Best Fall Movies – Do you enjoy Rainer Maria Rilke, Theodor Fontane, or John Keats’ autumn poems but dislike reading them? At this point, don’t get angry; the days are getting shorter again, and cynicism has already left its mark on us.)
Autumn photographs of colorful leaves and a warm open fire are dear to your heart, but the static isn’t your cup of tea. Then just do what you always do in any situation: grab the movies!
Many filmmakers have succeeded in capturing the atmosphere, colors, and attitude toward life of autumn in wonderful cinematic images;
whether it’s because red, brown, and orange dominate image compositions, spreading a melancholic but also heartwarming and romantic atmosphere,
or simply because the action takes place in autumn and includes holidays such as Halloween and Thanksgiving, which are known to be the great holidays.
15 Best Fall Movies for a Family Watch Night
The leaves are changing colors, the air is getting crisper, and the smell of pumpkin spice is in the air. It can only mean one thing: fall is finally here!
And with fall comes a whole new crop of movies to enjoy. So if you’re looking for something to do this weekend, check out our list of the 15 best fall movies.
1. Practical Magic (1998)
Best Fall Movies: Practical Magic (1998)
“The Magical Sisters,” starring the enchanting Sandra Bullock and the equally enchanting Nicole Kidman, was panned by critics when it first came out, but it has since become a Halloween classic.
The story of two sisters who cannot and must not have a love relationship because all of their love interests died tragically young touches the heart while also providing just the right amount of horror.
Instead of colorful leaves, we have one or the other pumpkin, a lot of magic, a lot of witches, and even more mysticism, which allows us to snuggle deeper into our blankets.
2. Autumn (2010)
Best Fall Movies: Autumn (2010)
Rafiq, a Kashmiri refugee, wishes to flee to Pakistan. He hopes to learn more about his brother’s disappearance there.
The entire family appears to be on the verge of disintegration, and there appears to be no way out. Rafiq roams aimlessly until he comes across his brother’s camera…
The slowly and quietly falling autumn leaves become a symbol of Rafiq’s family’s torn emotional world in Aamir Bashir’s sad masterpiece (the director is from Kashmiri).
Autumn in “Harud” is a sleepwalking elegy and an all-consuming tsunami of human emotions, rather than a new beginning.
3. The Ice Storm (1997)
Best Fall Movies: The Ice Storm (1997)
The year is 1973, and Paul Hood (Tobey Maguire) is spending Thanksgiving with his family at a college boarding school. Nothing out of the ordinary, one might think.
His model family, which consists of father Kevin Kline, mother Joan Allen, and sister Christina Ricci, is far from perfect: Daddy cheats, Mom seeks advice from self-help books, and his 14-year-old sister discovers her sexuality in the meantime.
The Hoods were also shaped by the 1970s, a period marked by sexual liberation and Watergate, and the century’s ice storm, looming outside the windows, becomes a reflection of the family’s relationships and emotions.
Critics lauded “The Ice Storm” for being both a pointed social study and a historical portrayal of morals, staged in the atmospherically dense and delicately haunting manner that later “Brokeback Mountain” director Ang Lee is known for.
4. You’ve Got Mail (1998)
Best Fall Movies: You’ve Got Mail (1998)
Although only a small portion of the film takes place in the fall, the romance classic starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan is considered one of the absolute best fall films.
Regardless, “You’ve Got Mail” makes us feel like fall is coming right down to the last corner of the scene, thanks to the right documentaries and the cozy bookshop.
Don’t you adore New York in the autumn as well? I’d like to purchase school supplies.
If I knew your name and address, I’d send you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils,” enthuses Joe Fox (Hanks), refreshingly naive, in an e-mail to his virtual pen pal-aware that his professional archenemy Kathleen Kelly is the recipient (Ryan). In the middle of a delicately cool autumn night, it’s like a cinematic hug.
5. Harry Potter 1-8 (2001-2011)
Best Fall Movies: Harry Potter
Autumn without the “Harry Potter” universe would be like winter without snow: possible but pointless. Witches, wizards, giants, trolls, mysterious secret passages, and pumpkin beers en masse.
Make yourself at home on your couch, wrap yourself in a warm blanket, sip a cup of hot chocolate, and enter the magical and detailed world of Hogwarts, where the impossible becomes possible, children become heroes, and enemies become friends.
Dreams perform somersaults on witches’ brooms while scoring Quidditch goals. The later parts of the film series are even suitable as Halloween entertainment due to their dark tonality; keyword: dementors!
6. Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
Best Fall Movies: Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
In the fall, school begins again, and it’s time to reconsider what we really want from life, what we expect from life, and what life owes us.
When art lecturer Katharine Watson (Julia Roberts) accepts a position at prestigious Wellesley College, she feels the same way.
Because the feminist and cosmopolitan woman is opposed to a lot of arch-conservatism, strict adherence to the rules, and patriarchal conventions, she does that in 1953.
Julia Styles, Kirsten Dunst, and Maggie Gyllenhaal are some of her students. She tries to convince them that marriage and the kitchen aren’t their only options.
The struggle for intellectual freedom is the subject of this equally passionate, sensitive, and rousing women’s drama, which impresses with an exquisite cast.
The poetic mood is helped by the autumnal campus landscape. Even on a cloudy day, the sun rises when Julia Roberts smiles.
7. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Best Fall Movies: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Wes Anderson’s first stop-motion animated film is based on Roald Dahl’s children’s classic of the same name and tells the story of the Fox family’s life, the never-ending battle against evil farmers, and Papa Fox’s passion for hunting chickens, which puts the entire forest animal community at risk.
As in any good fairy tale, the animals behave more humanely than many of their two-legged counterparts, and the characters are voiced by celebrities such as George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, and Owen Wilson.
The sepia-colored world in which the cute heroines move is what makes “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” the ultimate autumn film experience.
Anderson successfully combats any fall depression by celebrating the beauty, the silent vulnerability, as well as the strength of nature in autumn.
8. Good Will Hunting (1997)
Best Fall Movies: Good Will Hunting (1997)
A math genius (Matt Damon) must learn that you can’t calculate everything in life with numbers and formulas, including love and friendship, in Gus Van Sant’s cinematic masterpiece for the ages.
He must also decide where he wants to go with his life in the future, which is difficult when you have access to highly complex equations but not to your own emotional world.
Thankfully, he is taken under the wing of a therapist (Robin Williams), who helps him immerse himself in life…
Damon and Williams’ scenes together in the autumnal park have now become cult classics and have gone down in cinematic history.
“Good Will Hunting” is an autumn poem with soul-stirring dialogues and an unobtrusively philosophical-poetic superstructure that is both sad and encouraging. A contemplation on life’s meaning and happiness.
9. Garden State (2004)
Best Fall Movies: Garden State (2004)
The critically acclaimed directorial debut of “Scrubs” star Zach Braff is an intimate, small, sensitive, painful, and unmistakably very personal film that knows how to elicit strong emotions without using many words and in which even the tiniest detail becomes an unflinching mirror of the protagonist’s soul:
Braff, for example, does not shy away from using stylistic devices such as rain as a symbol of salvation and begins the journey into the inner self uncompromisingly, but
When Andrew learns of his mother’s death, he returns to his hometown as a sluggish and unsuccessful actor. Coming to terms with his past becomes a melancholy dismantling of all inner chains.
Andrew’s journey in the film starts with insensibility and ends with his ability to feel. The film is large because it is unconcerned about its size.
10. Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Best Fall Movies: Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp), a New York City detective, is tasked with investigating a series of mysterious deaths in the sleepy town of Sleepy Hollow.
Crane is a man of reason and intellect who is dedicated to solving crimes using novel criminalistic techniques.
But he quickly learns that science has its limits in Sleepy Hollow, particularly when he encounters the legendary headless horseman face-to-face.
Sleepy Hollow is perfect for cozy autumn evenings and ghastly Halloween entertainment, with Gothic aesthetics, lots of fog, horror rooted in myth and legend, and bare trees.
And it’s still one of those early films where Depp’s eccentricities don’t irritate you.
11. When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
Best Fall Movies: When Harry Met Sally
In this cult classic rom-com, Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan debate whether men and women can truly just be friends over the years.
They do this, among other places, in an orgasm-guaranteed restaurant and on a long autumn walk through Central Park, where the colorful sea of leaves invites you to think, philosophize, and fall in love, and serves as an atmospheric metaphor for the chaos that we call being human.
12. Rushmore (1998)
Best Fall Movies: Rushmore (1998)
Another school start film, this time focusing on a 15-year-old boy: Max Fischer (Jason Schwarztman) receives a string of poor grades, but is very dedicated to extracurricular activities:
He directs theater productions and serves as an editor for the school newspaper, among other things.
One day, Bill Murray’s character and the depressed businessman Herman Blume both fall in love with the young teacher, Miss Cross (Olivia Williams).
Director Wes Anderson creates a quirky and hilarious love duel that no one else could have staged in such a masterfully grotesque and lovable way. It’s about heartfelt themes like love, life, and self-discovery, all wrapped up in warm autumnal tones.
13. Stepmom (1998)
Best Fall Movies: Stepmom (1998)
Isabel (Julia Roberts), a successful New York photographer, is happily married to Luke (Ed Harris), who has three children from his previous marriage to Jackie (Susan Sarandon).
Julia tries everything she can to gain the children’s approval, which wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for Jackie, who is still a big part of Luke’s life and who appears to be the ideal mother.
The pressure on “the new girl” is increasing, and Jackie is to blame because she can’t accept that there is now another woman in her children’s lives.
To make this heartfelt family melodrama feel more like fall, it has a slow narrative style, a melancholic mood, and a lot of changes between cold and warm emotions.
14. The Trouble with Harry (1955)
Best Fall Movies: The Trouble with Harry (1955)
Always Trouble with Harry is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s lesser-known works, and while it lacks the sly finesse of “Psycho” or “Vertigo,” it is just as thrilling, with Hitchcock’s trademark black humor and a murder case that (in this case, in a satirical way) allows you to peer deep into the human abyss.
A body is discovered lying in the autumnal and brilliant Technicolor-tinged New England woods-and it refuses to go away, despite the best efforts of a handful of people (including Shirley MacLaine, John Forsythe, and Emdund Gwenn).
They are all convinced that they are to blame for the man’s death… A fascinating blend of macabre humor, unexpected twists, a fairytale autumn idyll, and surrealism, beautifully captured in image compositions.
15. Dead Poets Society (1989)
Best Fall Movies: Dead Poets Society (1989)
This life-affirming and encouraging film classic tells the story of English teacher John Keating (Robin Williams), who wants to help his students at an elite boys’ boarding school develop into self-assured, reflective, and cosmopolitan freethinkers.
Of course, that didn’t sit well with conservatives in the 1950s…
When nature prepares for hibernation, the human organism slows down, and the end of the year approaches, our soul gets the liberating chance to take a deep breath, to free itself from old burdens, and to gather strength for the new, the unknown.
He invites you to walk through the rustling autumn leaves with and in your thoughts, and to sit on a park bench with a good book, because the world of literature will help you find yourself.
