The beauty of Netflix is that the streaming service has a wealth of genre options at your disposal. If you want to get your action fix on, you are free to do so. If you’re in the mood for a comedy, thriller, or straight-up horror movie, they’ve got those as well. But sometimes it’s hard to beat a genuinely great drama, and boy does Netflix have a wealth of options in this particular genre. To help whittle down your choices, we’ve gone ahead and curated a list of the very best dramas on Netflix right now, which run the gamut from period pieces to relationship dramas to little-seen gems. There are movies from big, well-known filmmakers on this list, and there are also films from up-and-comers that are absolutely worth checking out.
So peruse through our list of the best drama movies on Netflix below, and get to watchin’. But beware; some of these may require a tissue or seven.
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Director: Robert Schwentke
Writer: Bruce Joel Rubin
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Eric Bana, Arliss Howard, and Ron Livingston
If you’re in the mood for a romantic drama that’s guaranteed to make you cry, check out The Time Traveler’s Wife. Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Audrey Niffenegger, the story revolves around a man who, without warning and without control, time travels throughout his life. The film is told from the point of view of the man’s wife and love of his life, who must deal with him randomly disappearing and reappearing, or appearing in different forms. The sci-fi of the film is incredibly grounded, as the emotions at its center are really where the movie’s focus is. Bring some tissues. – Adam Chitwood
Dances with Wolves
Director: Kevin Costner
Writer: Michael Blake
Cast: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, and Rodney Grant
If it’s an epic drama you’re in the mood for – the likes of which Hollywood doesn’t really make anymore – Dances with Wolves is worth checking out. The 1990 film won seven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director for Kevin Costner, who also stars as a Union Army Lieutenant who stumbles across a Sioux tribe while searching for an outpost. At three hours long this is truly a dramatic epic, and a patient one at that. But if you can hang with it, this is a sprawling human drama worth checking out. – Adam Chitwood
Seabiscuit
Director/Writer: Gary Ross
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Gary Stevens, and William H. Macy
The 2003 drama Seabiscuit is the perfect choice if you’re looking for an inspirational Oscar drama. The film racked up seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and still holds up as an inspiring true story drama about an undersized horse who defeated the odds to become a success. The story takes place in the early 20th century, and Tobey Magurie plays the unlikely jockey who leads Seabiscuit to success. As with most Oscar dramas of this sort, this one’s a bit of a tear-jerker. – Adam Chitwood
The Master
Director/Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Laura Dern, and Rami Malek
Filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson is a bit of a master when it comes to crafting dramas, but his films are oftentimes more challenging than your average Oscar bait. His 2012 film The Master may be the most obtuse of the bunch, but over its nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime the film is constantly engrossing and downright vexing. Loosely inspired by the story of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, the movie is a two-headed monster of sorts: Joaquin Phoenix plays an instinct-driven, alcoholic, and PTSD-riddled WWII veteran who comes into contact with the charismatic Lancaster Dodd (a brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman), who is leading a nascent philosophical movement called “The Cause.” The film largely revolves around the push and pull between these two men as PTA conjures a fascinating chronicle of human behavior and relationships. You get out of The Master what you put into it, so go in with an open mind, and be prepared to ponder the ending of this one for quite some time. – Adam Chitwood
Rush
Director: Ron Howard
Writer: Peter Morgan
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara, and Pierfrancesco Favino
Once upon a time, the creator of The Crown teamed up with legendary director Ron Howard and two Marvel stars to make an exciting, racing drama – and nobody saw it. 2013’s Rush is a criminally underrated film, and it features one of Chris Hemsworth’s best dramatic performances as daring Formula One driver James Hunt. The film chronicles Hunt’s rivalry with Austrian driver Nikki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl), with each actor getting pretty even screentime as Howard crafts a story of two very different men who were driven to be the best at what they do. The 1970s aesthetic is tangibly conjured by cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, and the racing scenes are wildly exciting. – Adam Chitwood
Rain Man
Director: Barry Levinson
Writers: Barry Levinson and Donald Bass
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, and Valeria Golino
Rain Man was the film that was supposed to finally land Tom Cruise his Oscar, but in the end he didn’t even get nominated. The film itself was a success—it notably won Best Picture, Director, and Best Supporting Actor for Dustin Hoffman—but in hindsight while Hoffman’s role is more showy, what Cruise is doing here is wildly impressive. The film tackles 80s yuppie selfishness in a unique way, as Cruise plays an entitled and abusive younger brother who discovers that his estranged father has died and left everything to his older, mentally challenged brother (Hoffman). Cruise’s character breaks Hoffman out of a health facility and sets about using him to gain the money, but throughout their eventful road trip he comes to love and care for his brother. This is a road movie to be sure, but it’s anchored by a complicated story tackling complicated emotions. – Adam Chitwood
The Squid and the Whale
Director/Writer: Noah Baumbach
Cast: Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, and Anna Paquin
The film that really solidified Noah Baumbach as an indie filmmaker to watch was his semi-autobiographical 2005 film The Squid and the Whale. Set in 1986, it tells the story of two young boys struggling through their parents’ divorce, with Jesse Eisenberg playing a stand-in for Baumbach himself. The filmmaker’s dry wit is on full display here, as well as his knack for melancholy. It’s a textured, emotionally raw film that really epitomizes the “indie drama” if that’s what you’re in the mood for. – Adam Chitwood
The Departed
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: William Nicholson
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Vera Farmiga, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Anthony Anderson, Alec Baldwin, and James Badge Dale
Filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s 2006 crime drama The Departed is the film that finally won him the Best Director Oscar, but he was simply trying to have a good time. After serious epics like The Aviator and Gangs of New York, Scorsese admitted he opted to make a commercial film, choosing to remake the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs with an all-star cast. The result is a tremendously entertaining crime drama packed with stellar performances, and led by one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s best turns ever. The film not only won the Oscar for Best Director, but also Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. – Adam Chitwood
Mank
Director: David Fincher
Writer: Jack Fincher
Cast: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Arliss Howard, Tom Pelphrey, Tuppence Middleton, Charles Dance, and Tom Burke
Acclaimed filmmaker David Fincher’s first Netflix movie is catnip for cinephiles, as it charts the true-history behind the inspiration and writing of the screenplay for Citizen Kane. Mank follows Hollywood screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) through his trials and tribulations as a charming and in-demand script doctor, but also a few years later as he develops and writes the first draft of what would become Citizen Kane. Mank chronicles the true-life inspirations for the characters and story of Kane, with Oldman delivering a towering performance as a beleaguered man who sees a shot at greatness and takes it. The execution is tremendous, as Fincher crafts a lush black-and-white feature that’s made to look (and sound) like it was released in 1941. Amanda Seyfried shines as actress Marion Davies and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross deliver a lush throwback score that underlines the entire affair. – Adam Chitwood
The Florida Project
Director: Sean Baker
Writers: Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch
Cast: Brooklynn Prince, Bria Vinaite, Willem Dafoe, and Caleb Landry Jones
The Florida Project is brilliant and human and it will absolutely break your heart. The film follows a six-year-old girl named Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) who lives in a motel in Kissimmee, Florida, just around the corner from DisneyWorld. In Moonee’s eyes, her days are filled with adventure as she makes the best out of living week-to-week in a motel with her single mother. But through the eyes of Bobby (Willem Dafoe), the motel’s manager, we see the abject poverty surrounding its tenants, and the loops they continue getting stuck in without any promise of upward mobility. Like Boyhood this story feels at once individualistic and universal, and Sean Baker’s docudrama-like filmmaking makes the events feel all too real. This is an essential watch. – Adam Chitwood
Wildlife
Director: Paul Dano
Writers: Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ed Oxenbould, and Bill Camp
The 2018 directorial debut of actor Paul Dano is a handsomely crafted and emotionally overwhelming chronicle of a marriage falling apart, all seen through the eyes of the couple’s young boy. Based on the book of the same name by Richard Ford, Wildlife takes place in 1960 and follows a couple (Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal) and their teenage son as they move to Montana. Shortly after arriving, the father loses his job and is forced to take the only work he can – going off and fighting wildfires, leaving his wife and son behind to fend for themselves. Mulligan gives a quietly devastating performance as a single mother doing her best, and Gyllenhaal brings a seething intensity to the role of a man trying to hide his shame. Dano directs the whole thing with the care and confidence of a veteran auteur (his handle on shot composition is truly stunning), and the screenplay by Dano and Kazan is assured and poetic. This is a deeply emotional and mature family drama that proves Dano is the real-deal behind the camera, and it’s also lowkey one of the best films of the last few years. – Adam Chitwood
Da 5 Bloods
Director: Spike Lee
Writers: Spike Lee, Kevin Wilmott, Danny Bilson, and Paul De Meo
Cast: Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Norm Lewis, Jonathan Majors, and Chadwick Boseman
For his follow-up film after winning the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for BlacKkKlansman, legendary filmmaker Spike Lee decided to tackle the Vietnam War with Da 5 Bloods. The story is fairly straightforward, but the film is anything but. It follows four Vietnam War veterans who travel back to Vietnam to find the remains of their fallen squad leader—as well as a pile of gold they left behind. But they soon find that the wounds they carry run deep, and Lee uses the film to examine issues of family, race, and American Exceptionalism in striking, graphic ways. It’s absolutely thrilling and Delroy Lindo gives a genuinely Oscar-worthy lead performance. – Adam Chitwood
Private Life
Director/Writer: Tamara Jenkins
Cast: Kathryn Hahn, Paul Giamatti, Kayli Carter, Molly Shannon, John Carroll Lynch, Desmin Borges, and Denis O’Hare
Tamara Jenkins’ new movie, Private Life, is a deft balancing act that plunges viewers into the frustration, anxiety, and hardship of a couple struggling to conceive, and yet it never loses sight of the humanity and even moments of odd comedy in their struggle. Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti play Rachel and Richard Biegler, a couple in their late 40s who are desperately trying to get pregnant, but despite putting themselves through the fertility grinder, are no closer to having a child. When they learn that their only chance is an egg donor, they decide they want it to be someone they know, and land upon their wayward niece (not blood-related) Sadie (Kayli Carter), a well-meaning if slightly flighty young woman in her mid-20s to be their donor. When she agrees, it ends up creating new, unforeseen complications, but never anything so outlandish that it breaks the movie’s powerful credibility.
Private Life is remarkable for a multitude of reasons, but it demands to be seen for Hahn’s remarkable performance. She has to play so many different levels and yet it’s not simply a case of “most acting” but fine-tuning her outrage and her heartache based on the scene. Sometimes she gets to lash out, but other times she has to bury her pain so that it doesn’t make other people uncomfortable. It’s easily one of the best performances of 2018. – Matt Goldberg
There Will Be Blood
Director/Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J. Connor
Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the best filmmakers in history and Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the best actors in history, and the duo’s first ever collaboration resulted in one of the best films ever made. There Will Be Blood is a drama set at the turn of the 20th century that follows a ruthless oilman named Daniel Plainview, played by Day-Lewis in an Oscar-winning performance. The film chronicles Daniel’s unending thirst for power at the sake of everything—including his young son H.W. and a neighborly preacher played by Paul Dano. This is a thematically rich, deep character-driven drama so you kind of have to be in the right mood for it. But if you are, then you’re in for a treat. – Adam Chitwood
Marriage Story
Director/Writer: Noah Baumbach
Cast: Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Laura Dern, Alan Alda, and Ray Liotta
You should prepare yourself for some emotional heavy lifting, but Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story is far from a grind. Instead, it’s a mature, bittersweet, and powerful look at the end of marriage from both sides. Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) and Charlie (Adam Driver) were not only married, but also worked together in an acting company where she starred and he directed, but their differing priorities have split them apart. With reconciliation impossible, they try to navigate the minefield of divorce only to slip into outright hostility in the custody battle over their son. Anchored by excellent performances from the entire cast, Marriage Story may put you through the ringer, but you’ll feel grateful for the experience and the time spent with these characters. – Matt Goldberg
The Social Network
Director: David Fincher
Writer: Aaron Sorkin
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella, Rooney Mara, and Rashida Jones
The Social Network is a masterpiece. It also happens to be one of the most rewatchable movies ever made. Rarely has a director and screenwriter pairing been so better matched, with David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin elevating each other’s best instincts and dampening each other’s worst. This cool, incisive drama is far more than a “Facebook” movie, as it uses the dramatic “origin story” of Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg to tell a much larger story about what happens when the people running the world’s largest companies are barely out of college. There’s an almost mythic quality to the rise and fall of Zuckerberg here—the “was it worth it in the end?” philosophical questions. But this movie also just absolutely slaps/rules/slays so hard. The Oscar-winning score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is an all-timer, the performances are phenomenal, the script is perfect, and the direction is absolutely masterful. Watch this movie! – Adam Chitwood
The Irishman
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Steven Zaillian
Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci
Don’t be daunted by the 3.5-hour runtime on The Irishman. Martin Scorsese’s epic about the life of Teamster and hitman Frank Sheeran flies by as it morphs from entertaining mob story to a powerful mediation on life, age, and regret. Sheeran (Robert De Niro) tells us his life story of being friends with mobster Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) and how these friendships converged into deadly consequences with Frank stuck in the middle. The movie discards the glamour of films like Goodfellas and Casino and instead focuses on the slow decay of a man who has always seen himself as a good soldier when really all he has to offer is violence and selfishness. Far from “just another mob movie” from Scorsese, The Irishman is a powerful look at your twilight years and reflecting on the choices you’ve made in life. It’s among Scorsese’s best. – Matt Goldberg
High Flying Bird
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: Tarell Alvin McCraney
Cast: Andre Holland, Zazie Beets, Melvin Gregg, Sonja Sohn, Zachary Quinto, Kyle MacLachlan, and Bill Duke
What do you get when you combine Oscar-winning Moonlight co-writer Tarell Alvin McCraney with genius filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and an A-list cast? A must-see movie. High Flying Bird is a thrilling, delightful drama set in the world of sports that takes place over the course of one 48-hour period as a sports agent (Holland) attempts to find a way to end a basketball lockout that has himself (and many players) hurting for cash. Soderbergh—whose talents range from the glitz and glam of Ocean’s Eleven to the challenging drug trafficking ensemble Traffic—shot the entire movie on an iPhone, which adds another layer of urgency and intimacy to the proceedings. It’s mostly scenes of people talking in rooms, but the writing and performances are so good you’ll be glued to your screen for the entire runtime—which is a brisk 90 minutes. If you’re in the mood for something exciting, cerebral, and refreshing, give this one a go. – Adam Chitwood
Steve Jobs
Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: Aaron Sorkin
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Katherine Waterston
Odds are you may have actually missed the opportunity to see Steve Jobs given Universal’s reactionary pulling of the film from theaters after a bungled wide release, and if you did, boy are you missing out. Don’t let the ubiquity of its subject fool you—this is a masterful twist on the biopic genre from Aaron Sorkin with deft work from Danny Boyle and downright phenomenal performances from the entire cast. You’ve never seen anything like Steve Jobs before, which plays out in three acts set just before the launch of three major Apple products, as the titular visionary struggles to wield control over a life that appears to be crumbling at every turn. Sorkin doesn’t shy away from the prickliness of Jobs’ personality, and the script downright sings with bombastic dialogue and explosive confrontations. This is an underrated gem in every sense of the word. – Adam Chitwood
