directed by – John Curran
Written by – Taylor Allen & Andrew Logan
Full Review Here

First Man

First Man opens with a death of a child, a lot of films do this to create fake emotion, but not First Man. Because this tragedy is baked into every aspect of the film, and to what drives Neil. All of this combines at the end that when you are crying in awe of the moon landing and then the film punches you in the side.  

Directed by – Damien Chazelle
Screenplay by – Josh Singer
Full Review Here

Gurrumul

What hits the hardest about this film is that it is a documentary and so these are real tears about a real person that is no longer with us and that cuts the hardest.  

Directed by – Paul Damien Williams
Written by – Paul Damien Williams
Full Review Here

Sweet Country

Injustice is painful to watch, you know someone is innocent, you know it, but society will not accept that they are wrong. This is a touching film, beautifully acted, about the prejudices and the baked in racism that we have as a society.    

Directed by – Warwick Thornton
Written by – David Tranter & Steven McGregor
Full Review Here

And the Winner is!!!!! – Gurrumul

There were so many films that moved me this year, but only one touched my soul and that was the look at the life and music of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. This was a touching documentary that explored all of his life, and what it meant to him. It is both beautiful and deeply moving, and it stayed with me all year. To the point that it was difficult to write this through the tears that came from just thinking back to it.  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

What are your favourite cinematic moments from 2018?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 

Credits – All images used were created by the respective studio and artist of each film