Independent Dramas on Netflix
Last updated April 29, 2025
It's Kind of a Funny Story
2010 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsBeing a teenager is too much for 16-year-old Craig, who shocks his parents by checking himself into a mental health clinic for a little R & R. But when the youth ward is unexpectedly closed, he's forced to live among the adult patients.
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Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail
2008 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsWhen a routine speeding incident turns into a full-blown highway "situation," Madea (Tyler Perry) mouths off to a cop and lands herself in jail, where she's suddenly trapped behind bars with more motherly instinct than she knows what to do with. But Madea's nurturing side comes in handy when she crosses paths with a recovering drug addict turned prostitute (Keisha Knight Pulliam) who needs all the love she can get.
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The Sessions
2012 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsAfter spending years in an iron lung, a man decides he wants to explore his sexuality for the first time, and hires a surrogate to aid the goal. Through their intensifying relationship, this indie drama illustrates the many forms love can take.
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Christopher and His Kind
2011 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsThis intimate adaptation of acclaimed novelist Christopher Isherwood's memoir conjures the young explorer's 1931 arrival, with poet W.H. Auden, on Berlin's decadent cabaret scene, along with the hearts he gained and lost in that anything-goes era.
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The Station Agent
2003 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsWhen his only friend dies, a man with dwarfism relocates to an abandoned train station in rural New Jersey, intent on living the life of a hermit. But his solitude is interrupted by his colorful neighbors.
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Troubled Water
2008 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsAfter serving time for killing a child, Jan Thomas -- still haunted by the crime he insists he didn't commit -- takes a job as a church organist and tries to make a fresh start. But his new life is threatened when one of the faithful recognizes Jan.
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Floating City
2012 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsAbandoned in 1940s Hong Kong, an ostracized blue-eyed Asian boy works his way up from lowly laborer to an esteemed engineer and eventually marries a beautiful wife. Yet he remains haunted by his painful past.
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Miller's Crossing
1990 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsTrusted adviser to 1920s Irish crime boss Lee O'Bannon, Tom Reagan's loyalty is tested when he takes up with O'Bannon's gal pal, Verna Bernbaum. Meanwhile, rivals Johnny Caspar and Eddie Dane threaten O'Bannon's racket. Gabriel Byrne, John Turturro, Albert Finney, Steve Buscemi, Jon Polito, J.E. Freeman and Marcia Gay Harden star in this marvelously crafted, unnerving crime-era epic helmed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen.
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Layer Cake
2004 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsA seasoned British drug dealer (Daniel Craig) longs to ditch his illegal trade. But he can't do that without wrapping up just one more job involving the drug-addicted daughter of an influential criminal and a gargantuan stash of purloined ecstasy. The cache's original owners are after him as well, leaving him with no other choice but to run for his life. Matthew Vaughn directs this intricate drama, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival.
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Jeff, Who Lives at Home
2011 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsSiblings Jay and Mark Duplass direct this comedy focusing on two brothers -- one a moderate success, the other still living with Mom. A trip to the store for glue, however, turns into an encounter with destiny for the stay-at-home slacker.
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Bernie
2011 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsIn this black comedy inspired by a true story, affable Texas mortician Bernie befriends the small town's wealthiest widow and then kills her. But despite the suspicious nature of her death, no one wants to think anything but the best of Bernie.
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Weekend
2011 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsThis frank drama centers on the cautious relationship between two gay men -- one a genial lifeguard, the other a lusty art-gallery worker -- who contemplate turning a passionate one-night stand into something more meaningful.
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One Week
2008 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsJoshua Jackson stars in this bittersweet odyssey as Ben, a young man who's just received news of his terminal illness. Leaving his perplexed fiancée, Samantha (Liane Balaban), Ben buys a 1973 Norton motorcycle and heads for the Pacific. His journey takes him through nature, introduces him to interesting fellow travelers, brings him unexpected romance and begins to put his impending fate in perspective.
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Broken Embraces
2009 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsAging filmmaker Mateo Blanco -- aka screenwriter Harry Caine -- tells his assistant about life before the accident that left him blind, when he became embroiled in a torrid and complicated affair with aspiring actress Lena.
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White Irish Drinkers
2010 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsIn a blue-collar Irish section of 1970s Brooklyn, brothers Danny (Geoff Wigdor) and Brian Leary (Nick Thurston) come of age in a family dominated by their longshoreman father, Patrick (Stephen Lang), whose hard-drinking leaves them scrambling for a way out. As delinquent Danny and dejected mom Margaret (Karen Allen) take the brunt of Patrick's assaults, aspiring artist Brian hides his dreams. But desperate acts will threaten them all.
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Biutiful
2010 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsDiagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, Uxbal -- a divorced father raising two children -- is determined to atone for his life as a black marketeer in this engrossing character study that unfolds in the slums of Barcelona, Spain.
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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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Wild Bill
2011 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsOut on parole after 8 years inside, Bill Hayward returns home to find his now 11 and 15-year-old sons, Jimmy and Dean, abandoned by their mother and fending for themselves. Unwilling to play Dad, an uncaring Bill is determined to move on.
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Get Low
2009 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsOscar winners Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek team up to tell the true story of irascible Felix Bush, a backwoods Tennessee loner who planned his funeral in 1938 while he was still around to attend -- and enjoy -- the proceedings.
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Away We Go
2009 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsBuoyed by the news that they are expecting their first baby, Burt and Verona embark on a journey to locate the perfect place on the planet to raise their child. But their quest inevitably yields many unexpected surprises.
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Middle of Nowhere
2008 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsSeeking financial independence, rebellious teen Dorian and his serious new friend, Grace, go into business selling pot. But when business gets complicated, so do their lives, as both Grace and Dorian find themselves dealing with issues from the past.
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Amreeka
2009 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsEager to provide a better future for her son, Fadi (Melkar Muallem), divorcée Muna Farah (Nisreen Faour) leaves her Palestinian homeland and takes up residence in rural Illinois -- just in time to encounter the domestic repercussions of America's disastrous war in Iraq. Now, the duo must reinvent their lives with some help from Muna's sister, Raghda (Hiam Abbass), and brother-in-law, Nabeel (Yussuf Abu-Warda). Cherien Dabis writes and directs.
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This Is England
2006 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsAfter his father is killed fighting in the Falklands War, a 12-year-old boy named Shaun falls in with a gang of young skinheads. Still angry and in pain, Shaun becomes susceptible to carrying out the group's hateful agenda.
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We Own the Night
2007 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsIn 1980s Brooklyn, Bobby Green appears to have it all: a lovely girlfriend, powerful friends and a lavish lifestyle. In reality, Russian gangsters own the club he manages, and his brother, straight-arrow cop Joseph, is looking to bring them down.
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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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