Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like The Drama:
A History of Violence
Leave it to David Cronenberg to deconstruct the mythical American hero with odd wit and clinical detail. A History of Violence looks like a small-town melodrama on the surface, then peels back skin to expose identity, impulse, and the stories we tell to survive. Viggo Mortensen gives one of his sharpest performances as Tom Stall, a soft-spoken diner owner whose quick, efficient dispatching of two spree killers turns him into a local legend and blows up the quiet life he has built with Edie, played with fierce tenderness by Maria Bello.
You Hurt My Feelings
You Hurt My Feelings is a movie tearing apart the artistic complex. A film that questions whether professionals can have their lives figured out in the twenties or thirties. It’s honest and personal, as if Nicole Holofcener is using Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a stand in for directors and creatives everywhere.
Saltburn
Emerald Fennell‘s sophomore movie, Saltburn, emerges from the rubble of her polarizing debut, Promising Young Woman, with a cast that elevates the material despite its endlessly convoluted and plainly put narrative. This comedy-drama-thriller hybrid film weaves a perplexing tale of obsession, deception, and tragedy within the confines of the aristocratic Catton family’s titular estate.
Together
Together takes a clever premise about romantic codependence and pushes it into body horror, pairing real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as partners who cannot let go even when their bodies tell them otherwise. Tim (Franco) leans hard on Millie (Brie) for everything from money to basic life skills, and their move from the city to the countryside exposes every fault line. He is an underemployed musician. She is an elementary school teacher trying to prove herself in a new job. The stress and isolation sharpen Tim’s anxieties and bring on disorienting visions of his mother and his father’s decaying corpse, which plants the film’s queasy tone long before the grotesque turn.
Midsommar
Midsommar is one of the more daring movies of the last 20 years. Ari Aster’s sophomore film is a follow up to his audacious breakout horror hit Hereditary, which features similar, gory visual motifs to Midsommar. Florence Pugh stars in a movie that’s equal parts sadistic and hectic, upsetting and unnerving. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it grows in my estimation upon each rewatch (for which there have been many).
Men
Now nearly two years removed from its initial release date, Alex Garland’s Men for A24 feels underrated. A body horror home invasion movie featuring one of Hollywood’s best actresses in Jessie Buckley, the film is a shift in tone and themes from Garland’s previous works, transitioning from stories involving anxiety we have about the advancement of technology, to the societal and gender issues that plague our society.
Fresh
Fresh is a pointed vision from a filmmaker I’m excited to see grow and develop after a few projects. I wasn’t expecting this to blow me away, but I was hoping for some neat tricks and thrilling fun, and it delivers that. Combined with its great performances, Fresh is a fun Friday night flick. It doesn’t push the boundaries of the genre, but it does fit itself nice and snug within one.
Babygirl
25 years after co-starring in Eyes Wide Shut, Nicole Kidman revisits similar thematic territory in Halina Reijn’s Babygirl, another holiday-set exploration of lust, power, and dissatisfaction. In Babygirl, she plays Romy, a high-powered tech CEO whose meticulously crafted life seems perfect on the surface. With a doting husband, Jacob (Antonio Banderas), two well-adjusted children, and a dreamlike home, Romy appears to have it all. Yet, beneath this pristine façade, she is deeply unfulfilled, yearning for something—or someone—to awaken her buried fantasies.
Love Lies Bleeding
There’s really nothing like Love Lies Bleeding. I don’t necessarily subscribe to the blanket notion that they don’t make movies like they used to anymore – but I will say, Hollywood hasn’t consistently made films as erotic and thrilling like this since the 1980s and 90s. Rose Glass directs the dynamic duo of Katy O’Brian and Kristen Stewart.
Fingernails
Fingernails, directed by Christos Nikou, stands as another strong addition to Apple TV+’s repertoire, blending elements of romance, drama, and comedy against the backdrop of a futuristic society grappling with the complexities of love. Starring Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, and Jeremy Allen White, the movie explores the fragility of relationships in a world where a single fingernail can determine the strength of a couple’s love.
READ MORE: The Drama (2026), Movies Like Babygirl, Movies Like A History of Violence
