Dramas based on Books on Netflix
Last updated January 22, 2025
The Missing
2003 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsWhen Maggie Gilkeson's oldest daughter is abducted by a witch doctor turned bandit, Maggie enlists her estranged father's help to find her. But they soon discover that other girls have gone missing -- and that time's running out.
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The Last Picture Show
1971 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsThere's not much to do in the windswept Texas hamlet of Anarene, where the town's only cinema is about to close forever. So high schoolers Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges) lust after incorrigible flirt Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd) while trying to chart their uncertain futures. When Duane heads for Korea after joining the service and Jacy gets shipped off to college, Sonny is left behind in a veritable ghost town.
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Little Lord Fauntleroy
1995 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsBased on Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic novel, this inspiring story of redemption follows the good fortune of Cedric Errol (Michael Benz), who is rescued from poverty in 1870s New York City and becomes one of England's upper crust. With the help of his strict British grandfather (George Baker), Errol is eventually elevated to the title of Lord Fauntleroy, the future Earl of Dorincourt, and his life is forever changed.
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Charlie Wilson's War
2007 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsTexas congressman Charlie Wilson sets a series of earth-shaking events in motion when he conspires with a CIA operative (Philip Seymour Hoffman, in an Oscar-nominated role) to aid Afghan mujahideen rebels in their fight against the Soviet Red Army.
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Black Friday
2004 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsIn this intense docudrama based on the book by the same name by S. Hussain Zaidi, director Anurag Kashyap tracks the aftermath of a 1993 mass bombing in Bombay through the eyes of a journalist covering the story.
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Life, Above All
2010 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsIn a tiny village near Johannesburg, 12-year-old Chanda is left to care for two younger siblings when her infant sister dies and her mother becomes gravely ill. But this isn't the only challenge she faces; the town has turned against her.
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Masterpiece Classic: The Mystery of Edwin Drood
2012 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsCentering on a provincial choirmaster's fixation with a 17-year-old girl, this chilling adaptation of Charles Dickens's unfinished final novel spins a disturbing tale of obsession, addiction and the darkness that lurks in men.
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Back to 1942
2012 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsAt the height of World War II, millions of rural Chinese refugees embark on a desperate journey to escape a widespread provincial famine. Fraught with danger, their trek soon begins to erode the invisible lines separating cultures and classes.
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Welcome Aboard
2012 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsWhen a legendary painter meets a feisty teenage runaway, their lives seem destined to connect. Striking up a strong friendship and eventually living together as father and daughter, the two misfits help each other make sense of their lives.
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Masterpiece Classic: The Mystery of Edwin Drood
2012 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsCentering on a provincial choirmaster's fixation with a 17-year-old girl, this chilling adaptation of Charles Dickens's unfinished final novel spins a disturbing tale of obsession, addiction and the darkness that lurks in men.
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Midnight Cowboy
1969 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsTo earn cash as a freelance sex stud and work toward his dream of becoming a kept man, hayseed hustler Joe Buck heads to New York City, where an improbable friendship blossoms when he meets seedy con man Ratso Rizzo.
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Waiting to Exhale
1995 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsHolding their breath waiting for the elusive "good man," four female friends and confidants -- each one cheated on, mistreated and stepped on by less-than-stellar lovers -- talk it all out, determined to find a better way to breathe.
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The English Patient
1996 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsSet against the backdrop of World War II, this Oscar-winning drama stars Ralph Fiennes as a badly burned pilot who recounts a tale of doomed romance to the nurse tending him. As his story spills out via flashback, so do secrets about his identity.
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The Talented Mr. Ripley
1999 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsCharming sociopath Tom Ripley maneuvers into the lush life of Dickie, a young heir vacationing in Italy. Hired to persuade Dickie to return to America, Tom embraces Dickie's posh lifestyle and takes extreme measures to hold onto it.
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The Ice Storm
1997 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsPrep-schooler Paul Hood (Tobey Maguire) returns home for Thanksgiving weekend and finds his family about to implode. While his father (Kevin Kline) tries to douse his sorrows with booze and infidelity, Paul's mother (Joan Allen) looks for answers in self-help books. The experimentation and liberalism that defined the 1970s lead to ruin as the family's environs literally freeze over during a freak storm in this insightful drama helmed by Ang Lee.
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Morituri
1965 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsA perilous game of cat and mouse ensues when a German defector -- employed by the British -- poses as a Nazi officer to gain entry onto a freighter to disarm explosives on the vessel, which is carrying a valuable load of crude rubber.
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Less Than Zero
1987 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsWhen college freshman Clay returns home to Los Angeles from school, he finds that his former girlfriend and his best friend have established a troubled relationship fueled by a fondness for clubs, wild parties and endless amounts of cocaine.
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The Desperate Hours
1955 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsIn this classic William Wyler thriller, times get desperate indeed when three escaped convicts -- Glen, his brother Hal and Sam -- break into a home in a Midwestern suburb and take a family hostage.
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The Buccaneers
1995 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsThis top-notch adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel tells the story of sisters Nan and Virginia St. George (Carla Gugino and Alison Elliott) and their friends Lizzy Elmsworth (Rya Kihlstedt) and Conchita Closson (Mira Sorvino). Shunned as "new money" by elitist New York society, the foursome travels to London to look for husbands, where they soon find themselves courted by numerous suitors. But as old and new worlds clash, something has to give.
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A Single Man
2009 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsSet in 1962 Los Angeles, this stream-of-consciousness drama centers on a day in the life of George Falconer, a gay college professor who plans to commit suicide in the wake of his longtime lover's recent death.
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Fair Game
2010 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsAfter her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, writes op-ed columns accusing the Bush administration of misleading the public to justify invading Iraq, Valerie Plame Wilson's status as a covert CIA agent is leaked by administration officials.
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The Other Woman
2009 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsRomance becomes reality for Emilia Greenleaf (Natalie Portman), who wins the heart of the handsome object of her affection (Scott Cohen), only to find that the relationship comes with some very real baggage -- including her new beau's troubled son (Charlie Tahan). Don Roos directs the film adaptation of Ayelet Waldman's compelling novel, co-starring Lisa Kudrow, Lauren Ambrose and Elizabeth Marvel.
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The Last Station
2009 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsSet during the last year of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy's life, this biopic explores the fractious relationship between Tolstoy (Oscar nominee Christopher Plummer) and his wife (Oscar nominee Helen Mirren), as he embraces a life of asceticism. Paul Giamatti co-stars as impassioned Tolstoy devotee Vladimir Chertkov, with James McAvoy playing the aging writer's assistant, Valentin, who is caught in the middle of various struggles.
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Battle of the Warriors
2006 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsTension swirls in ancient China as the evil Zhao commander Xiang Yan-zhong (Sung-kee Ahn) sets his sights on conquering the small city-state of Liang, where the residents would be otherwise defenseless if it weren't for the valiant warrior Ge Li (Andy Lau). Jacob C.L. Cheung (Hero) directs this epic action-drama based on the popular Japanese manga, based in turn on a Japanese novel about China's Warring States Period.
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Red Riding Trilogy: Part 3: 1983
2009 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsWhen the current case of a missing 10-year-old becomes linked to the abduction and murder of Clare Kemplay in 1974, investigators torture the man who found Clare's body in an effort to learn more in this final installment of the Red Riding trilogy.
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