Films About Cancer
This list features the movies about the topic of cancer. Many of the films take an in-depth approach to the life of a person who struggles with a cancer diagnosis and the aftermath of the illness, providing an intimate look at how it affects friends and family members. Whether you are facing a similar diagnosis, know someone who has been diagnosed or are just interested in a romantic love story about two people battling the odds together, there is sure to be a movie about cancer on this list that will be what you’re looking for.
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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)
Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Country: United States
Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia.
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The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
Director: Josh Boone
Country: United States
synopsis: Hazel and Augustus are two teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional, and a love that sweeps them on a journey. Their relationship is all the more miraculous, given that Hazel’s other constant companion is an oxygen tank, Gus jokes about his prosthetic leg, and they meet and fall in love at a cancer support group.
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Now Is Good (2012)
Director: Ol Parker
Country: United State
Synopsis: Tessa is seventeen and passionate about life. Diagnosed with a terminal illness, she determines to use every moment, compiling a catalogue of what normal teenager would experience, including losing her virginity and taking drugs. With the help of her friend, she sets the list in motion. And while her parents and brother each deals with their fear of losing her in their own way, Tessa explores a whole new world, determined to live every day as intensely as possible. Falling in love with Adam, her new neighbor, wasnt on the list, but it proves to be the most exhilarating experience of them all.
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50/50 (2011)
Director: Jonathan Levine
Country: United States
Synopsis: Adam is a 27 year old writer of radio programs and is diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer. With the help of his best friend, his mother, and a young therapist at the cancer center, Adam learns what and who the most important things in his life are.
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1 a Minute (2010)
Director: Namrata Singh Gujral
Country: United States
Synopsis: The film chronicles the diagnosis and treatment of a breast cancer survivor, interspersed with personal tales from famous international celebrities who are also survivors, or affected closely by cancer.
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My Sister’s Keeper (2009)
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Country: United States
Synopsis: In Los Angeles, the eleven year old Anna Fitzgerald seeks the successful lawyer Campbell Alexander trying to hire him to earn medical emancipation from her mother Sara that wants Anna to donate her kidney to her sister. She tells the lawyer the story of her family after the discovery that her older sister Kate has had leukemia; how she was conceived by in vitro fertilization to become a donor; and the medical procedures she has been submitted since she was five years old to donate to her sister. Campbell accepts to work pro bono and the obsessed Sara decides to go to court to force Anna to help her sister.
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The Bucket List (2007)
Directed: Rob Reiner
Country: United Kingdom
Synopsis: Corporate billionaire Edward Cole and working class mechanic Carter Chambers have nothing in common except for their terminal illnesses. While sharing a hospital room together, they decide to leave it and do all the things they have ever wanted to do before they die according to their bucket list. In the process, both of them heal each other, become unlikely friends, and ultimately find joy in life.
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Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy (2006)
Director: Peter Werner
Country: United States
Synopsis: Based on a true story and memoir under the same name. With so many things going good in her life-great husband and friends, wonderful family, dream job-the last thing 27-year-old Geralyn Lucas expects is to be diagnosed with breast cancer. While having fear and doubts, Geralyn finds self-acceptance by relying on courage, humor, and her red lipstick.
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Pieces of April (2003)
Director: Peter Hedges
Director: United States
Synopsis: April Burns invites her family to Thanksgiving dinner at her teeny apartment on New York’s Lower East Side. As they make their way to the city from suburban Pennsylvania, April must endure a comedy of errors – like finding out her oven doesn’t work – in order to pull off the big event.
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A Walk to Remember (2002)
Director: Adam Shankman
Country: United State
Synopsis: In North Carolina especially in Beaufort a prank on a guy goes wrong and puts the student in the clinic. Carter, a famous student with no plans for the future, is held responsible and forced to join in after-school community service activities as consequence, which include starring as the lead in the play. And participating in these activities is Jamie Sullivan, the reverend’s daughter who has great ambitions and nothing in common with Landon. When Landon decides he wants to take his activities seriously, he asks Jamie for help and begins to spend most of his time with her. But he starts to like her, that he did not expect to do. They relationship, much to the chagrin of Landon’s old popular friends and Jamie’s strict reverend father. But when a heart-breaking secret becomes known that puts their relationship to the test, it is then that Landon and Jamie realize the true meaning of love and fate.
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Akasa Veedhilo (2001)
Director: Singeetam Srinivasa Rao
Country: India
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Erin Brockovich (2000)
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Country: United States
Synopsis: Erin Brockovich-Ellis is an unemployed single mother, desperate to find a job, but is having no luck. This losing streak even extends to a failed lawsuit against a doctor in a car accident she was in. With no alternative, she successfully browbeats her lawyer to give her a job in compensation for the loss. While no one takes her seriously, with her trashy clothes and earthy manners, that soon changes when she begins to investigate a suspicious real estate case involving the Pacific Gas & Electric Company. What she discovers is that the company is trying quietly to buy land that was contaminated by hexavalent chromium, a deadly toxic waste that the company is improperly and illegally dumping and, in turn, poisoning the residents in the area. As she digs deeper, Erin finds herself leading point in a series of events that would involve her law firm in one of the biggest class action lawsuits in American history against a multi-billion dollar corporation.
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Stepmom ( 1998)
Director: Chris Columbus
Country: United States
Synopsis: Anna and Ben, the two children of Jackie and Luke, have to cope with the fact that their parents divorced and that there is a new woman in their father’s life: Isabel, a successful photographer. She does her best to treat the kids in a way that makes them still feel at home when being with their dad, but also loves her work and does not plan to give it up. But Jackie, a full-time mother, regards Isabel’s efforts as offensively insufficient. She can’t understand that work can be important to her as well as the kids. The conflict between them is deepened by the sudden diagnosis of cancer, which might may be deadly for Jackie. They all have to learn a little in order to grow together.
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Akashadoothu (1993)
Director: Sibi Malayil
Country: India
Synopsis: Akashadoothu is a 1993 Malayalam-language drama film directed by Sibi Malayil with Madhavi and Murali in lead roles. The film won National Award.The film tells the tale of a widow suffering from Leukemia and has to give up everything for hers kids well being.
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Terms of Endearment (1983)
Director: James L. Brooks
Country: United States
Synopsis: Aurora and Emma are mother and daughter who march to different drummers. Beginning with Emma’s marriage, Aurora shows how difficult and loving she can be. The movie covers several years of their lives as each finds different reasons to go on living and find joy. Aurora’s interludes with Garrett Breedlove, retired astronaut and next door neighbor are quite striking. In the end, different people show their love in very different ways.
