Ordinary People (1980)

This extremely emotional film isn’t for the faint of heart but it is very rewarding. It follows a slightly obvious path, with the story of a family grieving the favourite son’s death, and the various ways in which different family members handle their feelings, but the astonishing performances overshadow everything else and really blew me away. Robert Redford, this time behind the camera, once again shows how promising he was back in the 1970s.