Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Entertainment
  3. Features

The 5 best dramas ever made

Joe Allen
By

A great dramatic movie can come in any package. What defines a drama is not as clear-cut as the definition for something like comedy or horror. Great dramas do have a few elements that unite them, though. They have great, thoroughly drawn-out characters, and they often involve situations that are grounded in some form of reality.

Great dramas also feature sharp scripts and great directing, even when that directing isn’t as flashy as some of what you might see in a great action movie. Above all else, these drama movies are dramatic without being saccharine or schmaltzy. They create real stakes and then execute them beautifully. Of course, it goes without saying that this list left plenty of great dramas out, as any list with only five entries will.

Recommended Videos

Ikiru (1952)

Ikiru
143m
Genre Drama
Stars Takashi Shimura, Haruo Tanaka, Nobuo Kaneko
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
watch on HBO Max
watch on HBO Max
Akira Kurosawa made a number of great samurai epics, but Ikiru showed that the Japanese master was also adept at quieter dramas. This movie follows a mid-level bureaucrat who discovers that he is dying, and realizes that he hasn’t made much of his life. It’s a movie that, on paper, could seem trite or basic, but Kurosawa and the cast he assembles make Ikiru an emotional, meaningful drama from the second it starts. 
Ikiru (1952) by Akira Kurosawa - Official Trailer
Related

Citizen Kane (1941)

Citizen Kane
119m
Genre Mystery, Drama
Stars Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore
Directed by Orson Welles
watch on HBO Max
watch on HBO Max
Widely regarded as one of the great movies of all time, and for good reason, Citizen Kane is really about how impossible it is to ever understand the movie. Although the driving narrative behind the film is a reporter attempting to investigate the meaning behind a media magnate’s last words, what Kane is really about is what America does to a person’s soul. Featuring an incredible script and the kind of cinematography that still feels modern today, Kane remains one of the pinnacles of the golden age of Hollywood.
Citizen Kane (1941) Official Trailer #1 - Orson Welles Movie

Casablanca (1942)

Casablanca
102m
Genre Drama, Romance
Stars Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid
Directed by Michael Curtiz
watch on HBO Max
watch on HBO Max
Perhaps the pinnacle of what we mean when we describe “Old Hollywood,” Casablanca is a World War II throwback that is still both stirring and emotional. Following an American in Morocco who is reunited with a lost love and ultimately sacrifices his happiness for the good of the Allied forces, what’s amazing about Casablanca is how small its scale is. The movie is about huge ideas of sacrifice and duty, but the story it tells is told on a few, mostly indoor sets, and it’s all the better for it. 
Casablanca (1942) Official Trailer - Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman Movie HD

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire
120m
Genre Drama, Romance
Stars Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami
Directed by Céline Sciamma
watch on Hulu
watch on Hulu

It’s only three years old, but Portrait of a Lady On Fire has more than earned its spot on this list. The movie tells the story of two women living in relative isolation as one attempts to paint the other’s portrait, the movie is about the tender love and bond that forms between them. It’s a love story and a quietly revolutionary one that creates a deep yearning in the viewer for the kind of deep, real love that this movie centers on.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire [Official Trailer] – In Theaters December 6, 2019

The Godfather Part II (1974)

The Godfather Part II
202m
Genre Drama, Crime
Stars Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
watch on Amazon
watch on Amazon

The first Godfather is great, of course, but its sequel is Francis Ford Coppola operating at the very peak of his powers. The movie’s narrative is split between Michael Corleone navigating his control of the mafia in the present and his father, Vito Corleone, arriving in America decades earlier. That split narrative builds beautiful parallels and shows us the way that American rot has always incentivized crime, especially among those who are marginalized.

The Godfather: Part II (1974) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Movie images and data from:
Joe Allen
Joe Allen
Writer
Joe Allen is a freelance writer based in upstate New York focused on movies and TV.
Why the Will Ferrell comedy Elf is still the best Christmas movie ever
Will Ferrell sits at a desk in Elf.

There's a scene in Elf where Will Ferrell's Buddy walks into a New York City coffee shop after seeing a sign in the window that reads" World's best cup of coffee." He then praises the entire staff for creating what he thinks is the best version of the popular drink. Buddy gleefully says, "You did it! Congratulations. World's best cup of coffee. Great job everybody," as the staff looks at him with blank stares. Pretend that the sign reads, "World's best Christmas movie," and I'm playing the role of Buddy in 2003, congratulating the cast and crew of Elf for creating a Christmas classic. I would have received the same confused looks from everyone in the room. Yet, time has been good to Elf, which has aged like a fine wine.

After 20 years, Elf has entered the pantheon of great Christmas movies and owns the championship belt for best of the 21st century. Released in theaters on November 7, 2003, Elf depicts the story of Buddy, a human raised by Santa's elves after being accidentally transported to the North Pole. As an adult, Buddy is an outcast due to his large stature and inability to make toys. After learning he's a human, Buddy leaves the North Pole to find his biological father, Walter Hobbs (James Caan), in New York City. Walter is a selfish businessman whose decision to prioritize work over his family puts him on the "Naughty List." Devastated, but not deterred, Buddy believes that by spending time with Walter, his Christmas spirit will rub off on his father and reshape his attitude.
Right people at the right time

Read more
This horror remake shocked audiences 5 years ago. Here’s why you should watch it this Halloween
A girl knocks at a mirror door in 2018's Suspiria.

Even for a filmmaker as celebrated as Luca Guadagnino, remaking one of the most beloved and iconic horror movies in history isn’t an easy thing to do. Nonetheless, just one year after Call Me By Your Name launched him to the top of the international cinema scene, that’s exactly what the director did. Assembling a crew of talented collaborators, including Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, modern Scream Queen Mia Goth, and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Guadagnino set out in 2016 to finally make his own interpretation of Dario Argento’s giallo horror classic, Suspiria.

The resulting film, an oppressively drab, operatic exploration of supernatural horror, looks and feels like a purposeful counter to the Argento original, rather than a straightforward remake. Guadagnino’s Suspiria eschews many of its predecessor's defining aspects — namely, its vibrant color palette, surrealist direction, and prog rock score. For these reasons, the film proved somewhat divisive, and its box office earnings left plenty to be desired. In 2018, the general consensus seemed to be that the remake was an audacious, if not entirely successful, creative experiment for Guadagnino.

Read more
Is Final Destination the best horror franchise we have right now?
Three teen sit and stare in horror in Final Destination.

Jacqueline MacInnes Wood in Final Destination 5 Warner Bros. / Warner Bros.

The Final Destination movies are like slasher flicks where the slasher is God. No one ever says God, of course. It's always Death with a capital D — as in, Death knows you didn't get on that plane that exploded, so he's going to lock you in a tanning booth or squash you with a plate of glass. But it's really a semantic distinction, isn't it? God, Death, the Grim Reaper: By any name, He has a plan for you. Cheat that plan and it's your ass. Or rather, the intestines he'll suck out of your ass with a swimming pool pump.

Read more