Homesick? Here are 9 movies to make you feel worse

We’re a month into the fall semester, which means it’s prime time for your first bout of homesickness to kick in. You probably miss your friends, your car and having no actual adult responsibilities. Maybe you miss your aging dog that will most likely be dead by the time you get back home. Either way, it’s times like this when you can turn to reliably comforting things to make yourself feel a little less lonely.

After much consideration, I’ve decided to curate an all-encompassing list of movies that are designed to hurt you in the deepest ways possible. Each of these films is beautiful in its own right, with stories of families that will push you deeper into the seasonal depression that comes along every fall semester. 

It’s about time you took a break from the weekend party circuit that you’re secretly growing tired of. Grab a Pumpkin Spice Latte, crank your thermostat below 70 and get comfortable… because the next stop is sob-town.

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (2012)

If you’ve never watched this OG coming-of-age film, you’ve probably never had a “teenage dirtbag” era and were dreadfully boring in high school. However, you need not worry. There’s still time for you to fast-track your Tumblr era, because this movie is currently accessible by your free HBO Max student account. Also, Paul Rudd plays a DILF in this? There are few more euphoric scenes in cinematic history than those in this film; If you don’t want to scream David Bowie lyrics into the night by the end of this movie, I’ll give you a refund. 

“Little Women” (2019)

Many literary critics have long debated which iteration has best served this classic, but Greta Gerwig’s 2019 attempt is undeniably the best one. If you don’t agree, you can send me hate mail. If the magic factor of this bittersweet tale isn’t Timothée Chalamet waxing poetic, it’s the phenomenal acting by the most perfect cast (I mean, Meryl Streep? Laura Dern?) I’ve seen in a while. Often, ensemble movies fall flat similar to the catastrophic failures of “Don’t Look Up” (2021), but everything about this movie causes much jealousy of this loving family. 

“Dead Poets Society”(1989)

To all of you who think this movie is a suburban dad movie, it absolutely is. Despite our collective father-figure-related traumas, this movie has a timeless quality that we all crave. Maybe it’s the idea of a competitive boarding school that is a little too similar to our everyday realities, but this movie destroys my frigid little heart every time. Robin Williams (rest in peace) playing a spirited teacher to a group of platonically homoerotic boys? Oh captain, my captain… sign me up!

“Everything Everywhere All At Once” (2022)

My fellow children of immigrants, it’s obvious your eyes were scouring this list for this specific movie, so it was due time to give in to the hype and include this film. Truth be told, there’s a reason this one hits; this is the “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018) for the people whose “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013) is “The Breakfast Club” (1985).  Asian American parents apologizing for generational traumas may make me more jealous than empathetic, but I’ll happily devour anything Michelle Yeoh plays in. 

“Mrs. Doubtfire” (1993)

You should’ve known that there would be more than one Robin Williams film on this list. It would’ve been criminal not to. This movie came out in the same era as “The Parent Trap” (1989),  so there was definitely a trend. Who doesn’t love to see #brokenfamilyrepresentation on film. If your dad isn’t willing to get into drag to spend time with you, is he even worth keeping? Thank you, Mr. Williams, for constantly raising the bar for us all and doing it flawlessly.

“Beautiful Boy” (2018)

Competing with “Legally Blonde” (2001),  “Matilda” (1996) and “The House Bunny” (2008) as the most iconic (yet non-film-bro) movies filmed at USC, this Steve Carell-lead feature is one for my fellow A24 fans.  Timothée Chalamet playing another skinny white boy with skinny white boy problems? How delicious. There’s something about movies that are based on true stories, and this one is based on two whole books: one from the father’s perspective and one from the son’s. That makes for some great storytelling, and will make you question what losing hope really means. Perfect for when you’re missing home.

“The Farewell” (2019)

In a rare moment of self-awareness, Awkwafina drops her African American Vernacular English  and dives into something she actually can portray: the complex identity of someone who doesn’t belong in their culture. Though not all of us may be Chinese, this story of familial sacrifices is a universal sentiment that pulls on heartstrings. There’s humor. There’s awkward family gatherings. There’s a fake wedding. What else could you ask for? It’s not your fault that compensating college students are the target audience of A24.

“The Holiday” (2006)

Coming to college can feel like a much needed change of pace. When the two leading women, played by the ever dazzling Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, decide to trade homes in pursuit of something greater, they end up finding themselves and people who love them (I’d switch houses for Jude Law too). This is a sleeper hit in the winter holiday category of romance dramedies, but who says you can only watch them in December?

“The Terminal” (2004)

What wouldn’t go right when you have Steven Spielberg (who probably was named after our building) directing and Tom Hanks taking inspiration from his own Bulgarian father-in-law to play the role of a lifetime? Sometimes, college can feel a lot like an airport terminal. You’re on your way somewhere with so many other fellow travelers who are also headed somewhere else in their lives, and yet are sharing that moment with you. It’s a beautiful mutual understanding of diverging paths and making the most of the moment you’re in. If you’re feeling lost and lonely in your fall semester, no movie does better to make you more desolate and without love than this one. Trust the professionals.