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.
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"The Shawshank Redemption"
Director: Frank Darabont
Writers: Stephen King (Short Story), Frank Darabont
Cast: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Clancy Brown, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Gil Bellows, Mark Rolston, James Whitmore, Jeffrey DeMunn
Along with The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption is a no-brainer when it comes to must-watch dramas. After nearly 25 years, this adaptation of a surprisingly non-supernatural King short story remains on the list of critics’ best movies ever made, despite the fact that it didn’t manage to take home any wins for its 7 Oscar nominations. In the years since, The Shawshank Redemption always seems to be playing somewhere on cable TV, but if it’s been a while since you’ve seen it uninterrupted, luckily Netflix makes that a viable option.
Centering on Andy Dufresne, a man imprisoned in the title prison, The Shawshank Redemption follows his relationships with both the friends and the enemies he makes while on the inside. The TV versions may have left out some of the tougher thematic material over the years, so it’s worth reminding you that this film was rated R for a reason. That being said, it remains one of the most hopeful, optimistic, and celebrated movies ever made, so anytime is a good time for Shawshank. –Dave Trumbore
"Fruitvale Station"
Director: Ryan Coogler
Writer: Ryan Coogler
Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Durand, Chad Michael Murray
There’s a good chance you’ve heard of both Coogler and Jordan from the smash hit Black Panther, or possibly from their previous success, Creed, but to see where it all started for the cinematic pair, you’ll want to check out Fruitvale Station. Not only does it serve as the foundation of what’s sure to be a long and storied career for Coogler, it marked Jordan’s best performance in a feature film after excellent turns in The Wire and Friday Night Lights. It’s also a sufficiently woke film for contemporary times, despite the fact that it came out 5 years ago and deals with a real-world tragedy that transpired 5 years before that.
Jordan stars as Oscar Grant III, a young man living in the Bay Area who takes it upon himself to live a better life starting on New Year’s Eve. But Grant finds that change doesn’t come overnight. As the New Year approaches, he finds himself in situations that test his newfound resolutions, though it’s ultimately a run-in with a police officer at the Fruitvale BART Station that will change his life, and that of millions of people he’d never met. Fruitvale Station is a tough story, but not an isolated one, making it necessary watching. – Dave Trumbore
"Gangs of New York"
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writers: Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson, John C. Reilly, Jim Broadbent, and Henry Thomas
Gangs of New York is a true dramatic epic, through and through. Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese had wanted to bring this story to the screen for decades and finally realized his vision in 2002, chronicling life in the Five Points of Manhattan in 1846, when the neighborhood was filled with gangs, racism, and political corruption as the Civil War raged on. This is a movie that tries to tackle a lotat once, and while it doesn’t succeed in every regard, it works more often than it doesn’t. Daniel Day-Lewis delivers one of the best performances of his career as the villainous Bill the Butcher, while the movie marked the beginning of a fruitful relationship between Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio. – Adam Chitwood
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