A Crisis of Masculinity – A Movie Guide for Sufferers
This is a list of films that explore male characters in a moral crisis of masculinity, identity and meaning. The list is intended for men who struggle to overcome their own existential crisis of masculinity and succumbed to prolonged adolescence marked by joblessness, low education, isolation, depression, anxiety, bitterness and nihilism.
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- DirectorTodd PhillipsStarsJoaquin PhoenixRobert De NiroZazie BeetzDuring the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.A lonely, dispossessed man suffering from mental illness reacts to the rejection and disconnection he feels from a cruel, corrupt and self-involved society.
- DirectorJames GrayStarsBrad PittTommy Lee JonesRuth NeggaAstronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across an unforgiving solar system to uncover the truth about his missing father and his doomed expedition that now, 30 years later, threatens the universe.A man ventures into space to find his long-lost father who has put the solar system in peril.
- DirectorTim StoryStarsSamuel L. JacksonJessie T. UsherRichard RoundtreeJJ Shaft, a cyber security expert with a degree from MIT, enlists his family's help to uncover the truth behind his best friend's untimely death.A father and son, separated by their differing generational representations of masculinity, collide as they simultaneously slide into the relationship they never had.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsClint EastwoodPatrick L. ReyesCesar De LeónA ninety-year-old horticulturist and Korean War veteran turns drug mule for a Mexican cartel.A failed father, husband and man resorts to assisting in the drug trade to protect the last vestige of his existence only to be confronted with an even more costly layer of consequence.
- DirectorPaul DanoStarsEd OxenbouldJake GyllenhaalCarey MulliganA teenage boy must deal with his mother's complicated response after his father temporarily abandons them to take a menial and dangerous job.In a fading marriage of mutual disdain, a young man views the toxicity of both the feminine and masculine.
- DirectorBradley CooperStarsLady GagaBradley CooperSam ElliottA musician helps a young singer find fame as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.Formed by trauma and medicated by addictive substance, Jackson Maine battles and succumbs to the inner feelings of futility in a display all-too-common for the modern man.
- DirectorPaul SchraderStarsEthan HawkeAmanda SeyfriedCedric The EntertainerA minister of a small congregation in upstate New York grapples with mounting despair brought on by tragedy, worldly concerns and a tormented past.In struggling to reconcile personal loss, environmental disaster, political corruption and spiritual decline with his faith, Reverend Ernst Toller (Ethan Hawke) resorts to drastic pathways of annihilation.
- DirectorLynne RamsayStarsJoaquin PhoenixJudith RobertsEkaterina SamsonovA traumatized veteran unafraid of violence tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered leading to what could be his death trip or his awakening.Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) is a man forged by the traumas of childhood and familial experience, impacting his engagement with the world, and possibly, reality itself.
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsHarrison FordRyan GoslingAna de ArmasYoung Blade Runner K's discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former Blade Runner Rick Deckard, who's been missing for thirty years.Officer K is an android devoid of a fully-formed identity. Instinctively yet thanklessly performing the dirty work of hierarchical structure, he acts heroically despite the fact that his heroic actions will not yield the traditional fruits he hoped (of identity, connection & permanence), he still chooses to embrace responsibility and secure the future for others because it's right and justifies the pain of living.
Rick Deckard also imparts the wisdom that "sometimes in order to love someone you have to be a stranger," which cuts against the modern ethos of perpetual over-protection and safety as a means of care found within an increasingly emasculated society. - DirectorEliza HittmanStarsHarris DickinsonMadeline WeinsteinKate HodgeA Brooklyn teenager spends his days experimenting with drugs and looking online for older men to meet.Frankie, in his own way, embodies the pitfalls of modern male youth in his ruinous entrapment of prolonged adolescence. Orientating himself on lies, sex (both digital and physical), drugs and boyish affiliation, Frankie denies himself the essence of true meaning and purpose.
- DirectorKenneth LonerganStarsCasey AffleckMichelle WilliamsKyle ChandlerA depressed uncle is asked to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy's father dies.In the stupor of his own negligence, Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck), destroys his entire life and family to the point of confronting suicide and subsequently embracing withdrawal. Upon the death of his brother, he is specifically appointed with the responsibility of caring for his nephew requiring he pick up a heavy load. To do so, he must confront everything that has made his life the hell he drinks himself through.
- DirectorDenzel WashingtonStarsDenzel WashingtonViola DavisStephen McKinley HendersonA working-class African-American father tries to raise his family in the 1950s, while coming to terms with the events of his life.Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) is a man forged by the forces of oppression, limitation, inadequacy and personal shortcomings. This manifests in tyrannical dominance in an attempt to restore a sense of order and control that through his own further moral errors unravels showing that even the 1950s man had his own crisis of masculinity.
- DirectorJustin TippingStarsJahking GuilloryChristopher MeyerChristopher Jordan WallaceBrandon is a 15 year old whose dream is a pair of fresh Air Jordans. Soon after he gets his hands on them, they're stolen by a local hood, causing Brandon and his two friends to go on a dangerous mission through Oakland to retrieve them.Living at the center of urban and familial decay, Brandon (Jahking Guillory) embraces the substandard ideal of masculinity offered to him by his environment in which shoes become a status symbol. In crossing the path of violence, he learns that the conception of manhood he has embraced is not of any positive value.
- DirectorAlejandro G. IñárrituStarsMichael KeatonZach GalifianakisEdward NortonA washed-up superhero actor attempts to revive his fading career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) spent the better part of his adult life ruining his relationships through an endless stream of poor, self-centered decisions. Searching for legitimacy and resurgence through a stage play, Riggan finds himself in the chaotic deluge of modernity marked by social media, relativism, malaise, confusion and celebrity as a disguise for insufficiency.
- DirectorNicolas Winding RefnStarsRyan GoslingKristin Scott ThomasVithaya PansringarmJulian, a drug-smuggler thriving in Bangkok's criminal underworld, sees his life get even more complicated when his mother compels him to find and kill whoever is responsible for his brother's recent death.Julian (Ryan Gosling) lives in the vicious cycle of crime fostered in him by his mother. After the death of his morally-depraved brother, Julian confronts moral judgment and finds redemption in the adoption of his own culpability.
- DirectorSteven KnightStarsTom HardyOlivia ColmanRuth WilsonIvan Locke, a dedicated family man and successful construction manager, receives a phone call on the eve of the biggest challenge of his career that sets in motion a series of events that threaten his carefully cultivated existence.Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) engaged in an affair that has produced an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Despite the severity of the consequences, Locke chooses to embrace the balancing act of being there for his child's birth, revealing his infidelity to his wife and fixing a complicated problem for his job.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsDenzel WashingtonNadine VelazquezDon CheadleTroubling questions arise after airline pilot Whip Whitaker makes a miracle landing after a mid-air catastrophe.Cpt. Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) is a divorced father and airplane pilot living an out-of-control life as an alcoholic. Upon saving a plane full of passengers in the midst of an drunken stupor, Whip is given the opportunity to exploit the escape given to him by a self-interested union or deal with his alcoholism and tell the truth.
- DirectorNicolas Winding RefnStarsRyan GoslingCarey MulliganBryan CranstonA mysterious Hollywood action film stuntman gets in trouble with gangsters when he tries to help his neighbor's husband rob a pawn shop while serving as his getaway driver.The Driver (Ryan Gosling) is a social misfit who lacks connection to the real world. Silently operating in the shadowy crime world, the Driver is given a chance at connection by adopting the role of father figure. When that dream is shattered, the Driver still chooses to act in that role (albeit a platonic reconfiguration of that role) in the face of certain death.
- DirectorTommy Lee JonesStarsSamuel L. JacksonTommy Lee JonesThrough a chance encounter, two men of opposing ideologies deliberate spiritual, philosophical, and profound matters in a New York City apartment.White (Tommy Lee Jones) is a college professor, intellectual and nihilistic atheist, who in the embrace of life as a meaningless construct of pain, chooses suicide. After being saved by a Black (Samuel L. Jackson), White argues his nihilistic position against Black's religious faith and critique that White's intellectual nihilism and atheism is the cause of his misery and suffering.
- DirectorCary Joji FukunagaStarsPaulina GaitanMarco Antonio AguirreLeonardo AlonsoA young Honduran girl and a Mexican gangster are united in a journey across the U.S. border.El Casper is a MS-13 gang member who keeps a romantic relationship secret. Upon discovery, his girlfriend is nearly raped and successfully killed by gang leader Lil Mago which he is forced to accept. Assisting Lil Mago during a robbery of illegal immigrants attempting to cross the border, El Casper acts against Lil Mago as he attempts to rape a female passenger. In doing so, El Casper confronts the reality that he will be hunted and reserves his role as a low-life criminal into becoming a guide and protector of the illegal immigrants in hopes of starting a new life.
- DirectorSam MendesStarsLeonardo DiCaprioKate WinsletChristopher FitzgeraldA young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children.Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio) suffers through an increasingly loveless marriage as his wife April (Kate Winslet) desires a change of pace and for Frank to embrace his dreams rather than settling. Frank's inability to stand firmly for his principles and communicate honestly makes his weakness more apparent and worsens his marriage into a tragic conclusion.
- DirectorMartin McDonaghStarsColin FarrellBrendan GleesonCiarán HindsAfter a job gone wrong, hitman Ray and his partner await orders from their ruthless boss in Bruges, Belgium, the last place in the world Ray wants to be.Ray (Colin Farrell) is a hitman who in the act of murdering a priest accidentally kills a young boy, an act for which he feels he deserves no forgiveness. Plunged into a suicidal depression and facing a death sentence by his violent yet principled boss (Ralph Fiennes), Ray is directed by his partner Ken (Brendan Gleeson) toward a chance at redemption.
- DirectorBrad AndersonStarsChristian BaleJennifer Jason LeighAitana Sánchez-GijónAn industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity.As the result of avoiding the responsibility for a tragic act caused by his own irresponsibility, Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale) experiences a living nightmare of psychological and physical horror.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsTom CruiseColin FarrellSamantha MortonJohn works with the PreCrime police which stop crimes before they take place, with the help of three 'PreCogs' who can foresee crimes. Events ensue when John finds himself framed for a future murder.In the years following his son's disappearance and the subsequent end of his marriage, John Anderton (Tom Cruise) devotes himself to his job as a Pre-Crime officer. When he is accused of a future crime, he attempts to prove his innocence and in doing so confronts the pain of his loss rather than succumb to addiction, occupation and loneliness.
- DirectorPeter SollettStarsVictor RasukDonna MaldonadoKevin RiveraA Lower East Side teen-ager struggles to find some sanity while surrounded by an eccentric grandmother, a crazy new girlfriend, and a longing younger brother.Victor (Victor Rasuk) buys into the machismo and objectification of women fostered by his culture until he embarks on a relationship with a young girl (Judy Marte) that teaches him the right way to engage such relationships.
- DirectorJohn SingletonStarsAlexsandra WrightTyrese GibsonTaraji P. HensonIn South Central L.A., a misguided 20-year-old African-American man, a "baby boy", faces the commitments of real life.
- DirectorRichard KellyStarsJake GyllenhaalJena MaloneMary McDonnellAfter narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsBrad PittEdward NortonMeat LoafAn insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsTom CruiseJason RobardsJulianne MooreAn epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsNicolas CagePatricia ArquetteJohn GoodmanHaunted by the patients he failed to save, a monumentally burned-out Manhattan ambulance paramedic fights to maintain his sanity over three increasingly turbulent nights.
- DirectorHype WilliamsStarsNasDMXTaral HicksTwo young friends involved in organized crime and drug dealing find that their priorities differ.
- DirectorShin'ya TsukamotoStarsShin'ya TsukamotoKirina ManoTatsuya NakamuraA man sees his life changed forever when his fiancee shoots herself. Baffled, he wants by all means to obtain such a weapon of destruction and he finds himself caught in the middle of a violent group of young vicious punks. They first beat him severely and then he seeks revenge with his fist, then with a gun. Everything from then on is a complete downward spiral.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsDenzel WashingtonMilla JovovichRay AllenA basketball player's father must try to convince him to go to a college so he can get a shorter sentence.
- DirectorPaul SchraderStarsNick NolteSissy SpacekJames CoburnA deeply troubled small-town cop investigates a suspicious hunting death while other events jeopardize his sanity.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsBill PullmanPatricia ArquetteJohn RoseliusAnonymous videotapes presage a musician's murder conviction, and a gangster's girlfriend leads a mechanic astray.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsMichael DouglasDeborah Kara UngerSean PennAfter a wealthy San Francisco banker is given an opportunity to participate in a mysterious game, his life is turned upside down as he begins to question if it might really be a concealed conspiracy to destroy him.
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsRobin WilliamsMatt DamonBen AffleckWill Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
- DirectorMike FiggisStarsNicolas CageElisabeth ShueJulian SandsBen Sanderson, a Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his alcoholism, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.
- DirectorBoaz YakinStarsSean NelsonGiancarlo EspositoSamuel L. JacksonDeath and violence anger a twelve-year-old drug courier, who sets his employers against each other.
- DirectorAlbert HughesAllen HughesStarsTyrin TurnerLarenz TateJune Kyoto LuA young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.
- DirectorRobert De NiroStarsRobert De NiroChazz PalminteriLillo BrancatoAn intense drama about a boy torn between his tough, hard-working father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss.
- DirectorAbel FerraraStarsHarvey KeitelBrian McElroyFrank AcciaritoWhile investigating a young nun's rape, a corrupt New York City police detective, with a serious drug and gambling addiction, tries to change his ways and find forgiveness and redemption.
- DirectorJohn SingletonStarsCuba Gooding Jr.Laurence FishburneHudhail Al-AmirFollows the lives of three young males living in the Crenshaw ghetto of Los Angeles, dissecting questions of race, relationships, violence, and future prospects.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroCathy MoriartyJoe PesciThe life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
- DirectorRobert RedfordStarsDonald SutherlandMary Tyler MooreJudd HirschThe accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father and the guilt-ridden younger son.
- DirectorMichael CiminoStarsRobert De NiroChristopher WalkenJohn CazaleAn in-depth examination of the ways in which the Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of several friends in a small steel mill town in Pennsylvania.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroJodie FosterCybill ShepherdA mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsJames DeanNatalie WoodSal MineoA rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsJames DeanRaymond MasseyJulie HarrisTwo brothers in 1910s California struggle to maintain their strict, Bible-toting father's favor as an old secret about their long-absent mother comes to light.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsLamberto MaggioraniEnzo StaiolaLianella CarellIn post-war Italy, a working-class man's bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find work. He and his son set out to find it.