Why Movies That Will Make You Think About Life Are Actually Necessary For Your Mental Health

We’ve all been there. You finish a film, the credits start rolling in silence, and you just sit there in the dark. Your popcorn is gone, your phone is face down, and you’re staring at your own reflection in the black screen. You feel... different. It’s that weird, heavy, yet strangely light feeling where the world looks a little bit more fragile than it did two hours ago. Honestly, movies that will make you think about life aren't just entertainment; they are a form of emotional processing that we usually avoid in our day-to-day grind.

Cinema has this wild ability to bypass our logical defenses. You can read a self-help book about "living in the moment," and your brain goes, "Yeah, sure, okay." But then you watch a protagonist lose everything because they were chasing the wrong ghost, and suddenly, you're calling your mom at 11:00 PM. It hits differently.

The Science of the "Crying High"

It sounds fake, but there is actual neurobiology behind why we crave movies that wreck us emotionally. Dr. Paul Zak, a researcher at Claremont Graduate University, has spent years studying how stories affect the brain. His team found that "high-transport" narratives—the ones that really suck you in—trigger the release of oxytocin. That’s the "bonding hormone." When you’re watching a film like The Father (2020) and you feel that visceral pang of confusion and grief alongside Anthony Hopkins, your brain isn't just watching a story. It’s practicing empathy.

It’s a workout for your soul.

Some people think these films are "depressing." I’d argue they’re the opposite. They provide a safe container to explore the things we’re terrified of: aging, regret, the randomness of the universe, and the terrifying beauty of connection. If you can handle it on a screen, you can handle it in the mirror.

The Masters of the Existential Crisis

When we talk about movies that will make you think about life, we have to talk about the heavy hitters who have mastered the art of the "internal" plot. You’ve got directors like Richard Linklater, who basically built a career on the concept of time passing.

The Before Trilogy: A Masterclass in Aging

Take the Before Trilogy (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight). There are no explosions. No villains. It’s just two people talking. But if you watch them in order, spaced out by years as they were filmed, it’s devastating. You see the idealism of youth in Vienna slowly morph into the complicated, resentful, yet deeply rooted love of middle age in Greece. It makes you realize that life isn't a series of big events. It’s a series of conversations. Most of which we probably mess up.

The Surrealism of Being Human

Then there’s Charlie Kaufman. Synecdoche, New York is a movie that most people struggle to finish because it’s so relentlessly honest about the fear of being forgotten. Philip Seymour Hoffman (rest in peace, he was a giant) plays a theater director who tries to build a life-sized replica of New York inside a warehouse. It’s absurd. It’s messy. It’s exactly what it feels like to try and "make something" of your life while the clock is ticking.

Why We Keep Coming Back to "The Truman Show"

Even twenty-plus years later, The Truman Show remains one of the most poignant movies that will make you think about life. On the surface, it’s a high-concept satire about reality TV. But beneath that, it’s a terrifyingly accurate metaphor for the social constructs we all live in.

Are you living your life, or are you living the version of life that everyone expects of you?

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The moment Truman sails his boat into the wall of the world—that literal physical boundary of his reality—is one of the most cathartic moments in cinema history. It’s about the "Aha!" moment when you realize the "rules" you’ve been following are mostly imaginary. We’re all Truman in some way. We all have a "Seaheaven" we need to leave.

The Quiet Power of International Cinema

Don't just stick to Hollywood if you want your perspective shifted. Some of the most profound movies that will make you think about life come from directors who aren't afraid of silence.

• Ikiru (1952): Directed by Akira Kurosawa. It’s about a mid-level bureaucrat who discovers he has terminal cancer. He realizes his life has been a waste of paper-pushing. The scene of him on the swing set in the snow? Iconic. It’s a brutal reminder that it is never too late to do one meaningful thing.
• Drive My Car (2021): A Japanese film that uses a red Saab 900 as a therapy room. It explores how we carry grief and how we eventually have to let it go just to keep driving.
• The Worst Person in the World (2021): This Norwegian gem is for anyone who feels like they’re "behind" in life. It captures that frantic, messy feeling of being in your late 20s or 30s and having no clue who you’re supposed to be.

Misconceptions About "Deep" Movies

A lot of people think a movie has to be three hours long and in black and white to be "deep." That’s nonsense.

Look at Inside Out. It’s a Pixar movie for kids. Yet, it does a better job of explaining the necessity of sadness for a functional life than most philosophy textbooks. It teaches us that you can't have true joy without allowing yourself to feel the blue parts of your personality. It’s a movie that makes you think about how you’ve been suppressing your own emotions for years.

Or take Everything Everywhere All At Once. It’s a chaotic, maximalist, multi-verse action flick with hot dog fingers. But at its core, it’s a story about a mom and a daughter trying to find a reason to be kind in a universe that feels meaningless. It proves that "thinking about life" doesn't have to be boring. It can be a loud, colorful, "bagel-themed" existential crisis.

How to Actually "Watch" These Films

If you’re going to dive into movies that will make you think about life, don't do it while scrolling on TikTok. You’ll miss the nuance. You’ll miss the way the light hits a character's face when they realize they’ve made a mistake.

Here is how to get the most out of an "existential" movie night:

1. Phone in the other room. Seriously. If you’re checking your notifications, you aren't in the movie’s world. You’re in yours.
2. Watch alone or with someone you can be silent with. Some movies require a "decompress" period afterward. If someone is immediately asking "What do you want for dinner?" it kills the magic.
3. Notice the soundtrack. Often, the music is doing the heavy lifting for the "unsaid" emotions.
4. Reflect, don't just consume. Ask yourself: Which character did I hate most? Usually, the character we dislike is the one reflecting a trait we’re afraid we have.

The Reality of the "Life-Changing" Movie

Let’s be real for a second. A movie isn't going to fix your debt or find you a soulmate. It’s not magic. But what it can do is provide a "pattern interrupt." We get so stuck in our routines—wake up, coffee, work, scroll, sleep—that we forget we are actually living a finite story.

These films act as a "memento mori." They remind us that we are mortal, that our choices matter, and that everyone else is just as scared and confused as we are. There is a weird comfort in knowing that a director in 1950s Japan and a teenager in 2026 Ohio are both crying over the same themes of loneliness and redemption.

Actionable Steps for Your Next Watch

If you're looking for movies that will make you think about life but don't know where to start, try this "mood-based" approach instead of just scrolling through Netflix's generic categories:

• If you feel stuck in a rut: Watch The Secret Life of Walter Mitty or Groundhog Day. They’re lighter but have a sharp edge about the cost of staying the same.
• If you’re grieving or feeling "lost": Watch After Life (the Hirokazu Kore-eda film, not the Ricky Gervais show—though both are good). It asks: If you could only take one memory into eternity, what would it be?
• If you’re feeling cynical about humanity: Watch Arrival. It’s "sci-fi," but it’s actually about the courage it takes to love something even when you know it will end painfully.
• If you need a reality check on your ego: Watch Birdman. The long takes and the frantic jazz drums perfectly capture the noise inside our heads.

The next time you’re looking for something to watch, skip the mindless background noise. Choose something that might make you uncomfortable. Choose something that asks a question you aren't ready to answer. That’s where the real growth happens. We don't just watch movies to see other people's lives; we watch them to finally see our own.

Your Existential Watchlist Checklist

1. Identify a theme you’re currently struggling with (regret, identity, love, or mortality).
2. Locate a "high-transport" film from the masters (Kurosawa, Linklater, or Villeneuve).
3. Carve out two hours of uninterrupted time to allow the "crying high" to take effect.
4. Journal for five minutes immediately after the credits—not about the plot, but about how it made you feel about your own current situation.
5. Commit to one small change in your perspective or behavior based on the film’s "truth."