03/15/2026
It’s Oscar Day. Have you ever noticed that loss is a prominent theme in many movies?
For decades, I’ve seen as many of the nominated films as I can before watching the awards show. Among the movies I’ve seen this year, loss is prevalent. I won’t give any spoilers – that’s just mean. Rather, I’ll summarize the types of loss featured in this year’s Academy Award hopefuls for best picture to illustrate my point – and to warn you in case you’re not ready for a grief movie.
You’ll see the kind of loss that derails dreams in F1 and Marty Supreme. Losses associated with warped ideals in One Battle After Another. The loss that comes with environmental degradation appears in Train Dreams and Bugonia. And there’s love – love so deep that when it dies, whether through the end of relationships (Sentimental Value) or the end of life, as in Hamnet and Train Dreams, it breaks and forever scars the heart.
Why is loss a prevailing theme in movies? Because art imitates life and life is filled with loss. Even children’s movies and cartoons are filled with loss.
The problem is that Hollywood has sanitized grief to make it more palatable for the audience. This leads to other problems, like:
• Unrealistic expectations when we experience loss. Closure is for zippers and there are no stages you’ll move through in a linear timeline.
• Messages that do harm, like portraying grief as a hurdle when it’s a marathon – grief lasts forever. You don’t “just get over it” or get rescued from grief. The hope is that we can integrate grief into our lives, while also embracing joy, love and hope.
• The promise that you’ll ultimately accept the loss and “move on.” Moving on isn’t the goal. You can hope to move forward.
Before you pop the popcorn and settle in to catch up on movies before tonight’s Oscars, please consider how you’re feeling before you select a grief movie. This checklist is from an article titled Complicated Grief Movies That Expose How Hollywood Gets Loss Wrong (https://www.tasteray.com/articles/movie-complicated-grief-movies):
• Are you currently feeling emotionally stable?
• Do you have support if the film stirs up difficult memories?
• Are you prepared to pause or stop the movie if needed?
• Is your intention to process or simply to distract?
These questions aren’t a test to pass or fail, but a way to protect your own well-being as you explore challenging stories.
While the article mentioned above discusses complicated grief, and the ways Hollywood gets grief wrong, 2025 delivered several movies that show loss in a more honest, painful light. Train Dreams is beautiful in its pain. Leaning into our grief through creative mediums, like movies, can be cathartic. Just be sure to have your tissues beside your popcorn.
