This movie is about loneliness and isolation, and in particular about the condition of male loneliness.
The movie opens with two scenes where Travis Bickle attempts to breakthrough an otherwise transactional conversation and is immediately and aggressively admonished for doing so.
Travis is incredibly unremarkable. He drinks. He goes to porn theaters. He isn't socially capable, charming, or traditionally attractive. He isn't intelligent or clever. He's not painted a sympathetic at all. We watch him go through his life devoid…
