The Best Sad Movies on Amazon Prime Video When You Feel Like a Good Cry
Do you feel like curling up on a rainy day and letting the tears flow? Prime Video is home to plenty of tear-jerkers if you need a movie to match your blues.
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The Notebook
June 25, 2004An epic love story centered around an older man who reads aloud to a woman with Alzheimer’s. From a faded notebook, the old man’s words bring to life the story of a couple who is separated by World War II, and is then passionately reunited, seven years later, after they have taken different paths.
This classic tearjerker from director Nick Cassavetes stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as the young lovers, with James Garner and Gena Rowlands playing the older version of the couple.
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Titanic
November 18, 1997101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic’s departure through to its death—on its first and only voyage.
This is the movie that launched Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet into superstardom. It is epic in every way, and director James Cameron sailed home with a boatload of Oscars.
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Schindler's List
December 15, 1993The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.
Perhaps the most devastating movie ever made. Steven Spielberg created an immortal piece of art with this sobering Holocaust story. It rightly swept the 1994 Academy Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director (Spielberg), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Janusz Kaminski), Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Score. Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes were nominated for their excellent acting work.
It’s difficult to watch, but you must see this at least once.
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Crash
May 6, 2005In post-Sept. 11 Los Angeles, tensions erupt when the lives of a Brentwood housewife, her district attorney husband, a Persian shopkeeper, two cops, a pair of carjackers and a Korean couple converge during a 36-hour period.
An all-star cast includes Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges. Thandiwe Newton, Ryan Phillippe, and Larenz Tate.
This movie won 3 Oscars: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.
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Manchester by the Sea
November 18, 2016After his older brother passes away, Lee Chandler is forced to return home to care for his 16-year-old nephew. There he is compelled to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was born and raised.
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Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
October 31, 2008In 2001, Andrew Bagby, a medical resident, is murdered not long after breaking up with his girlfriend. Soon after, when she announces she’s pregnant, one of Andrew’s many close friends, Kurt Kuenne, begins this film, a gift to the child.
This documentary switches services frequently, but it may be the most heart-wrenching film released in the last 25 years.
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Endless
April 9, 2020When madly in love high school graduates Riley and Chris are separated by a tragic car accident, Riley blames herself for her boyfriend’s death while Chris is stranded in limbo. Miraculously, the two find a way to connect. In a love story that transcends life and death, both Riley and Chris are forced to learn the hardest lesson of all: letting go.
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The Pianist
September 17, 2002The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman’s experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.
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It's a Wonderful Life
December 20, 1946A holiday favourite for generations… George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George’s modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business’s $8,000 is lost and George’s troubles begin.
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What Maisie Knew
May 2, 2013The story frames on 7-year-old Maisie, caught in a custody battle between her mother – a rock and roll icon – and her father. What Maisie Knew is an evocative portrayal of the chaos of adult life seen entirely from a child’s point of view.
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Atonement
February 27, 2007As a 13-year-old, fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister’s lover of a crime he did not commit.
List updated June 5, 2024.