Best American Drama Movies – page 3

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Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min.
Story: A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
Style: psychological, depressing, surreal, independent film, confusing ...
Plot: depression, existentialism, death, theater, magic realism, schizophrenic, obsession, writers, twists and turns, philosophy, writer's life, loneliness ...
Time: year 2008, 2000s, 90s, future, 21st century
Place: new york, usa, berlin germany, manhattan new york city
Is relevant ?
 8.1
 499K
Spotlight (2015)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min.
Story: In 2001, editor Marty Baron of The Boston Globe assigns a team of journalists to investigate allegations against John Geoghan, an unfrocked priest accused of molesting more than 80 boys. Led by editor Walter "Robby" Robinson, reporters ...
Style: factual, suspense, psychological, tense, talky ...
Audience: chick flick, adult
Plot: journalism, investigation, lawyer, investigative journalism, conspiracy, sexual abuse, newspaper, journalist, catholic church, pedophilia, catholicism, child abuse ...
Time: year 2001, year 2015, 2010s, year 2016, 70s ...
Place: boston, massachusetts, new england, nova scotia, florida
Is relevant ?
 7.6
 184K
25th Hour (2002)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min.
Story: The filmed adaptation from David Benioff's novel of the same name. Set in New York, a convicted drug dealer named Monty has one day left of freedom before he is sent to prison. Anger, blame, frustration, betrayal, guilt and loneliness are ...
Style: depressing, psychological, emotional, bleak, atmospheric ...
Plot: friendship, organized crime, drug, drug dealer, drug lord, 9/11, betrayal, freedom, redemption, great ending, mistrust, prison ...
Time: year 2002, 2000s, 21st century
Place: new york, usa
Is relevant ?
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min.
Story: Jimmie Fails dreams of reclaiming the Victorian home his grandfather built in the heart of San Francisco. Joined on his quest by his best friend Mont, Jimmie searches for belonging in a rapidly changing city that seems to have left them behind.
Style: unusual plot structure, sincere, captivating, disturbing, psychological ...
Audience: adult
Plot: african american, friendship, male nudity, black, black lives matter, racism, blaxploitation, society, rivalry, friends, dark humor, courage ...
Time: year 2019, 2010s
Place: san francisco, california
Is relevant ?
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 7.6
 155K
I Am Sam (2001)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min.
Story: Sam has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. He has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them when they leave the hospital, leaving Sam to raise Lucy on his own. But as Lucy grows up, Sam's limitations start to become a problem and the ...
Style: inspirational, touching, emotional, tear jerker, sad ...
Audience: adult
Plot: lawyer, father daughter relationship, mentally challenged, disability, single father, social services, custody, custody battle, child custody, parents and children, parenthood, mental illness ...
Time: year 2001, 21st century
Place: california, los angeles, usa
Is relevant ?
 7.3
 43K
Palmer (2021)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story: After 12 years in prison, former high school football star Eddie Palmer returns home to put his life back together—and forms an unlikely bond with Sam, an outcast boy from a troubled home. But Eddie's past threatens to ruin his new life and ...
Style: thought provoking, touching, captivating, cult classic, dramatic ...
Audience: date night, teen drama
Plot: ex convict, little boy, lgbtq, starting over, lgbt, small town, tough guy, funeral, friendship, grandmother grandson relationship, death of grandmother, boy ...
Time: 2020s, 21st century
Is relevant ?
 8.2
 1.2M
The Truman Show (1998)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min.
Story: Truman Burbank is the star of "The Truman Show", a 24-hour-a-day "reality" TV show that broadcasts every aspect of his life -- live and in color -- without his knowledge. His entire life has been an unending soap opera for ...
Style: philosophical, thought provoking, psychological, surreal, touching ...
Audience: teens, family outing, teen drama
Plot: self discovery, simulated reality, alternate reality, freedom, video surveillance, small town, fictional reality show, hidden camera, utopia, dystopia, paranoia, god complex ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1998, future
Place: florida, persia, america, usa
Is relevant ?
 7.2
 133K
About Schmidt (2002)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min.
Story: 66-year-old Warren Schmidt is a retired insurance salesman and has no particular plans other than to drive around in the motor home his wife insisted they buy. He's not altogether bitter, but not happy either, as everything his wife does annoys ...
Style: road movie, depressing, dark comedy, sad, melancholic ...
Plot: road trip, on the road, parenthood, wedding, elderly, family life, existentialism, depression, life philosophy, great ending, workplace, philosophy ...
Time: year 2002, 2000s, 21st century
Place: nebraska, colorado, denver colorado, kansas
Is relevant ?
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 7.6
 44K
The Visitor (2007)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story: A college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.
Style: realistic, depressing, touching, independent film, philosophical ...
Plot: immigrant, professor, life, friendship, self discovery, loneliness, society, jazz, lawyer, existentialism, midlife crisis, complex characters ...
Time: year 2007
Place: new york, michigan, connecticut, senegal, syria ...
Is relevant ?
 7.6
 35K
On Golden Pond (1981)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story: For Norman and Ethel Thayer, this summer on golden pond is filled with conflict and resolution. When their daughter Chelsea arrives, the family is forced to renew the bonds of love and overcome the generational friction that has existed for years. ...
Style: inspirational, sentimental, realistic, touching, witty ...
Audience: family outing
Plot: family relations, elderly, aging, love story, family holiday, daughter, marriage, summer, alienation, couples, bittersweet, passion ...
Time: 20th century, 80s
Place: new hampshire, new england, maine
Is relevant ?
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min.
Story: After spending eight months in a mental institution, a former teacher moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife.
Style: romantic, touching, offbeat, depressing, realistic ...
Audience: chick flick, date night, teens, girls' night, adult
Plot: mental illness, bipolar disorder, love, family drama, depression, life philosophy, adaptation, supportive parent, male female friendship, father son relationship, happy ending, social misfits ...
Time: 2010s, year 2012, 21st century
Place: philadelphia, pennsylvania, usa, peru, america ...
Is relevant ?
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min.
Story: Amidst her own personality crisis, southern housewife Evelyn Couch meets Ninny, an outgoing old woman who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, two young women who experienced hardships and love in Whistle Stop, Alabama in the ...
Style: feel good, sentimental, touching, captivating, inspirational ...
Audience: chick flick, girls' night, kids, teen drama
Plot: friendship, small town, lesbian, feminism, self discovery, small town life, cannibalism, female bonding, midlife crisis, female protagonist, discrimination, lesbian love ...
Time: 1920s, 90s, year 1991, 20th century
Place: alabama, southern usa, usa, georgia, louisiana
Is relevant ?
 6.6
 22K
Causeway (2022)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
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, suspenseful, captivating, aesthetic ...
Plot: veteran, soldier, engineer, female protagonist, american soldier, mental health, brain injury, ex soldier, war trauma, lifestyle change, changing lives, psychological trauma ...
Time: 2020s
Place: new orleans, afghanistan
Is relevant ?
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
Genre: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story: Tensions rise when the trailblazing Mother of the Blues and her band gather at a Chicago recording studio in 1927. Adapted from August Wilson's play.
Style: rough, serious, uplifting, suspense, visual ...
Plot: african american, musician, blues, black, racism, black american, lgbt, jazz, black history, bigger dreams, stuttering, fired from the job ...
Time: 1920s, 2020s
Place: chicago, harlem, detroit, memphis, birmingham alabama ...
Is relevant ?
 6.7
 18K
Reality (2023)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min.
Story: On June 3, 2017, 25-year-old Reality Winner returns from running errands to find two FBI agents at her home in Augusta, Georgia. An Air Force veteran and yoga instructor, Winner spends the next two hours being questioned about her work as an ...
Style: psychological, thrilling, captivating, psychological thriller, independent film
Plot: fbi, treason, information leak, accusation, reconnaissance, secret, agent, framed for a crime, politics, problem, prospector, fbi agent ...
Time: 2010s
Place: afghanistan
Is relevant ?
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min.
Story: At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.
Style: philosophical, inspirational, sentimental, uplifting, emotional ...
Audience: teens, family friendly, kids, family outing, teen drama ...
Plot: teacher, suicide, coming of age, friendship, poetry, poet, mentor, philosophy, teachers and students, literature, youth, teenager ...
Time: 50s, 20th century, 1950s, year 1989, year 1959
Place: vermont, new england, usa, harvard university
Is relevant ?
A River Runs Through It (1992)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min.
Story: A River Runs Through is a cinematographically stunning true story of Norman Maclean. The story follows Norman and his brother Paul through the experiences of life and growing up, and how their love of fly fishing keeps them together despite varying ...
Style: touching, sentimental, intense, melancholic, atmospheric ...
Plot: fishing, coming of age, self discovery, father son relationship, beautiful scenery, brother brother relationship, childhood, river, wilderness, brothers, tragedy, secrets ...
Time: 1900s, year 1992, 1920s, 1910s, 1930s ...
Place: montana, usa
Is relevant ?
You Can Count on Me (2000)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min.
Story: A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely-seen younger brother returns to town.
Style: touching, sincere, independent film, captivating, humorous ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: workplace, adultery, small town, single mother, character study, childhood, introspection, love and romance, hopes, free spirited, parents and children, family secret ...
Time: 2000s, 20th century, 90s
Place: new york state, new york
Is relevant ?
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 7.0
 51K
Rabbit Hole (2010)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story: Life for a happy couple is turned upside down after their young son dies in an accident.
Style: touching, sad, crying, emotional, independent film ...
Plot: grief, loss of child, death in the family, marriage, estrangement, tragedy, support group, memory, redemption, family problems, death of child, death of son ...
Time: year 2010, 21st century
Place: new york, usa
Is relevant ?
 7.4
 92K
Tár (2022)
Genre: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 158 min.
Story: Renowned musician Lydia Tár is days away from recording the symphony that will elevate her career. However, Lydia's elaborate facade begins to unravel, revealing dirty secrets and the corrosive nature of power.
Style: captivating, thrilling, psychological, powerful, dorama ...
Audience: adult
Plot: orchestra, classical music, lgbt, lesbian, composer, music, musician, music conductor, orchestra conductor, female protagonist, massage parlor, infidelity ...
Time: 2020s, 21st century
Place: berlin germany, the philippines, germany, southeast asia, manhattan new york city ...
Is relevant ?
 6.8
 31K
Wildlife (2018)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story: 14-year-old Joe is the only child of Jeanette and Jerry—a housewife and a golf pro—in a small town in 1960s Montana. Nearby, an uncontrolled forest fire rages close to the Canadian border, and when Jerry loses his job—and his sense of ...
Style: melancholic, suspenseful, indie film, serious, thought provoking ...
Audience: teens
Plot: unemployment, coming of age, teenage boy, infidelity, parents and children, cheerleader, fired from the job, marital separation, family relations, family drama, father son relationship, unemployed ...
Time: 60s, 90s, year 1960
Place: montana, sarajevo, idaho, portland oregon, washington state
Is relevant ?
 7.8
 615K
The Notebook (2004)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min.
Story: An epic love story centered around an older man who reads aloud to a woman with Alzheimer's. From a faded notebook, the old man's words bring to life the story about a couple who is separated by World War II, and is then passionately ...
Style: touching, romantic, emotional, sentimental, tear jerker ...
Audience: chick flick, girls' night, date night, teens, adult
Plot: love story, love and romance, love, fall in love, true love, youth, memory loss, love of one's life, power of love, love triangle, young lovers, love affair ...
Time: 1940s, year 2004, 50s, post world war two, 20th century ...
Place: south carolina, north carolina, iran, usa, europe ...
Is relevant ?
Captain Fantastic (2016)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min.
Story: A father living in the forests of the Pacific Northwest with his six young kids tries to assimilate back into society.
Style: intellectual, philosophical, sad, cerebral, sweet ...
Audience: date night, teen drama, adult
Plot: road trip, home schooling, capitalism, family drama, survivalist, precocious child, parenthood, teenage girl, dysfunctional family, suicide, children, funeral ...
Time: 2010s, year 2016, 90s, near future, 21st century
Place: washington state, nebraska, oregon, xian
Is relevant ?
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 8.0
 785K
Dune (2021)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 155 min.
Story: A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure ...
Style: epic, suspense, captivating, tense, action adventure ...
Audience: chick flick, adult
Plot: desert, space opera, alien planet, messiah, prophecy, destiny, outer space, premonition, water shortage, politics, adaptation, survival ...
Time: future, distant future, 2020s
Place: space western
Is relevant ?
 7.7
 202K
Adaptation. (2002)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story: A love-lorn script writer grows increasingly desperate in his quest to adapt the book 'The Orchid Thief'.
Style: satirical, absurd, black comedy, mind bending, dark comedy ...
Plot: twins, filmmaking, depression, writer's block, writers, imagination, mentally unstable, loser, existentialism, obsession, siblings relations, eccentricity ...
Time: year 2002, 2000s, 21st century
Place: florida, new york, california, usa
Is relevant ?
 6.4
 26K
The Assistant (2019)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min.
Story: A searing look at a day in the life of an assistant to a powerful executive. As Jane follows her daily routine, she grows increasingly aware of the insidious abuse that threatens every aspect of her position.
Style: bleak, depressing, realistic, suspense, psychological thriller ...
Plot: job, employer employee relationship, routine, obnoxious boss, abuse, corporate world, feminist, office, women, workplace problem, patience, boss and employee ...
Time: 2010s
Place: greenwich village manhattan new york city, salt lake city utah, beverly hills, london, connecticut ...
Is relevant ?
 8.7
 1.2M
Goodfellas (1990)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 145 min.
Story: The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.
Style: rough, suspense, realistic, epic, brutal ...
Audience: boys' night, adult
Plot: organized crime, mafia, gangster, rise and fall, mobster, cosa nostra, mentor, criminal, badass, friends, italian mafia, biopic ...
Time: 70s, 50s, 90s, year 1990, year 1970 ...
Place: new york, brooklyn new york city, italy, florida, usa ...
Is relevant ?
Jesus Revolution (2023)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min.
Story: In the 1970s, aimless teenager Greg Laurie searches for all the right things in all the wrong places until he meets Lonnie Frisbee, a charismatic hippie/street preacher. Together with local pastor Chuck Smith, they open the doors of a languishing ...
Style: thrilling, realistic, psychological, captivating, historical drama ...
Plot: faith, belief in god, hippie, religious faith, religion, religious fundamentalism, religious conversion, teenager, teenage life, religious, god, christianity ...
Time: 70s, 60s, year 1969
Place: southern california
Is relevant ?
What Maisie Knew (2012)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story: Based on the Henry James novella, the story frames on 7-year-old Maisie, caught in a custody battle between her mother – a rock and roll icon – and her father. What Maisie Knew is an evocative portrayal of the chaos of adult life seen entirely ...
Style: touching, sad, talky, atmospheric, captivating ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: divorce, childhood, dysfunctional family, unsupportive parent, child, marriage, family in crisis, family problems, starting over, crumbling marriage, crumbling relationship, lawyer ...
Time: 90s, 2010s, 21st century
Place: new york, usa, manhattan new york city
Is relevant ?
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story: A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.
Style: inspirational, emotional, sentimental, uplifting, motivational ...
Audience: family outing, chick flick, teens, family friendly
Plot: homeless, life, human spirit, life philosophy, family drama, rags to riches, success, rise to the top, single father, against the odds, life is a bitch, down on your luck ...
Time: 80s, year 2006, 2010s, 20th century
Place: usa, san francisco, bay area, california, america
Is relevant ?
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