Films or TV shows where the main character is going through a life crisis?

[Lightning hand5]

Quarterlife or midlife, whichever is fine. As a man in his late 20s I find myself struggling to sleep at night with thoughts racing in my head. I think about getting older and how the decisions that I make or don't make could determine the rest of my life. I find myself wondering about the point of existence, how to feel fulfilled in life, and whether I've made the right choices and if I even recognize myself anymore. These feelings get heavy and I feel like I can't really talk to many people that know where I'm coming from. Most people in my life are either too old and have forgotten/are bitter in life or are too young or worse off than I am.

So I find relief when I get sucked into a game or a film or a TV show. For an hour or two I can be out of my head and just enjoy the thing I'm watching. When I felt really awful I decided to watch Lost in Translation for the first time. I really enjoyed that film. I saw Friends with Money the other day too and really enjoyed that one too. I've seen American Beauty a few times as well. Any suggestions for media that feature a struggling protagonist dealing with reflecting on their life and dealing with significant personal change? I've heard good things about Garden State so that one's on my list too.

 

[THEVOID]

Graduate

 

[SupremeWu]

Office Space

 

[Leona Lewis]

Mad Men.

 

[Ortix]

Was gonna mention American Beauty but you already have that one. The Leftovers qualifies.

 

[MarioW]

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Didn't set the world on fire when it came out, but I thought it was a decent enough and snackable "mid life crisis" feel good story.

 

[Violence Jack]

This is 40
Thelma and Louise

 

[aboatofcourage]

Goldberg, the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Half Nelson, 8 1/2, Brazil

 

[Darkwing-Buck]

Mad Men

 

[Lotus]

The Americans

Turns out being a Russian spy weighs heavily on one's conscience.

 

[LewieP]

Revolutionary Road.
A Serious Man.

Edit: Breaking Bad might be stretching it, but probably qualifies

 

[TheForgotten]

Mad Men, The Americans, Halt and Catch Fire, The Leftovers, Barry

 

[Richiek]

BoJack Horseman

 

[TheBeardedOne]

Six Feet Under

 

[Treefrog]

For anime there's Welcome the the NHK

 

[hydruxo]

Into The Wild

 

[WolfeTone]

Mad Men at its heart is about a man struggling with his identity and figuring out what he wants from his life. That's just the main character, Don. Many other characters in the show grow through other crises of happiness and fulfilment like Roger, Pete and Lane. I've not come across another show with depth of character quite like Mad Men.

 

[Deleted member 18407]

Freddy Got Fingered. Gord leaves home, expecting to be a famous animator, but fails and has to return home to deal with his overbearing father and the struggles that go along with having your dreams die.

 

[TissueBox]

OP, here are a few films to drop into the player. Give them a look if ya like..!!

My Dinner With Andre is less a film than it is a Socratic dialogue, filmed and framed in the guise of a fictional conversation between two men who haven't seen each other in years, when suddenly Andre sends out an invitation to his old friend to sit down for dinner at a local restaurant. Wordy but never boring, the two men, and particularly Andre, set tentpoles on the groundwork of what makes life meaningful in a way that is almost indulgently written, if it wasn't so honest -- this is the kind of talk you'd imagine these two people, in real life, actually having. A great work that operates on dual layers, one that includes plenty of reflection on a life lived and a life meant.

Give Clerks a go for a crudely comic free-for-all that eventually expresses a genuine, down-to-earth take on where to go from a deadbeat job, without a degree, encroaching on your 20s, and how to grumble all the way.

And last but not least.....

Posing grand statements in the visage of a wonderfully funny and electric comedy adventure, you will probably be poised to believe it if you're drunk enough (but in seriousness, it does carry plenty of heft in its 'zest' -- this is, in fact, partially what makes all Edgar Wright flicks so good). If you haven't already, definitely give The World's End a watch, OP. Also a part of one of the zippiest film trilogies out there, the other two of which also dealing with some similar themes on the whole. ^^'

A Serious Man is also worth a look if you don't mind an intersection of faith, the cosmos, and quandaries of personhood in the filter of 1970s Jewish-oriented suburbia. It is one of my favorite films and the Coens' personal best. A treatise on the entropic nature of the universe and our lives and how, in the end, what is, what isn't, and what will always be are irreducible -- but it doesn't hurt to love someone in the meantime.

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

In terms of young characters, excluding coming of age, and from the top of my head:

Into The Wild (leaving everything behind to live off the grid)

The Graduate (affair with older woman to avoid thinking about the future)

Whiplash ( impossible adversities in pursuing dream career)

50/50 (coping with cancer)

Silver Linings Play Book (coping with mental health, separation)

Colossal (feeling worthless, addiction, feeling like an impostor, toxic relationships)

Good Will Hunting (having a great talent but no motivation to be great)

 

[DeliciousSunnyD!]

Breaking Bad if you haven't seen it for some reason. Literally the thrust of the show.

 

[Brakke]

A Serious Man.

Click to shrink...

Hell yeah. See also Burn After Reading.

 

[okayfrog]

Cinema Paradiso

I watched it shortly after dropping out of college a second time and it devastated me. I could not stop crying for the last half hour of the film.