Comments on: Films in which character confront death

Question: Films in which character confront death

quintno — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:01:46 -0800

Can anyone suggest films in which a main character has a close confrontation with death and as a result undergoes a dramatic change in personality?

By: Bora Horza Gobuchul

Bora Horza Gobuchul — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:14:25 -0800

Fearless

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:19:54 -0800

Amos Perros

By: netsirk

netsirk — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:20:43 -0800

Regarding Henry?

By: null terminated

null terminated — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:21:09 -0800

http://www.near-death.com/films.html

By: unmake

unmake — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:23:01 -0800

The Word According to Garp

By: cerebus19

cerebus19 — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:23:26 -0800

You could make an argument for any of the many version of Dickens's "A Christmas Carol," including, of course, Scrooged.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:24:36 -0800

Pretty much any and all versions, adaptations and parodies of A Christmas Carol.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:24:49 -0800

D'oh!

By: blaneyphoto

blaneyphoto — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:25:42 -0800

A Christmas Carol and Its a Wonderful Life both fit your criteria, and are seasonally appropriate... And also Life or Something like it.

By: Iridic

Iridic — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:27:39 -0800

Ikiru
Dark Victory
My Life Without Me
Last Holiday (and last year's dismal remake)

By: blaneyphoto

blaneyphoto — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:34:43 -0800

Forrest Gump (Lt. Dan) and Born on the Fourth of July too.

By: MLIS

MLIS — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:43:03 -0800

Jules Winfield in Pulp Fiction.

By: champthom

champthom — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:45:07 -0800

It's no "It's a Wonderful Life" or "A Christmas Carol" but the Family Guy movie meets the criteria.

By: bach

bach — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:06:55 -0800

Flatliners

By: np312

np312 — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:16:48 -0800

"Joe Versus the Volcano"

By: loosemouth

loosemouth — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:20:47 -0800

To me, movies like "Straw Dogs" and "Deliverance", in which a character has to face a kill or be killed situation, meet your conditions.

By: thinman

thinman — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:22:35 -0800

Ordinary People.

By: Partial Law

Partial Law — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:23:07 -0800

Ghost Dad.

By: sergeant sandwich

sergeant sandwich — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:27:56 -0800

My Life

By: brownpau

brownpau — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:28:30 -0800

Grand Canyon.

By: dogwalker

dogwalker — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:41:00 -0800

All of the Saw movies?

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:47:11 -0800

I think there are probably thousands of them.

The Crow, for instance.

By: Dipsomaniac

Dipsomaniac — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:57:06 -0800

Emperor's New Groove.
Toy Story.

By: lemuria

lemuria — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 21:21:27 -0800

If TV counts, the end of season 5 and all of season 6 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

By: plokent

plokent — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 21:27:23 -0800

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
3 Women (1977)
Manchurian Candidate (1962)

By: CRM114

CRM114 — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 21:31:14 -0800

The Seventh Seal.

By: sarahsynonymous

sarahsynonymous — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 21:34:16 -0800

Agnes Varda's Cleo From 5 to 7 is an absolutely fantastic example of this, even though the character is dealing for a potentially terminal diagnosis rather than death itself.

By: forrest

forrest — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 21:52:22 -0800

Birdy
Dead Zone
Deer Hunter
Donnie Darko
Jacob's Ladder
Julian Po
Kill Bill
Kung Fu Hustle
Last Temptation of Christ
The Natural
The Ninth Configuration
The Onion Field

Not really near-death, but post-mortem personality changes:
Sixth Sense
Defending Your Life

By: plokent

plokent — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 21:57:38 -0800

The Bride Wore Black (La Mariee Etait En Noir) (1968)
Kill Bill: Vol 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Vol 2 (2004)

By: war wrath of wraith

war wrath of wraith — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 22:07:45 -0800

The Fisher King (1991)
Dead Man (1995)
Cast Away (2000)
Unbreakable (2000)

Plus any number of war movies, I imagine.

By: plokent

plokent — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 22:08:20 -0800

Run, Lola, Run (Lola Rentt) (1998)
13 Conversations About One Thing (2001)

By: treepour

treepour — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 22:10:30 -0800

If you're willing to wade very deeply into surrealistic & mystical waters, The Holy Mountain.

By: plokent

plokent — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 22:25:14 -0800

The Duellists (1977)
Alien (1979)
Blade Runner (1982)

By: oats

oats — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 22:38:53 -0800

Haven't seen Sexy Beast mentioned yet.

By: Frasermoo

Frasermoo — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 22:45:16 -0800

batman

By: pinespree

pinespree — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 23:04:14 -0800

I immediately thought of Office Space. It's not his own death that he's near, but he pretty much says outright that it was responsible for the change in his personality, a scene or two later.

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 00:56:41 -0800

The Fountain, but it's not the protagonists death but someone elses that causes a character shift.

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 03:25:57 -0800

If you're willing to wade very deeply into surrealistic & mystical waters, The Holy Mountain.

El Topo too. Also, I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse has a bit about death and transformation in it, though that's starting to go far afield if the OP was looking for stuff in the Regarding Henry vein.

By: mule

mule — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 06:05:03 -0800

One of my favourites:

Bringing Out the Dead with Nicholas Cage

You might also consider Garden State, The Doctor and Regarding Henry.

By: rubberfish

rubberfish — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 06:51:40 -0800

Stranger than Fiction fits, and it's out right now.

By: galimatias

galimatias — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 07:07:40 -0800

I know it's a cartoon, but I instantly thought of Family Guy's "Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story".

By: Tuwa

Tuwa — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 07:32:57 -0800

Vertigo fits, if we can assume Stewart's character also wasn't obsessive before the beginning of the film (after it, of course, he was afraid of heights and became deeply obsessive).

Unfortunately we don't get much time with the character before his near-death experience so it may not be what you're looking for exactly.

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 09:32:50 -0800

the Final Destination series

By: hot soup girl

hot soup girl — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 11:38:13 -0800

The 80s Australian film Bliss (a wonderfully peculiar adaptation of Peter Carey's first novel) begins with the near death of a thwarted, middle-aged advertising executive. He dies, briefly, of a heart attack, and is resuscitated only to embark on a turbulent and surreal programme of life re-assessment.

By: anonaccount

anonaccount — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 05:04:12 -0800

Totally Pulp Fiction.

Going from a hit-man to a man of god after almost being shot.

By: Anything

Anything — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:01:38 -0800

In Three Colors: White, a character intentionally arranges a near-death experience to another to change his view about life.