Please recommend some dark, dramatic movies

Cafe Society
1

I don’t get out much. I might hear some buzz during awards season, or I’ll see trailers on TV, but it’s hit or miss.

Santa brought me some good ones and I’d like more of the same. Movies like The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Gone Baby Gone, and There Will Be Blood. I loved No Country for Old Men. I don’t mind movies that are showcases for actors but I like some story along with the acting. The movies don’t have to be modern, or in color, and I’m fine with subtitles. I don’t like gratuitous sex or violence or seeing children in peril.

Any ideas?

2

Dark and dramatic, eh? Hmm…

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Laura
The Man Who Wasn’t There
The Usual Suspects
Glengarry Glen Ross

That’s all I got. No gratuitous sex or violence, no children in peril.

3

Actually, I take back the Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead recommendation. That does get pretty violent.

I’ll replace that with A Simple Plan.

4

Woo hoo! I haven’t seen any of those. Thanks, Sefton. :smiley:

I don’t mind violence – I just don’t like long, drawn out torture scenes. I liked Chinatown and Blood Simple, hated Marathon Man.

ETA: I have seen A Simple Plan. Loved it.

5

Mystic River comes to mind immediately.

6

Yep. Movies like that. Or (speaking of Sean Penn), like King’s Row, even if it was cleaned up for a 1940’s audience. (Claude Rains molested his daughter.)

Times like this are when I wish I hadn’t seen every Bette Davis movie ever made. Now there’s some dark drama.

7

And I don’t know why Sean Penn made me think of King’s Row. I confuse that movie with All the King’s Men, which is another good one.

8

American Gangster

The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

Notes On A Scandal

A History Of Violence

9

Heavenly Creatures, an early Peter Jackson movie is good. Based on the true story of two girls who have this obsessive friendship and end up killing one girl’s mother.

10

Why don’t you give In Bruges a try?

I heartily endorse it as a two-thumbs up winner and the fact that it hasn’t gotten much attention (not on this side of the pond at least) is a plus.

I don’t want to give anything away other than I think you’ll like it.

11

Road to Perdition
In Bruges (some dark comedic elements as well)
Friday Night Lights (much more than a sports movie)
The Final Cut (smart SF with good performances from both Robin Williams and Mira Sorvino)

12

Very Bad Things
Citizen Ruth
Showgirls
The Substitute
Mulberry St.

13

Given the criteria in the OP, I wouldn’t recommend In Bruges.

The film graphically portrays Colin Farrell accidentally shooting a six year old boy in the head.

although personally I loved the movie.

I’d recommend:

The Kremlin Letter
To Live and Die in L.A.
Sharky’s Machine
Sleuth (The original, not the remake)
and what the hell, I’ll go ahead and recommend The Quiet Earth, if you’re into sci-fi.

On edit:

Can’t forget two of my favorites no one else I know seems to have heard of:

Sorcerer, based on the equally excellent The Wages of Fear.

14

try a double feature of
Night, Mother with Sissy Spacek, and
Mother Night with Nick Nolte

15

Oh, and On the Beach.

And if you’re not into boycotting Tom Cruise, Collateral is a fine movie.

16

Yes, there is that, but if I recall correctly, it’s a flashback scene and a fait accompli; there’s no “in peril” element - meaning the scene, while traumatic, is not drawn out for effect. The film does have a couple of fairly violent scenes, though I wouldn’t say gratuitous ones. AunitePam, you can read Linty Fresh’s spoiler and decide for yourself - it does give away a plot point, but I don’t think it would hinder your enjoyment if you decided to see it anyway.

ETA: And I’ll second both The Quiet Earth and Collateral.

17

This is encouraging. I’ve seen some of these movies and they’re just what I was looking for. Which means the recs for the ones I haven’t seen should work.

But Showgirls? Really? There’s a story there? (I haven’t seen it.)

Loved On the Beach, Collateral, Road to Perdition, The Wages of Fear, Heavenly Creatures, American Gangster, and A History of Violence. The Jesse James novel is a favorite and the movie’s on my wish list. I haven’t seen the others and I’ll have to wait for the DVD of In Bruges (theaters around here only play blockbusters).

But now I have a list to work from, and a few of these movies are probably on TV somewhere. Excellent!

18

Syriana, from a couple of years back. Dark, and very smart.
Roddy

19

It has been nominated for some Golden Globes:

The Chicago Film Critics Association nominated it for Best Screenplay, Original (Martin McDonagh) and Most Promising Filmmaker (Martin McDonagh), and it was nominated for a couple of Satellite Awards, Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical and Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical (Brendan Gleeson). Awards season has just started so it could get even more attention.

I highly recommend it too. Don’t let those “Comedy or Musical” categories fool you, it’s funny, but it’s also pretty damned dark and psychological. It’s on my list of favorite films of the year. I saw it first at a free screening with the writer/director in attendance, and liked it so much I paid to see it again twice more. It’d make an awesome double feature with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, so check that one out too.

I would also highly recommend The Fall, which just came out on DVD. I’m way biased, because it was my favorite film of 2008 and I obsessed on it something fierce (saw it 9 times in the theater). I realize it got some pretty bad reviews (fie!) but if you’re in the right mood it can grab you and not let go.

AuntiePam, I heart you for liking There Will Be Blood. That was my favorite movie of 2007, and I saw it many many times in the theater too.

Have you seen the thoroughly wonderful Charlie Wilson’s War?

20

How about Double Indemnity?