Do You Believe in Comfort Movies?

There are some movies that, after just one watch, I knew I could never delete. They made me laugh, maybe even cry, but it wasn’t just about tugging at my heartstrings or connecting emotionally. No, it was deeper than that. These movies felt personal. Like watching a scene from my own life play out on screen.

I call them comfort movies. Because that’s exactly what they bring, comfort.

They’re the ones I turn to when I’m feeling low, knowing they'll lift me up every single time. Some are full-blown series with 16 episodes or more. Others are classic 90-minute films. A few are animations.

In this article, I’m sharing some of my favorites with you. Let me know if any of them feel like your kind of comfort movie or if you’ve got others that hit just right.

1. Love Next Door (K-drama), 2024.

As if having Jung So-min and Jung Hae-in wasn’t enough to make me fall in love with this K-drama, Love Next Door had the audacity to also serve hilarious dialogues, chaotic plot twists, and deeply emotional scenes that hit like a truck, then hug you after.

So-min plays Bae Seok-ryoo, the classic “family pride” character. You know the type: brainy daughter lands a scholarship abroad, graduates top of her class, and secures a high-ranking executive job at a prestigious company overseas. She didn’t even do it to impress anyone, she’s just that much of a perfectionist.

But then? Life hits.

She gets diagnosed with stomach cancer, undergoes surgery, and falls into a deep depression. The once-driven Seok-ryoo loses all motivation, passion, and direction. What happens when the perfectionist stops “performing”? That’s what this drama explores and beautifully so.

One of the most heartbreaking scenes was when her mother found out everything her daughter had endured alone abroad, after weeks of pestering her to “go back” and being disappointed in her. (They even turned her old room into a storeroom.) Yet, this scene somehow made me laugh through my tears. That’s the magic of this kdrama, it holds both pain and humor in the same breath.

Love Next Door is a comfort K-drama that tackles real-life struggles: career burnout, perfectionism, family pressure, failure, work-life balance, the gap between dreams and reality, and most importantly, rediscovering your purpose.

When life isn’t lifing, I just lie in bed, popcorn on one side, Hollandia yoghurt on the other, laptop on my lap and hit play on Love Next Door, like it’s the first time.

if you want to read more about the story plot, check out Oluchi's article on it 👇

2. Avatar Animation (Season 1-3)

Avatar is one of my first loves, okay? I bonded with my siblings over this animation. Watching it with my siblings in the living room every evening after doing our assignments. Once it's 6 PM, you'd already hear my brother yell from his room, "Put the channel to Nickelodeon", lol

Earlier this year, when I suffered mild insomnia, this animation was my sleep medication. It helped me fall asleep so easily, and that's not to say it's boring. No, far from it. It just brings me that much comfort.

3. Three Idiots (Indian Movie) 2009

I was probably in my early teens when I first watched this legendary indian movie. But watching it again recently, there was just something this soundtrack from the movie did to my soul 👇

I don't even have much to say. Just listen to the soundtrack, how beautiful and relatable.

I probably have like two more but, we won't leave here if I'm to continue. 🤣

✧ ──────────────────── ✧ ──────────────────── ✧

Posted using CineTV