Ten most emotional films, ranked from Marriage Story to Dear Zachary

Collider has published a ranked list of the 10 most emotional films of all time, placing Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008) at number one and including titles such as Marriage Story (2019) and Schindler's List (1993).

The piece cautions that measuring how emotional a movie is can be highly subjective and distinguishes “emotional” from purely “emotionally devastating.” Entries span bittersweet to bleak: Marriage Story is framed as a grounded portrait of a couple's divorce and the question of what to do with their son; Magnolia is described as a sprawling ensemble melodrama; Coco deals with death, the afterlife and legacy in a kid‑friendly way; Hachiko is based on a real dog who kept waiting for his master at Shibuya Station; The Return of the King is praised for its cathartic final sequences; Cinema Paradiso is noted for its nostalgia and powerful closing scene; The Shawshank Redemption focuses on the human spirit and hope; Schindler's List lays bare the horrors of the Holocaust while highlighting Oskar Schindler’s actions to save more than 1000 Jewish lives; and Dear Zachary is presented as an intense documentary made as a letter to an infant after a father's murder.

The writer reiterates that the ranking is an attempt rather than an absolute measure and explains why very bleak films like Threads or Come and See were left out, saying that “emotional” does not always equal the most devastating.

Key Topics

Culture, Dear Zachary, Marriage Story, Schindler's List, Coco, Hachiko