Men on the Edge

Masculinity in freefall

These films explore what happens when men can no longer perform the roles expected of them — the anger, the grief, the violence, the collapse. No judgment, only observation.

Drama
11
Movies
32
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Created: July 15, 2025

The Collection

Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver

1976
1
Taxi Driver
1976
1
Taxi Driver
IMDb 8.2 / 10
Director Martin Scorsese
Cast Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd
Box Office $28,262,574
Why Schrader's script gives Travis Bickle a worldview and Scorsese refuses to validate it; we ride alon…
There Will Be Blood

There Will Be Blood

2007
2
There Will Be Blood
2007
2
There Will Be Blood
IMDb 8.2 / 10
Director Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Ciarán Hinds
Box Office $40,222,514
Why Daniel Plainview wins everything: oil, sons, sermons, gravity. The film asks what the wages of that…
Falling Down

Falling Down

1993
3
Falling Down
1993
3
Falling Down
IMDb 7.6 / 10
Director Joel Schumacher
Cast Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey
Box Office $40,903,593
Why Schumacher gives Michael Douglas a defense-industry layoff, a hot day, and a freeway. The film trac…
Whiplash

Whiplash

2014
4
Whiplash
2014
4
Whiplash
IMDb 8.5 / 10
Director Damien Chazelle
Cast Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist
Box Office $14,003,391
Why Chazelle films a drum lesson as a fight between a teacher's cruelty and a student's appetite. The f…
Manchester by the Sea

Manchester by the Sea

2016
5
Manchester by the Sea
2016
5
Manchester by the Sea
IMDb 7.8 / 10
Director Kenneth Lonergan
Cast Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler
Box Office $47,695,371
Why Lonergan refuses to redeem Lee Chandler. The film stays close enough that you understand the weight…
The Wrestler

The Wrestler

2008
6
The Wrestler
2008
6
The Wrestler
IMDb 7.9 / 10
Director Darren Aronofsky
Cast Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood
Box Office $26,238,243
Why Aronofsky films Mickey Rourke as the body that built a career outliving the career itself. The deli…
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

2014
7
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
2014
7
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
IMDb 7.7 / 10
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Cast Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton
Box Office $42,340,598
Why Iñárritu's actor wants the role that will say he was always more than the cape. The one-shot concei…
Uncut Gems

Uncut Gems

2019
8
Uncut Gems
2019
8
Uncut Gems
IMDb 7.4 / 10
Director Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie
Cast Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, Idina Menzel
Box Office $50,023,780
Why The Safdies film Howard Ratner as a gambler whose every choice was always going to be the wrong one…
First Reformed

First Reformed

2017
9
First Reformed
2017
9
First Reformed
IMDb 7.1 / 10
Director Paul Schrader
Cast Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric The Entertainer
Box Office $3,448,256
Why Schrader updates his own Taxi Driver: a pastor's diary records the slow theological collapse of a m…
Punch-Drunk Love

Punch-Drunk Love

2002
10
Punch-Drunk Love
2002
10
Punch-Drunk Love
IMDb 7.3 / 10
Director Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Box Office $17,844,216
Why Anderson gives Adam Sandler the alternative film: a sweet, rage-filled man who finds love because h…
Marriage Story

Marriage Story

2019
11
Marriage Story
2019
11
Marriage Story
IMDb 7.9 / 10
Director Noah Baumbach
Cast Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Julia Greer
Box Office $333,686
Why Baumbach films Adam Driver's actor husband through every system designed to take the marriage from …

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