We all know movies can inspire change or compel us to examine ourselves, but sometimes celebrating life is just as important. In 2020, joyous movies are more essential than ever and beyond providing simple escapism, there are great films out there that remind us that life is worth living in spite of (or even because of) adversity. Below, we list ten life-affirming flicks so good, they're worth adding to your self care routine!
10 The Freshman (1925)
Jazzed to have been accepted to Tate University, Harold Lamb (Harold Lloyd) is immediately crestfallen when he doesn't fit in with his fellow students. Becoming the butt of jokes for the popular crowd, Harold vows to do whatever he can to win them over, but, as his only friend Peggy (Jobyna Ralston) knows, being happy is about accepting yourself.
Harold Lloyd is often considered the "third-best" silent film comedian after Chaplin and Keaton, but his films are the most rousingly enjoyable of the three. If Chaplin speaks to the viewers' sentimentality, and Keaton our exasperation with the modern world, Lloyd's "glasses character" embodies our potential and can-do spirit. Bursting with genius gags and genuine heart, The Freshman is Lloyd at his exuberant best.
9 Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Celebrated director John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea) is tired of making light pictures. Convinced that he won't be taken seriously until he suffers to make a serious film, he dresses himself as a hobo and sets out to "know trouble" first-hand. After a setback leads him back to Tinsel Town and his sultry blonde compatriot (Veronica Lake), he strikes out again, landing himself on a chain gang with a wicked case of amnesia.
Preston Sturges is best known for elevating screwball comedy to the level of art, and Sullivan's Travels is considered his finest work. Not only is it one of the most entertaining pictures of all time, but Sullivan's journey to self-discovery serves as a brilliant statement on Sturges' work as a whole, that making people laugh is one of the noblest things an artist can do in a world that's often dark and cruel.
8 The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)
Twin sisters Delphine (Catherine Deneuve) and Solange (Françoise Dorléac) each long for a romance that will whisk them away from their small seaside town of Rochefort, France. When a carnival blows into town, the girls are hired to sing in a showcase that may provide the escape they desire.
Also featuring French icon Danielle Darrieux alongside mega-watt American stars George Chakiris and Gene Kelly, director Jacques Demy's New Wave ode to the splashy Hollywood Musical is La La Land (2016) with ten times the screen talent and twice the cynicism. Demy imagines a world where everyone is a star in their own musical, and though tragedy threatens, life's ship always, magically, seems to right itself.
7 Big (1988)
After wishing to skip right through his tough teenage years, 12-year-old Josh Baskin wakes up to find that he's grown into a 30-year-old man (Tom Hanks). After heading to New York City, taking a job at a toy company, and romancing a co-worker (Elizabeth Perkins), the pressures of adulthood start to make Josh yearn for the youth he threw away.
Starring national treasure Hanks in one of his most popular early roles, Penny Marshall's comedic fantasy is fluffy entertainment to be certain, but its deeper messages about valuing today over tomorrow and cherishing your inner kid are worth hearing over and over again.
6 My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
One of director Hayao Miyazaki's most beloved animated fantasies, My Neighbor Totoro tells the story of schoolgirl Satsuke and her young sister, Mei, as their father moves them into a weather country house. Scared for the life of their mother, who is in recovery in a nearby hospital, the sisters find joy and solace in the arms of Totoro, a massive and cuddly forest spirit, and his pack of playful friends.
Sumptuously animated and deceptively simple, My Neighbor Totoro, like Disney's Bambi has made environmentalists out of every impressionable youngster who's experienced its verdant pleasures. But its greatest power may be its ability to inspire kids and adults alike to see the magic in the every day.
5 Defending Your Life (1991)
When Daniel Miller (Albert Brooks) is fatally hit by a bus, he finds himself in an afterlife in which he must defend his behavior during his time on Earth before he can move on to a higher plane. While awaiting his heavenly trial, he falls for genuine good-egg Julia (a radiant Meryl Streep). Will he be able to defend his selfish life and join Julia in her next phase? Or will he be sent back to Earth to try again?
Also written and directed by Brooks, the comedian is at his career best in this hilarious comic fantasy about doing good...or else!
4 As Good As It Gets (1997)
This multiple Academy Award winner stars Jack Nicholson as obsessive-compulsive writer and perpetual shit heel, Melvin Udall. When he's tasked with looking over his gay neighbor's dog, Udall's misanthropic ways start to soften.
Nicholson and co-star Helen Hunt each took home gold statuettes for this caustic comedy about how even the seemingly worst people can surprise you.
3 Amélie (2001)
Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) is a shy, fanciful young waitress who spends her days anonymously doing good for others throughout Paris. Preferring the fantasy world she can construct in her head to the reality around her, Amélie begins to question whether she deserves a little happiness for herself when she falls for a handsome stranger (Mathieu Kassovitz).
Perhaps the ultimate comedy about life's overwhelming joys and crushing miseries, Amélie is a rightly celebrated cinematic treasure about shaping one's own reality from dreams.
2 Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) stars as schoolteacher, Poppy, an indefatigable optimist whose cheery demeanor often irritates those around her. When she decides to take driving lessons from Scott (Eddie Marsan), she butts heads with the paranoid and misanthropic teacher.
From Mike Leigh, the U.K.'s master of working class dramas, Happy-Go-Lucky is a blithe and bonny character study with a dark edge which posits that optimism is a daily practice.
1 Inside Out (2015)
When a happy Midwestern preteen (Kaitlyn Dias) is uprooted by her parents and moved to San Francisco, her personified emotions Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) are tasked with seeing her through this life-altering change.
"Life-affirming" may be the Pixar brand, but few films contend with human emotion as directly or poignantly as this one. Insisting that joy and sadness are inextricable from each other and are actually present in our best and worst moments, Inside Out is about as mature and moving as kiddie cinema gets.
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