Movies that are going to make you cry
Not sad for the sake of sad. Films that earn the feeling and leave you sitting with it after the credits.
Movies that really make you cry never push. They give a character enough room that you stop watching and start caring, and by the time it hurts you had already agreed to it.
Lights Down calls this The Empath
You feel it all the way through.
You're the one who carries the characters with you long after the film ends. A marriage coming apart, a father and son getting by, an old man and a house full of balloons: you feel every one of them. What draws you in is people who feel real, and a story that takes them seriously.
Films that sit at the center of it
- Marriage Story
- Dead Poets Society
- The Pursuit of Happyness
- Up
- Past Lives
Questions people ask
What is The Empath?
The Empath is the Lights Down taste profile for people who love movies that are going to make you cry.
Films at its center include Marriage Story and Dead Poets Society.
How many of these can I actually watch?
Lights Down counts 2,941 films and series that fit The Empath, out of 26,827 in its catalog. 1,715 of them stream on a subscription service in the US.
Counted from the Lights Down catalog when this page was built, Nov 4, 2026.
How do I find out if this is my taste?
Take the free 60-second quiz. Fifteen swipes on real films, and Lights Down places you in one of its taste profiles.
Is this how you watch?
Know your taste in 60 seconds. Fifteen swipes, and it lands on whichever of the twelve profiles fits how you actually pick.
Take the 60-second quizLights Down is free. It will stay that way. Works on your own or with someone else watching.