You see this word used all the time to describe certain kinds of movies. (Click the link to open a search of the "Rotten Tomatoes" web-site for reviews with the word in them; more than 200!)
"Grand Torino"
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Terrence Malick's version of "The Thin Red Line"
What does it mean? The first time I ever saw it used was to describe the score from the movie "Platoon". So I figured it just meant "classical-sounding", or possibly "the juxtaposing of something peaceful and something violent). But I didn't have access to the internet back then.
"Elegiac" is the adjective form of the word "elegy", which is the sermon offered at a funeral or a poem mourning the dead. So elegiac movies are not necessarily (though they often are) concerning the death(s) of the main character(s), but they are necessarily somber in tone. They almost always look backward, lamenting the passing of something (an age, youth, peace, etc.)
So the next time you see that word used, feel smart. You know what it really means.
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