Last updated March 2024
Looking for the cream of the Best Drama Movies 2003 crop? We assembled 30 marvelous, critic- and user-beloved Best Drama Movies 2003 available for your viewing enjoyment right now. With universal acclaim from IMDB and our knowledgeable user community, these world-class titles are as good as entertainment gets. Help fellow viewers uncover their next great find by voting for your personal favorites. We value your help spotlighting the finest titles out there!
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Plot Summary:
Aragorn is revealed as the heir to the ancient kings as he, Gandalf and the other members of the broken fellowship struggle to save Gondor from Sauron's forces. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam bring the ring closer to the heart of Mordor, the dark lord's realm
Duration: 201 min
IMDB Rating: 9.0/10
IMDB Votes: 19000000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Country: New Zealand, USA
Plot tags: sword fight, wizard, magic, magical, battles, creature, courage, monster, friendship, sword and sorcery, good versus evil, medieval, sorcerer, ancient, middle earth, heroic mission, race against time, hobbit, imaginary kingdom, imaginary, journey, army, warrior, elf, save the world
Anbe Sivam (2003)
Plot Summary:
Nalla Sivam and Anbarasu meet under different circumstances and their lives are changed as they take the journey of their life
Duration: 160 min
IMDB Rating: 8.6/10
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: India
Plot tags: life changing experience, communism, atheism, odd couple, accident, self discovery, social differences, introspection, tragic love, terrorism, destiny, fall in love, social relations, capitalist, secret, disability, compassion, recovery, motivation, discovery, adventurer, slice of life, self awareness, innovation, airport
The Best of Youth (2003)
Plot Summary:
Spanning four decades, from the chaotic 1960s to the present, director Marco Tullio Giordana's passionate epic 'La Meglio Gioventu' follows two Italian brothers through some of the most tumultuous events of recent Italian history
Duration: 366 min
IMDB Rating: 8.5/10
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Italy
Plot tags: idealism, society, couples, cafe, sister in law sister in law relationship, dishonesty, friendship, mental illness, storytelling, musician, politics, protest, police brutality, character study, psychiatrist, political corruption, law enforcement, hopes, state affairs, couple relations, family life, human nature, unfulfillment, dream, loss of loved one
Oldboy (2003)
Plot Summary:
With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate businessman seeks revenge on his captors
Duration: 120 min
IMDB Rating: 8.4/10
IMDB Votes: 619000
Genere: Action, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Plot tags: revenge, incest, vengeance, older man younger woman relationship, psychopath, plot twist, hypnosis, mind game, psychological torture, kidnapping, confined, torture, loneliness, great ending, brother sister relationship, imprisonment, brother sister incest, sin, captive, father daughter incest, notebook, incestuous relationship, violence, humiliation, mysterious villain
Memories of Murder (2003)
Plot Summary:
1986 Gyunggi Province. The body of a young woman is found brutally raped and murdered. Two months later, a series of rapes and murders commences under similar circumstances. And in a country that had never known such crimes, the dark whispers about a serial murderer grow louder. A special task force is set up in the area, with two local detectives Park Doo-Man and Jo Young-Goo joined by a detective from Seoul who requested to be assigned to the case
Duration: 131 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 208000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Plot tags: serial killer, police, twists and turns, rape, murder investigation, police investigation, murderer, murder, unsolved crime, investigation, murder mystery, true crime, police detective, suspicion, false accusation, violence, chase, killings, killer, police brutality, brutality, assassin, crime investigation, violent, obsession
Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003)
Plot Summary:
A gangster sets out to fulfill his father's dream of becoming a doctor
Duration: 156 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 87000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: India
Plot tags: hospital, mistaken identity, medical school, starting over, impersonating, misfit, parents and children, love and romance, ambition, lifestyle, hidden identity, disorder, pretense, family disapproval, dishonesty, love, abduction, criminal, cancer, doctor, pickpocket, deception, lie, surgery, medical student
Maqbool (2003)
Plot Summary:
Macbeth meets the Godfather in present-day Bombay. The Scottish tragedy set in the contemporary underworld of India's commercial capital; two corrupt, fortune telling policemen take the roles of the weird sisters, and "Duncan" is Abbaji, the head of a crime family
Duration: 132 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: India
Plot tags: gangster, shakespeare, gang, dishonesty, law enforcement, godparent, right hand man, macbeth, betrayal, corrupt cop, friendship, organized crime, greed, muslim, death of protagonist, hindu, innovation, great escape, wedding, hooligan, wizards and magicians, love and romance, throne, aging, underworld
Dogville (2003)
Plot Summary:
A barren soundstage is stylishly utilized to create a minimalist small-town setting in which a mysterious woman named Grace hides from the criminals who pursue her. The town is two-faced and offers to harbor Grace as long as she can make it worth their effort, so Grace works hard under the employ of various townspeople to win their favor. Tensions flare, however, and Grace's status as a helpless outsider provokes vicious contempt and abuse from the citizens of Dogville
Duration: 178 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 156000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, UK, France, Finland, Norway, Italy
Plot tags: rape, society, twists and turns, morality, female protagonist, rocky mountains, vengeance, haunted by the past, victim, brutality, storytelling, gangster, refugee, existentialism, revenge, art, great ending, sex scene, cruelty, women, feminism, moving, architecture, human rights, hipster
Big Fish (2003)
Plot Summary:
Throughout his life Edward Bloom has always been a man of big appetites, enormous passions and tall tales. In his later years, he remains a huge mystery to his son, William. Now, to get to know the real man, Will begins piecing together a true picture of his father from flashbacks of his amazing adventures
Duration: 125 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 454000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: fish, journey, surrealism, father son relationship, fantasy world, storytelling, loneliness, mermaid, magic realism, death, magic, childhood, parents and children, hopes, small town, self discovery, witch, true love, cancer, imagination, on the road, relationships, death of father, heartwarming, human spirit
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)
Plot Summary:
This South Korean film takes place on an isolated lake, where an old monk lives in a small floating temple. The monk has a young boy living with him, learning to become a monk. We watch as seasons and years pass by
Duration: 103 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 86000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea, Germany
Plot tags: buddhism, life & death, coming of age, isolation, meditation, existentialism, buddhist monk, nature, monk, buddhist, solitude, beautiful scenery, human nature, life changing experience, guilt, temple, lust, life, lake, childhood, loneliness, fish, boy, melancholy, philosophy
The Return (2003)
Plot Summary:
A story of two Russian boys whose father suddenly returns home after a 12-year absence. He takes the boys on a holiday to a remote island on a lake that turns into a test of manhood of almost mythic proportions
Duration: 110 min
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Plot tags: coming of age, brother, journey, survival, children, parents and children, father son relationship, existentialism, death, wilderness, childhood, on the road, character study, overbearing parent, abusive father, father, island, road trip, family relations, tragic event, brother brother relationship, european, youth, innocence lost, traumatic childhood
Mystic River (2003)
Plot Summary:
A story about friendship and loyalty, guilt and vengeance, and the fateful affect the past has on the present
Duration: 138 min
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
IMDB Votes: 477000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Australia
Plot tags: vengeance, police investigation, murder, sexual abuse, murder mystery, investigation, death in the family, child abuse, loss of child, revenge, tragic event, grief, police, loss of daughter, pedophilia, violence, loss of loved one, underworld, kidnapping, child molester, childhood, tragedy, plot twist, innocence lost, abuse
Tomorrow May Never Come (2003)
Plot Summary:
Naina is a very serious girl with a very serious life. But one day, her soul is awakened by the happy-go-lucky Aman, who teaches her that life is meant to be lived. Naturally, she falls in love with him. But Aman is harboring a secret that keeps him from reciprocating Naina's love. But he cannot stand having her live a life without love, so he sets off on a mission to fill her life with someone else's love - someone she already knows
Duration: 186 min
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
IMDB Votes: 74000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Musical, Romance
Country: India, Canada
Plot tags: terminal illness, love triangle, neighbor, young woman, secret, diary, family life, best friend, unfulfilled love, tragic event, depression, family relations, parents and children, young man, family problems, starting over, family tradition, human nature, death in the family, character change, tragic love, urban, brother sister relationship, gay slur, hindu
Gangaajal (2003)
Plot Summary:
An SP Amit Kumar who is given charge of Tezpur police station in Bihar. The area is full of corruption, inefficiency, bribery, nepotism, favoritism and crime with help from the local police. Gradually Amit realizes that the local politician Sadhu Yadav is the one who benefits the most out of it. Amit arrests Sunder Yadav
Duration: 157 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: India
Plot tags: police station, dishonesty, law enforcement, fighting crime, vigilantism, rivalry, bribery, police corruption, police brutality, criminal's revenge, honest law enforcer, confession, police, police officer, social issues, cop, gory, society, tough law enforcer, corrupt law enforcer, right and wrong, violent content, rape, torture, criminal
The Last Samurai (2003)
Plot Summary:
Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist
Duration: 154 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 463000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA, New Zealand, Japan
Plot tags: samurai, sword fight, battles, war, military, courage, japanese history, warrior, katana, self discovery, pride and honor, human spirit, dignity, martial arts, emperor, japanese army, friendship, honor, army, leadership, loyalty, foreigner in japan, spirituality, glory, war hero
The Classic (2003)
Plot Summary:
Shy Ji-hae's friend is having problems expressing her feelings to the boy she loves, so she asks Ji-hae to write e-mails to him in her name. As the boy falls in love with her letters, Ji-hae discovers the story of her mother's romance which is remarkably similar to her own circumstances
Duration: 127 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Plot tags: love triangle, fall in love, forbidden love, social differences, youth, family relations, love affair, young lovers, society, parents and children, diary, love, asian, coming of age, love story, tragedy, in love, tragic love, entertainment, ends with death, plot twist, love at first sight, village, love and romance, arranged marriage
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
Plot Summary:
One Christmas Eve three people, a middle-aged alcoholic named Gin, a former drag queen Hana and a dependent runaway girl Miyuki, discover an abandoned newborn while looking through the garbage
Duration: 92 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 45000
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: Japan
Plot tags: holiday, christmas, homeless, transgender, baby, friends, parents and children, life is a bitch, friendship, gay, loneliness, lgbt, runaway, melancholy, lgbtq, snow, homelessness, society, new year, lgbtqi, humour, group of friends, help, uncover truth, mafia
Evil (2003)
Plot Summary:
Stockholm, the fifties. Though academically bright, violent pupil Erik Ponti is expelled from his state school with the headmaster’s words “there’s only one word for people like you – evil… what you need is a good thrashing, and more”. In fact already Erik frequently receives a ‘good’ thrashing at the hands of his sadistic stepfather – so he is packed off by his mother to boardingschool
Duration: 113 min
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Drama
Country: Sweden, Denmark
Plot tags: rebellion, coming of age, private school, rebelliousness, corporal punishment, humiliation, friendship, life is a bitch, high school, bully, bullying, boarding school, violence, boy, swedish, boarding school life, youth, lifestyle, school, revenge, teacher, society, human nature, hardcase students, rebel
Good Bye Lenin! (2003)
Plot Summary:
An affectionate and refreshing East/West-Germany comedy about a boy who’s mother was in a coma while the Berlin wall fell and when she wakes up he must try to keep her from learning what happen (since she was an avid communist supporter) to avoid shocking her which could lead to another heart attack
Duration: 121 min
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
IMDB Votes: 151000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Germany
Plot tags: berlin wall, coma, politics, capitalism, idealism, communism, society, cold war, culture clash, amnesia, childhood, doctor, german reunification, revolution, family relations, parents and children, social differences, protecting from truth, international relations, family secret, young man, secret, political unrest, dishonesty, waking up from a coma
The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
Plot Summary:
When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters--an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire--to rescue him
Duration: 80 min
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Music, Sport
Country: France, Belgium, Canada, UK, Latvia, USA
Plot tags: dog, cycling, tour de france, very little dialogue, bicycle, dream, chase, mafia, boy, friendship, rescue, escapades, danger, old woman, friends, championship, melancholy, eccentricity, boat, sister sister relationship, grandmother grandson relationship, journey, darkness, rivalry, european
Lost in Translation (2003)
Plot Summary:
Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America
Duration: 102 min
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
IMDB Votes: 480000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, Japan
Plot tags: loneliness, midlife crisis, age difference, friendship, older man younger woman relationship, alienation, melancholy, fish out of water, love story, unlikely couple, couples, self discovery, relationships, adultery, culture clash, character study, dull life, hotel room, photographer, unlikely friendships, hotel, bittersweet, advertising, housewife, love and romance
The Station Agent (2003)
Plot Summary:
When his only friend dies, a man born with dwarfism moves to rural New Jersey to live a life of solitude, only to meet a chatty hot dog vendor and a woman dealing with her own personal loss
Duration: 89 min
IMDB Rating: 7.6/10
IMDB Votes: 73000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Plot tags: loneliness, bittersweet, solitude, friendship, depression, small town, melancholy, society, loss, death, prejudice, grief, railway, eccentricity, lifestyle, friends, journey, social misfits, loss of child, human nature, small town life, antisocial behavior, unfulfillment, troubled, mail
21 Grams (2003)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of three gentle persons: Paul Rivers an ailing mathematician lovelessly married to an English émigré, Christina Peck, an upper-middle-class suburban housewife, happily married and mother of two little girls, and Jack Jordan, an ex-convict who has found in his Christian faith the strength to raise a family. They will be brought together by a terrible accident that will change their lives. By the final frame, none of them will be the same as they will learn harsh truths about love, faith, courage, desire and guilt, and how chance can change our worlds irretrievably, forever
Duration: 124 min
IMDB Rating: 7.6/10
IMDB Votes: 244000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: life is a bitch, guilt, tragedy, grief, drug addiction, multiple storylines, drug addict, drug, loneliness, death, loss, mathematician, hit and run, faith, accident, surgery, suicide attempt, death in the family, plot twist, drug abuse, betrayal, relationships, addiction, widow, desperation
Love Actually (2003)
Plot Summary:
Follows seemingly unrelated people as their lives begin to intertwine while they fall in – and out – of love. Affections languish and develop as Christmas draws near
Duration: 135 min
IMDB Rating: 7.6/10
IMDB Votes: 515000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France, USA
Plot tags: christmas, love, holiday, relationships, love story, love and romance, multiple storylines, marriage, fall in love, couples, first love, couple relations, looking for love, infidelity, winter, unrequited love, marital problem, adultery, bittersweet, family relations, love at first sight, wedding, workplace romance, lovers, flirting
Carandiru (2003)
Plot Summary:
Carandiru, a story based on real facts and on the book written by the doctor Drauzio Varella, starts when he decides to carry out an AIDS prevention program inside Latin America’s largest prison: the Casa de Detenção de São Paulo, Carandiru, the victim of one of the darkest days in Brazilian History, when the State of São Paulo’s Military Police, with the excuse for law enforcement, shot to death 111 people
Duration: 145 min
IMDB Rating: 7.6/10
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Brazil, Argentina, Italy
Plot tags: prison, aids, doctor, police brutality, prison escape, prison life, fighting the system, life is a bitch, confined, protest, fighting illness, regret, human nature, lgbt, injustice, solitary, jail, prison sex, gay, prison riot, survival, hiv, attempted murder, murder, mafia
The Man Who Copied (2003)
Plot Summary:
André, 19, lives in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and works as a photocopier operator. He likes to see his neighbor Sílvia with a pair of binoculars. She works selling clothes. Becoming attracted to her, he tries to get nearer, and goes to her shop to buy something, but finds out that he can't afford it. So he puts the photocopier to other uses, and begins to envisage fishy schemes to earn some money
Duration: 123 min
IMDB Rating: 7.6/10
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: Brazil
Plot tags: love and romance, voyeurism, neighbor, society, shyness, cons and scams, poverty, sex, stalking, moral ambiguity, dream, deception, sexual perversion, painting, heist, explosions, intrigue, samba, troubled, blaxploitation, robbery, interracial romance, fall in love, deadend life, perversion
Control (2003)
Plot Summary:
A tale about a strange young man, Bulcsú, his fellow inspectors, who are all without exception likeable characters, a rival ticket inspection team, and racing along the tracks... And a tale about love
Duration: 111 min
IMDB Rating: 7.6/10
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Hungary
Plot tags: subway, train, workplace, serial killer, social misfits, dark humor, european, underground, love, musician, chess, angel, death, claustrophobia, chase, surrealism, redemption, drinking, distopia, artist, time loop, obsession, misfit, railway, architecture
The Life of David Gale (2003)
Plot Summary:
A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row
Duration: 130 min
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Votes: 125000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Germany, Spain, USA
Plot tags: death penalty, investigation, suicide, death row, fighting the system, professor, reporter, activist, murder, journalism, death sentence, death, prison, false accusation, rape, lawyer, journalist, wrongful conviction, plot twist, courtroom, conspiracy, divorce, innocence, rape accusation, courtroom drama
Love Me If You Dare (2003)
Plot Summary:
As adults, best friends Julien and Sophie continue the odd game they started as children -- a fearless competition to outdo one another with daring and outrageous stunts. While they often act out to relieve one another's pain, their game might be a way to avoid the fact that they are truly meant for one another
Duration: 93 min
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Votes: 72000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium
Plot tags: youth, love hate relationship, game, friends in love, friendship, best friends in love, friends, love story, lovers, music box, relationships, prank, destiny, first love, childhood love, crush, coming of age, obsession, competition, twists and turns, life, brutality, best friend, childhood, dark humor
The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
Plot Summary:
In this belated sequel to 'The Decline of the American Empire', 50-something Montreal college professor, Remy, learns that he is dying of liver cancer. He decides to make amends meet to his friends and family before he dies. He first tries to made peace with his ex-wife Louise, who asks their estranged son Sebastian, a successful businessman living in London, to come home. Sebastian makes the impossible happen, using his contacts and disrupting the entire Canadian system in every way possible to help his father fight his terminal illness to the bitter end, while he also tries to reunite his former friends, Pierre, Alain, Dominique, Diane, and Claude to see their old friend before he passes on
Duration: 99 min
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: Canada, France
Plot tags: friendship, illness, philosophy, culture clash, medical, drug addiction, terminal illness, cancer, life, existentialism, loneliness, dysfunctional family, depression, life & death, haunted by the past, corruption, hospital, old age, dying, professor, aging, bittersweet, heroin, estrangement, disability