Best American Drama Movies
This page is updated regularly. Subscribe, so you don't miss new recommendations. The list of "Best American Drama Movies" contains films with the following parameters. Style: serious, realistic, psychological, touching, masterpiece and interesting. Plot: storytelling, friendship, dialogue, mentor, cult, loneliness, honest, redemption, life changing and profanity. Genre: Drama, Crime and Western. Country: USA and Finland.
Best American Drama Movies
TOP Movies: Manchester by the Sea (2016), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Rain Man (1988), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Gook (2017), Django Unchained (2012), Moonlight (2016), Nomadland (2020), Precious (2009), Adopt a Highway (2019), Another Woman (1988), Cool Hand Luke (1967), Fireflies in the Garden (2008), Shelter (2014), American Beauty (1999), Dallas Buyers Club (2013), Henry Gamble's Birthday Party (2015), Three Christs (2017), All Day and a Night (2020), Requiem for a Dream (2000).
List of Best Movies
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 137 min.
Story:
After his older brother passes away, Lee Chandler is forced to return home to care for his 16-year-old nephew. There he is compelled to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was born and raised.
Style:
depressing, sad, heartbreaking, touching, independent film ...
Audience:
teens, family friendly, adult
Plot:
sadness, family drama, loneliness, suicide attempt, depression, loss, death, uncle nephew relationship, dysfunctional family, guardian, nephew, grief ...
Time:
2010s, year 2016
Place:
massachusetts, boston, nebraska, new england
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min.
Story:
Framed in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, ...
Style:
clever, uplifting, inspirational, touching, twist ending ...
Audience:
date night, chick flick, teens, kids, family friendly ...
Plot:
prison, prison escape, freedom, friendship between men, hopes, friendship, corruption, human spirit, justice, prison life, life, stephen king ...
Time:
1940s, 1950s, 90s, year 1994, 2010s ...
Place:
usa, maine, columbus ohio, persia, iran ...
Is relevant?
580K
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min.
Story:
Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt's father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie; they travel cross-country.
Style:
road movie, inspirational, sincere, uplifting, touching ...
Audience:
family friendly
Plot:
autism, road trip, redemption, disability, mentally challenged, brother brother relationship, siblings relations, runaway, self discovery, mathematics, psychiatry, life changing ...
Time:
20th century, year 1988, 80s
Place:
las vegas, california, ohio, cincinnati ohio, columbus ohio ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy.
Style:
touching, sentimental, sad, clever, realistic ...
Audience:
family outing, teens
Plot:
courtroom, divorce, lawyer, marriage, custody battle, father son relationship, single father, family drama, courtroom drama, legal, family relations, court ...
Time:
70s, 20th century, year 1979, 80s
Place:
new york, california, usa, persia, new york state ...
Is relevant?
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Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min.
Story:
While serving time for insanity at a state mental hospital, implacable rabble-rouser, Randle Patrick McMurphy inspires his fellow patients to rebel against the authoritarian rule of head nurse, Mildred Ratched.
Style:
psychological, serious, thought provoking, dramatic, emotional ...
Audience:
family friendly, date night, teen drama, adult
Plot:
mental institution, mental illness, fighting the system, freedom, human spirit, insanity, society, mental patient, mental disorder, nurse, psychiatrist, schizophrenia ...
Time:
60s, 20th century, year 1975, year 1963
Place:
oregon, eastern europe, america, persia
Is relevant?
3K
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Eli and Daniel, two Korean American brothers who own a struggling women's shoe store, have an unlikely friendship with 11-year-old Kamilla. On the first day of the 1992 L.A. riots, the trio must defend their store—and contemplate the meaning ...
Style:
suspense, disturbing, captivating, psychological, black and white ...
Plot:
brother brother relationship, black girl, businessman, korean american, brother, racism, social justice, friendship, life is a bitch, coping, family business, social problems ...
Time:
year 2017, 90s
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 165 min.
Story:
With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.
Style:
talky, suspense, captivating, brutal, bloody ...
Audience:
boys' night, adult
Plot:
racism, slavery, revenge, old west, bounty hunter, violent, vengeance, african american, dark humor, gunfight, racial violence, violence ...
Time:
19th century, year 2012, 2010s, 1850s
Place:
usa, texas, tennessee, america, austin texas ...
Is relevant?
350K
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min.
Story:
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.
Style:
sexy, inspirational, lgbt cinema, visually stunning, art house ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, date night, teen drama, adult
Plot:
forgiveness, drug dealer, lgbtq, coming of age, lgbt, african american, homosexuality, gay, gay interest, dysfunctional family, drug addict, closeted homosexual ...
Time:
year 2016, 2000s, 2010s
Place:
florida, atlanta georgia, indiana, idaho, miami
Is relevant?
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216K
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
A woman in her sixties embarks on a journey through the American West after losing everything in the Great Recession, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
Style:
road movie, serious, realistic, sincere, captivating ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
van, homeless, motor home, on the road, loss of job, road trip, nomad, journey, desert, homelessness, skinny dipping, healing ...
Time:
2020s, 2010s, 90s, year 2011, 21st century
Place:
nevada, nebraska, arizona
Is relevant?
120K
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
Set in Harlem in 1987, Claireece "Precious" Jones is a 16-year-old African American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother, ...
Style:
depressing, emotional, inspirational, bleak, rough ...
Audience:
teens, teen drama, adult
Plot:
rape, dysfunctional family, coming of age, poverty, teacher, sexual abuse, illiteracy, african american, domestic violence, aids, child abuse, parents and children ...
Time:
2000s, 20th century, year 1987, 80s
Place:
new york, america, harlem, new york city, usa, harlem ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min.
Story:
Having spent the last 21 years in a Californian prison for possession of marijuana, a middle-aged man must find his way in a world that has changed completely since he was incarcerated in the 1990's. Finding an abandoned baby in a dumpster sets ...
Style:
atmospheric, melancholic, touching, colorful, scenic ...
Plot:
ex convict, baby girl, baby, new life, angst, journey, parenting, internet, abandoned baby, adoption, clinic, women ...
Place:
usa, california
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min.
Story:
Marion is a woman who has learned to shield herself from her emotions. She rents an apartment to work undisturbed on her new book, but by some acoustic anomaly she can hear all that is said in the next apartment in which a psychiatrist holds his ...
Style:
psychological, realistic, meditative, talky, depressing ...
Plot:
midlife crisis, writers, eavesdropping, philosophy, depression, psychology, human nature, self discovery, melancholy, psychoanalysis, dysfunctional family, infidelity ...
Time:
20th century, 80s, year 1988
Place:
new york, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min.
Story:
When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable ...
Style:
atmospheric, serious, rough, depressing, intense ...
Audience:
manly, adult
Plot:
prison, escape, prisoner, prison break, death, prison life, runaway, convict, prison escape, egg, freedom, fugitive ...
Time:
20th century, 1950s, year 1967, 60s, 50s
Place:
florida, southern usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
The semi-autobiographical story centers on the complexities of love and commitment in a family torn apart when faced by an unexpected tragedy.
Style:
emotional, serious, realistic, sincere, cult classic ...
Plot:
family in crisis, dysfunctional family, life is a bitch, family problems, unsupportive parent, parents and children, college graduate, family drama, infidelity, car crash, cheating wife, abusive father ...
Time:
20th century
Place:
greece
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
Hannah and Tahir fall in love while homeless on the streets of New York. Shelter explores how they got there, and as we learn about their pasts we realize they need each other to build a future.
Style:
touching, captivating, realistic, depressing, psychological ...
Plot:
homelessness, black man white woman sex, black man white woman relationship, homeless, sexual favor, lovers, drug, love and romance, couples, society, emaciation, junkie ...
Place:
manhattan new york city, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story:
A coming-of-age story based on the best-selling novel by Stephen Chbosky, which follows 15-year-old freshman Charlie, an endearing and naive outsider who is taken under the wings of two seniors. A moving tale of love, loss, fear and hope - and the ...
Style:
touching, teen, sincere, melancholic, sad ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, girls' night, teen drama
Plot:
coming of age, high school, teenager, adolescence, first love, friendship, teenage love, youth, high school life, depression, suicide, teenage life ...
Time:
90s, 2010s, year 1991, year 2013, 20th century ...
Place:
pittsburgh, pennsylvania, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min.
Story:
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
Style:
melancholic, thought provoking, sexual, dark comedy, sexy ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, kids, girls' night, teen drama ...
Plot:
midlife crisis, dysfunctional family, existentialism, age difference, obsession, loneliness, coming of age, older man younger woman relationship, dysfunctional marriage, youth, adultery, suburbs ...
Time:
90s, 20th century, year 1999, year 2013
Place:
usa, america, los angeles, iran
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
Loosely based on the true-life tale of Ron Woodroof, a drug-taking, women-loving, homophobic man who in 1986 was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and given thirty days to live.
Style:
cerebral, inspirational, psychological, heartbreaking, clever ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, adult
Plot:
aids, transsexual, fighting the system, hiv, transgender, human spirit, casual sex, treatment, hiv positive, life is a bitch, gay slur, drug ...
Time:
80s, year 2013, 2000s, 20th century, 90s ...
Place:
texas, usa, idaho, midwest, nebraska ...
Is relevant?
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Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
Henry Gamble's Birthday Party takes place over 24 hours at the birthday pool party of 17-year-old preacher's kid Henry Gamble. The party guests include adults and teenagers from his church, as well as Henry's "secular" ...
Style:
sexy, lgbt cinema, psychological, homoerotic, touching ...
Plot:
lgbt, lgbtq, gay, lgbt teen, teenage boy, gay teenager, masturbation, friendship between boys, teenage protagonist, birthday, birthday party, coming of age ...
Place:
chicago
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
Dr. Alan Stone breaks new ground for treatment of the mentally ill through an experiment on three paranoid schizophrenic patients who believe they are Jesus Christ.
Style:
disturbing, psychological, serious, sincere
Plot:
psychotherapist, mental institution, escapades, society, mentally unstable, doctor, tragedy, experiment, religion, psychiatric ward, religious, biopic ...
Time:
year 1959
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min.
Story:
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Style:
hood, serious, realistic, tense, rough
Plot:
gang, profanity, prison, danger, rivalry, crime boss, gang leader, criminal's revenge, evidence, police, merciless, corpse ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control. A look into addiction and how it overcomes the mind and body.
Style:
psychological, disturbing, bleak, depressing, atmospheric ...
Audience:
kids, adult
Plot:
addiction, drug abuse, heroin, drug addiction, insanity, drug, junkie, loneliness, mental illness, depression, dream, subculture ...
Time:
year 2000, future, y2k, 20th century, 90s ...
Place:
britain, america, new york, usa, coney island brooklyn new york city ...
Is relevant?
2.2M
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 175 min.
Story:
Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the ...
Style:
serious, captivating, atmospheric, epic, dramatic ...
Audience:
boys' night, manly, chick flick, adult
Plot:
mafia, organized crime, gangster, revenge, crime family, betrayal, mob boss, wedding, greed, pride and honor, cosa nostra, violence ...
Time:
1950s, 1940s, 20th century, 50s, year 1972 ...
Place:
italy, new york, bronx new york city, manhattan new york city, sicily ...
Is relevant?
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Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min.
Story:
"The Passion of the Christ" is a film about the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus. Director Mel Gibson received much criticism from critics and audiences for his explicit depiction of and focus on violence and on christs suffering, ...
Style:
biblical, christian film, controversial, spiritual, brutal ...
Audience:
chick flick, manly, adult
Plot:
jesus, christianity, jesus christ, redemption, religion, religious, bible, torture, suffering, betrayal, death, roman ...
Time:
ancient times, year 2004, 2000s, 1930s, 1st century ...
Place:
holy land, jerusalem, greece, ancient greece, middle east ...
Is relevant?
1.1M
Genre: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.
Style:
dramatic, realistic, psychological, motivational, inspirational ...
Audience:
teens, family friendly, teen drama, adult
Plot:
music, jazz, obsession, emotional abuse, mentor, musician, teachers and students, drummer, follow your dream, desire for fame, musician's life, public humiliation ...
Time:
year 2014, 2010s, 21st century
Place:
manhattan new york city, north america, peru, new york, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
A family loaded with quirky, colorful characters piles into an old van and road trips to California for little Olive to compete in a beauty pageant.
Style:
road movie, feel good, melancholic, funny, sweet ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, kids, girls' night, family friendly ...
Plot:
road trip, dysfunctional family, on the road, nothing goes right, loser, gay, honest, obsessive quest, escapades, coming of age, suicide attempt, journey ...
Time:
2000s, year 2006, 21st century
Place:
california, arizona, los angeles, nebraska, north america ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 181 min.
Story:
After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins due to the efforts of the Mad Titan, Thanos. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers must assemble once more in order to undo Thanos' actions and ...
Style:
epic, saga, exciting, sad, action adventure ...
Audience:
teens, kids, adult
Plot:
superhero, time travel, heroes, alternate timeline, invasion, superhuman powers, alien, superhero team, tony stark character, alien superhero, final battle, humanity in peril ...
Time:
2010s, 2020s, year 1970, year 2012, year 2014 ...
Place:
new york, new jersey, japan, missouri, manhattan new york city ...
Is relevant?
380K
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 165 min.
Story:
The film tells a story of a divorced couple trying to raise their young son. The story follows the boy for twelve years, from first grade at age 6 through 12th grade at age 17-18, and examines his relationship with his parents as he grows.
Style:
philosophical, melancholic, cerebral, touching, depressing ...
Audience:
teens, kids, chick flick, girls' night, teen drama
Plot:
coming of age, childhood, teenager, high school, adolescence, domestic abuse, family drama, youth, divorced parents, stepsister stepsister relationship, relationships, marriage ...
Time:
2010s, year 2014, 2000s, 90s, near future ...
Place:
texas, ethiopia, houston texas, austin texas, usa
Is relevant?
27K
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Finland
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
A US soldier suffers a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Afghanistan and struggles to adjust to life back home in New Orleans. When she meets local mechanic James, the pair begin to forge an unexpected bond.
Style:
psychological, thrilling, captivating, suspenseful, aesthetic ...
Plot:
female protagonist, mental health, veteran, brain injury, swimming pool, soldier, engineer, american soldier, ex soldier, war trauma, social problems, changing lives ...
Time:
2020s
Place:
new orleans, afghanistan
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 168 min.
Story:
Bounty hunters seek shelter from a raging blizzard and get caught up in a plot of betrayal and deception.
Style:
captivating, talky, bloody, stylized, suspense ...
Audience:
boys' night, adult
Plot:
bounty hunter, winter, stagecoach, prisoner, gang, cold weather, old west, murder, snow, dark humor, brutality, twists and turns ...
Time:
19th century, year 2015, 2010s, victorian era, year 2016
Place:
wyoming, usa
Is relevant?
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