Do you use films as therapy?

[moremojo]

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) is a film I can watch over and over again, never tiring of it, always finding it fresh and life-enhancing. It is like a magic box I can always open to savor the wonders therein. Definitely one of my favorite movies.

Scott

[slayers_creek_oth]

Thanks for that vote of confidence, Isabelle. There are some folks, though, you say the "T" word and ....

I know what you mean....but I LOVE Titanic too Leslie....so no worries!

[slayers_creek_oth]

I always used these films as therapy too....my favorites!

1.  Shawshank Redemption
2.  Brokeback Mountain
3.  Million Dollar Baby
4.  Pretty Woman
5.  The Silence of the Lambs
6.  Jarhead
7.  E.T.
8.  Saving Private Ryan
9.  Jurassic Park
10.Jerry MaGuire
11.Titanic
12.Schindler's List
13.Star Wars (original 1977)
14.Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
15.Varsity Blues
16.The Day After Tomorrow
17.Forrest Gump
18.Notting Hill
19.American Beauty
20.Top Gun

[ProwlAmongUs]

I certainly use them as therapy or an escape from a nasty day. When I'm depressed, I find that a good Bugs Bunny cartoon helps. My all time favorite, though, is a Three Stooges short, "In The Sweet Pie and Pie." It's got the best pie fight scene ever and it never fails to get me to laugh.

[delalluvia]

Yep.

When I need the 'I will survive anything' and 'my life alone is not directionless nor unnoticed' I go to "Out of Africa" or "Dangerous Beauty".

When I need severe comforting it's "LOTR:  The Fellowship of the Ring"

When I'm feeling alienated and want to stay that way it's "Eye of the Beholder."

When I'm needing to feel empowered in social situations it's "Shallow Grave" or "Lara Croft" movies

[Front-Ranger]

My 100% guaranteed therapeutic film is My Brilliant Career with Judy Davis.

[Front-Ranger]

Lately my most therapeutic viewing tools are Sherlock and Local Hero. The latter movie reminds me of Brigadoon...it's about a mystical place in Scotland that restores your soul.

[Brown Eyes]

Wow!  This is such an old thread!  Thanks for bumping it Lee.

Brokeback Mountain, the Tipping the Velvet BBC mini-series and the movies of  Maurice and Mrs. Dalloway are the four movies that have counted as therapy for me in my life.  It's very rare for a movie to hit me as hard as BBM did.  I remember watchingMaurice a million times in my college years.

For me music is my therapy by a factor of maybe 100x compared to films.  It's much easier for music to get to me emotionally.

I've realized just the past couple days, that I think a lot of my recent musical nostalgia comes from the fact that a lot of the music I've gravitated to again lately is the exact same stuff that I was listening to to get me through my dissertation.  And, since I've been writing intensively again for work... it's kind of what I've needed.

[Monika]

I use fiction in general as therapy and as an escape.
Regarding movies; the movie I remember having the biggest impact on me besides BBM was a small-budget movie called Pump Up the Volume starring Christian Slater as Mark. I used to identify with Mark when I was younger.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuhHPQxS2nQ[/youtube]

[CellarDweller]

I rarely go to see movies, and to be honest, it's a miracle I saw Brokeback in the first place.