Are you looking for the best dramas to stream on Netflix right now? The service has no shortage of excellent, emotionally driven films, from true classics like There Will Be Blood to award-winning Netflix Originals like Mank — and the catalogue continues to grow, with the latest addition being Paul Thomas Anderson's acclaimed 1997 drama Boogie Nights.
So let's take a look at the best dramas currently streaming on Netflix, including many of the top films from 2020, 2019, and beyond. Our newest additions are listed at the top and marked with an asterisk.
And when you're done here, be sure to also check out what's new to Netflix in August.
Or follow these links for the best of other genres:
- Best sci fi movies on Netflix
- Best comedy movies on Netflix
- Best horror movies on Netflix
- Best action movies on Netflix
- Best horror TV shows on Netflix
- Best anime series on Netflix
- Best superhero movies and TV shows on Netflix
- Best Netflix original movies
Please note: This list pertains to U.S. Netflix subscribers. Some titles may not currently be available on international platforms. This article is frequently amended to remove films no longer on Netflix, and to include more drama films that are now available on the service.
Boogie Nights (1997)*
Paul Thomas Anderson's second film (and the first of two to make this list), Boogie Nights is capable of constantly holding your attention as it oscillates between drama and comedy, with moments that range from downright depressing to laugh-out-loud funny. It's a movie about the adult film industry in the late '70s — complete with the sex, drugs, and disco you'd expect — but it's also an empathetic story of the people involved, portrayed excellently by an all-star cast that includes Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, and Julianne Moore.
Mank (2020)
David Fincher's latest led this year's Academy Award nominations with 10 nods (though it ended up taking home only two Oscars), and for good reason. Bolstered by excellent performances from Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried, Fincher's crisply shot black-and-white take on 1930s Hollywood is a cinephile's delight — an insightful, witty exploration of Hollywood politics and filmmaking through the dramatized lens of Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz.
Fincher's next film, The Killer, will also be released on Netflix. Based on the French graphic novel of the same name, The Killer is a noir thriller starring Michael Fassbender (X-Men: Dark Phoenix).
Nightcrawler (2014)
Jake Gyllenhaal gives a career-best performance in this moody neo-noir about an aspiring newsman willing to stoop to any level to get the footage he needs. Nightcrawler simultaneously leaves the viewer feeling repulsed and enthralled by Lou Bloom's seedy world of crime journalism, and that's thanks both to the steady direction of Tony Gilroy and Gyllenhaal's deranged performance.
One of Gyllenhaal's next projects is The Division, a movie based on the Ubisoft video game franchise of the same name.
Uncut Gems (2019)
While we can't exactly recommend most of Adam Sandler's Netflix-exclusive comedies to date, Uncut Gems is a welcome reminder that Sandler is a truly excellent actor when paired with the right material. Uncut Gems teams Sandler with the Safdie Brothers as he plays a New York jeweler with a destructive gambling addiction and a bad habit of trusting the wrong people. That strong combination is as stylish as it is emotionally affecting.
The Safdie Brothers will turn to TV for their next project, a Showtime comedy series called The Curse. Benny Safdie will star alongside Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
Aaron Sorkin has long been known for his wordy yet dynamic approach to screenwriting, but only recently has he made the jump to directing as well. With The Trial of the Chicago 7, Sorkin proves he can be just as effective behind the camera as at the typewriter. This Netflix-exclusive film dramatizes the events surrounding the infamous 1969-1970 court case, with a terrific ensemble cast that includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen and Mark Rylance. All of this makes for an engrossing look at a pivotal point in American legal history.
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Daniel Day-Lewis has quite a knack for playing ambitious, obsessive egomaniacs who destroy everything and everyone around them in pursuit of perfection. There Will Be Blood may just be his crowning achievement in that regard. Directed by the always incredible Paul Thomas Anderson, this period piece casts Day-Lewis as an oil tycoon struggling to build his fortune during the oil boom of the early 20th century. Spoiler alert - wealth is not a pathway to happiness.
The Irishman (2019)
The Irishman is classic Martin Scorsese, as the legendary director reunites with frequent collaborators Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci (along with Scorsese newcomer Al Pacino) for an epic saga of crime, betrayal and loss. In this case, De Niro stars as hitman Frank Sheeran and Pacino plays infamous teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa. The film's liberal use of de-aging tech is impressive, but what really makes The Irishman resonate is the way it plays like a moving end cap to Scorsese and De Niro's long, fruitful partnership.
Scorsese and De Niro will team up once again, along with Leonardo DiCaprio, for Killers of the Flower Moon.
Marriage Story (2019)
Netflix ended 2019 with one of its best original dramas yet. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson both deliver tour de force performances in this heartfelt look at a husband and wife grappling with a long-distance divorce. Thanks to director Noah Baumbach's steadying hand, Marriage Story avoids being an emotionally manipulative tear-jerker, but rather an earnest drama that finds both humor and heartache in the midst of a collapsing relationship.
Laura Dern won 2020's Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Marriage Story.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)
Breaking Bad was already one of the best reasons to subscribe to Netflix, with both the AMC series and its prequel, Better Call Saul, among the best TV dramas on the service. And now Netflix has become the exclusive home to El Camino, an epilogue movie that reveals the fate of Aaron Paul's perpetually unlucky Jesse Pinkman. It's a worthy companion to one of the best TV shows of all time.
The world of Breaking Bad is still being explored in the spinoff series Better Call Saul. The sixth and final season is expected to air in early 2022.
Roma (2018)
Alfonso Cuaron's new drama Roma may be the most acclaimed Netflix Original movie so far. It's the spectacularly photographed tale of Cleo (newcomer Yalitza Aparicio), a young housekeeper in Mexico who works for a middle-class family and becomes pregnant at a tumultuous political time. Roma's story may be straightforward but Cuaron amplifies every major plot point with an overtness and eccentricity that rivals Fellini.
Cuaron, whose other films include Gravity and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, signed an exclusive deal with Apple in 2019 to develop TV series.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2019)
The latest film from The Coen Brothers is a Netflix exclusive, and it's one of their finest motion pictures. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is an anthology film, consisting of weird tales from the wild, unpredictable west. It's perversely funny, especially in the film's opening segment (featuring Tim Blake Nelson as a monstrous hero), but eventually Buster Scruggs settles into a melancholy, serious take on the Western tradition, telling one great story after another about the tragic inevitability and absurdity of death in its many forms.
Joel Coen's next project is The Tragedy of Macbeth, a black-and-white film based on the Shakespearean play of the same name. The film stars Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand.
The Other Side of the Wind (2018)
Few filmmakers had worse luck than Orson Welles, who spent decades struggling to get films made, only to often have the finished product mangled by studios, or to get screwed out of ever finishing them. One of his most notorious projects is The Other Side of the Wind, which starred acclaimed filmmakers John Huston and Peter Bogdanovich as two acclaimed filmmakers. The film completed principle photography in 1976 and it wasn't finished until... this year. Netflix is releasing it for the very first time, and it's an astounding motion picture, capturing all the rage and pomposity of a filmmaker just like Welles, desperately trying to make something meaningful but getting wrapped up instead in backstage frustrations like budget crises, balking producers, ego clashes, and merciless manipulations.
Mudbound (2017)
Dee Rees directs this rich and nuanced adaptation of Hillary Jordan's novel, about a white family and a black family farming the same land, whose lives are vastly different only because of the color of their skin. Mudbound features impressive performances and gorgeous, earthy cinematography, and comes to depressing but vital conclusions about the impact racism has on people who have literally nothing else to prop up their egos.
How We Choose the Best Dramas on Netflix
While its content lineup is ever-changing, Netflix has always been a great source of film dramas. The goal is to spotlight a wide array of what's available, including Oscar-winning classics like There Will Be Blood and key picks from the service's growing lineup of original dramas like Mank and The Irishman. We've tried to represent many sub-genres here, from noirs to crime thrillers to historical dramas. The goal is to ensure there's something for film buffs of all tastes.
Upcoming Dramas on Netflix
August is a pretty good month for new dramas on Netflix, and luckily all of the big additions are already available to stream. Among those new dramas is Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.
Also streaming as of August 1 is the Tom Cruise-led Magnolia, a great coming-of-age drama in The Edge of Seventeen, Clint Eastwood's Space Cowboys, and Seabiscuit.
