Highest-Rated Movies about 'Self-destruction'

Croupier (1998), Amy (2015), Gia (1998), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), Fists in the Pocket (1965), Sid & Nancy (1986), Fight Club (1999), The Black String (2019) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Self-destruction movies.

#16. Raging Bull (1980)

Storyline: When Jake LaMotta steps into a boxing ring and obliterates his opponent, he's a prizefighter. But when he treats his family and friends the same way, he's a ticking time bomb, ready to go off at any moment. Though LaMotta wants his family's love, something always seems to come between them. Perhaps it's his violent bouts of paranoia and jealousy. This kind of rage helped make him a champ, but in real life, he winds up in the ring alone.

Plot Keywords: biography, sports, boxing, violence, rage, self-destruction, family ...

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#17. Pink Floyd - The Wall (1982)

Storyline: Rock star Pink Floyd is a tortured soul. Because of his childhood, he has always tried to make meaningful emotional connections to other living creatures. That childhood includes not having a male role model with his father having been killed in the war, his overprotective mother smothering him, and an oppressive school system quashing his natural creativity. Being a rock star, he is often wanted more because of what he is than who he is. The most recent failure in that true connection to someone or something else is his marriage, when on tour, he discovers that his wife back home is cheating on him. His response is to go in the opposite direction, by building a figurative wall around him to isolate himself from the rest of the world, but not before showing graphically his feelings on different gut levels. The question becomes if he or anyone else can do anything to tear down the wall in a meaningful way.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: musical film, psychedelic rock, social commentary, mental breakdown, isolation, war trauma, dystopian ...

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#18. Trainspotting (1996)

Storyline: A wild, freeform, Rabelaisian trip through the darkest recesses of Edinburgh low-life, focusing on Mark Renton and his attempt to give up his heroin habit, and how the latter affects his relationship with family and friends: Sean Connery wannabe Sick Boy, dimbulb Spud, psycho Begbie, 14-year-old girlfriend Diane, and clean-cut athlete Tommy, who's never touched drugs but can't help being curious about them...

Plot Keywords: drugs, addiction, scotland, underground culture, punk, crime, friendship ...

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#20. The Hustler (1961)

Storyline: "Fast" Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary "Minnesota Fats" to a high-stakes match, but he loses in a heartbreaking marathon. Now broke and without his long-time manager, Felson faces an uphill battle to regain his confidence and his game. It isn't until he hits rock bottom that he agrees to join up with ruthless and cutthroat manager Bert Gordon. Gordon agrees to take him on the road to learn the ropes. But Felson soon realizes that making it to the top could cost him his soul, and perhaps his girlfriend. Will he decide that this is too steep a price to pay in time to save himself?

Plot Keywords: gambling, drama, paul newman, black and white, classic, underdog, redemption ...

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#21. All That Jazz (1979)

Storyline: Joe Gideon is a Broadway director, choreographer and filmmaker, he in the process of casting the chorus and staging the dance numbers for his latest Broadway show, starring his ex-wife Audrey Paris in what is largely a vanity project for her in playing a role several years younger than her real age, and editing a film he directed on the life of stand-up comic Davis Newman. Joe's professional and personal lives are intertwined, he a chronic philanderer, having slept with and had relationships with a series of dancers in his shows, Victoria Porter, who he hired for the current show despite she not being the best dancer, in the former category, and Kate Jagger, his current girlfriend, in the latter category. That philandering has led to relationship problems, with Audrey during their marriage, and potentially now with Kate who wants a committed relationship with Joe largely in not wanting the alternative of entering the dating world again. Joe also lives a hard and fast life, he chain smoking, drinking heavily, listening to hard driving classical music and popping uppers to keep going. In addition to pressures from investors and meeting film deadlines above and beyond his own self-induced hard life, he is teetering on the brink physically and emotionally. With Kate, Audrey, and his and Audrey's teenage daughter Michelle looking over him as best they can, Joe flirts with "Angelique" in the process, he potentially succumbing to her if he doesn't listen to them or what his body is telling him.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: musical, dance, broadway, autobiographical, director, art, fantasy ...

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#22. The Lost Weekend (1945)

Storyline: Don Birnam, long-time alcoholic, has been "on the wagon" for ten days and seems to be over the worst; but his craving has just become more insidious. Evading a country weekend planned by his brother Wick and girlfriend Helen, he begins a four-day bender. In flashbacks we see past events, all gone wrong because of the bottle. But this bout looks like being his last...one way or the other.

Plot Keywords: drama, film noir, alcoholism, psychological, new york, writer, addiction ...

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#23. Head-On (2004)

Storyline: In 'Gegen die Wand' Cahit, a 40-something male from Mersin in Turkey has removed everything Turkish from his life. He has become an alcoholic drug addict and at the start of the movie wants to end it all. Sibel a 20-something female from Hamburg wishes to please her Turkish parents yet yearns for freedom. She has had her nose broken by her brother for being seen holding hands with a boy and yet she can not break her mother's heart and run away. She too attempts suicide and she first approaches Cahit there at the Hospital. Sibel asks Cahit to marry her, as she believes this to be the way out of her parent's house. She promises Cahit that their relationship will be like roommates, not like a married couple. The film follows Sibel and Cahit as they get married, become closer and eventually fall in love.

Plot Keywords: romance, drama, german cinema, immigration, identity, marriage, family ...

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#24. Days of Wine and Roses (1962)

Storyline: Joe Clay is a top-notch public-relations man. Anything a client wants, Joe can arrange, from dancing girls to an article in a prominent magazine. But part of the job is drinking, and Joe's ability to consume alcohol seems boundless. When he meets the very pretty Kirsten Arnesen, she prefers chocolate to alcohol; Joe's solution is Brandy Alexander, which is made up of brandy and crème de cacao. Joe and Kirsten eventually marry, but their love can't prevent the downward spiral brought on by alcohol. They try desperately to break the habit but continually relapse until only one of them manages to break free.

Plot Keywords: alcoholism, marital crisis, film noir, drama, addiction, family breakdown, self-destruction ...

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#25. The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978)

Storyline: This movie follows the life of a young German woman, married to a soldier in the waning days of WWII. Fassbinder has tried to show the gritty life after the end of WWII and the turmoil of the people trapped in its wake.—Neel V Kumar <neelvk@iname.com>

Plot Keywords: feminism, social critique, moral dilemmas, personal sacrifice, capitalism, social change, emotional alienation ...

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#26. The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955)

Storyline: With a strange and powerful obsession stemming from a pampered childhood during the tumultuous years of the Mexican Revolution, the affluent bachelor and suave ceramist, Archibaldo de la Cruz, oscillates effortlessly between fantasy and reality, desire and hallucination. Compelled to taste again and again the delicious fruit of depravity that triggers an intense dark satisfaction, Archibaldo won't shy away from using one of his many shave-ready straight razors, bent on going to great lengths to quench his lust. Undoubtedly, death encircles the scheming Archibaldo, and the targets are always innocent women; however, is he truly capable of murder?—Nick Riganas

Plot Keywords: black comedy, psychological thriller, crime, surrealism, murder, fantasy, psychoanalysis ...

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#27. Jules and Jim (1962)

Storyline: In pre-WWI Paris, two friends, Jules (Austrian) and Jim (French), fall in love with the same woman, Catherine. But Catherine loves and marries Jules. When they meet again in Germany after the war, Catherine starts to love Jim - This is the story of three people in love, a love that doesn't affect their friendship, and about how their relationship evolves with the years.

Plot Keywords: love triangle, classic cinema, black and white, literary adaptation, existentialism, war background, friendship ...

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#28. The King of Comedy (1982)

Storyline: Rupert Pupkin is obsessed with becoming a comedy great. However, when he confronts his idol, talk show host Jerry Langford, with a plea to perform on the Jerry's show, he is only given the run-around. He does not give up, however, but persists in stalking Jerry until he gets what he wants. Eventually he must team up with his psychotic Langford-obsessed friend Masha to kidnap the talk show host in hopes of finally getting to perform his stand-up routine.

Plot Keywords: black comedy, crime, drama, psychological thriller, satire, celebrity culture, obsession ...

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#29. Overnight (2003)

Storyline: This documentary follows Troy Duffy, a brash, foul-mouthed bartender whose screenplay for an action film called "Boondock Saints" scores him a generous contract to write and direct the film for Harvey Weinstein at Miramax Studios. Duffy's band, the Brood, is also in the midst of signing a contract with Madonna's Maverick Records. Duffy's fiery manner is instrumental to his success, but when the deals go sour, no one seems safe from his explosive temper.

Plot Keywords: documentary, independent film, music industry, behind the scenes, director, filmmaking, true story ...

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#30. Withnail and I (1987)

Storyline: London, 1969 - two 'resting' (unemployed and unemployable) actors, Withnail and Marwood, fed up with damp, cold, piles of washing-up, mad drug dealers and psychotic Irishmen, decide to leave their squalid Camden flat for an idyllic holiday in the countryside, courtesy of Withnail's uncle Monty's country cottage. But when they get there, it rains non-stop, there's no food, and their basic survival skills turn out to be somewhat limited. Matters are not helped by the arrival of Uncle Monty, who shows an uncomfortably keen interest in Marwood...—Michael Brooke <michael@everyman.demon.co.uk>

Plot Keywords: black comedy, british film, 1980s, friendship, alcoholism, london, absurdity ...

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