Trailers Undone

These are "if you build it, they will come" movies. The hero is a man who alienates those around him by getting passionate about something strange. These films appeal to men who wish they had the guts to be so focused and honest about whatever matters to them the most, and to women who just wish they could find "a man who is passionate about something - anything!" to quote hundreds of online personals.

The strange hobby/obsession is made to seem arbitrary, but it never is. The hero’s quirky activity always evokes some kind of far-away glamour or nobility: an ancient profession that brought man and nature together, a journey to the stars, the golden age of professional baseball.

As many men do, he imagines himself on a sort of cosmic stage, playing an archetypal role that epitomizes the answer to the great question of What Men Should Actually Be Doing With Their Time. And as few men do, he builds the stage, hawks tickets, and blinks patiently through the jeers of those too scared to congratulate him.

The Hawk Is Dying trailer
The Astronaut Farmer trailer