Top Rated Drama Movies on Kanopy - Page 249

A Moonless Night

2014

A Moonless Night

2014
6.3
A divorced taxi driver shows up with a black eye at the home of his ex-wife’s new family; he’s been invited to dinner and he desperately wants to reconnect with his young daughter. A professional magician’s car breaks down and he ends up spending an emotionally intense night with a young, widowed toll booth worker. A singer songwriter serving a lengthy prison sentence is released for one night to perform at a local community centre. These three deeply engaging stories about yearning for connection unfold in parallel, one New Year’s Eve in a small town in central Uruguay, balancing the universality of human suffering with a powerful sense of hope.
Stielke, Heinz, Fifteen...

1987

Stielke, Heinz, Fifteen...

1987
5.3
Everything changes for fifteen-year-old Heinz Stielke, a fanatical member of the Hitler Youth, when he learns that his father, who died as a war hero, was actually Jewish. Heinz is forced to leave school, loses his friends, and worst of all, his mother dies in a bombing raid. A kind-hearted police officer tries to get him a place at an orphanage in Thuringia, but on the way there, he is picked up by the SS and sent to a training camp.
The Russians Are Coming

1968

The Russians Are Coming

1968
5.2
It’s the spring of 1945 in a small resort town on the Baltic. Günter is 16 and firmly believes that the Germans will win the war. During the hunt for a forced labourer who is on the run, Günter catches him and watches as he is shot to death. He proudly accepts the award of an Iron Cross before being shipped to the nearby front as part of the last contingent of troops. He is quickly captured by Soviet soldiers, but manages to escape and return home. When the town is occupied by the Red Army, Günter is arrested for the murder of the forced labourer. The film was banned in 1968 before it was completed, and a large portion of the negative was later destroyed.
Just Don't Think I'll Cry

1965

Just Don't Think I'll Cry

1965
7.2
High-school senior Peter considers the adults around him to be hypocritical, self-congratulatory, and immersed in the past. He gets suspended for writing an essay that his teachers consider to be a challenge to the state. Just Don't Think I'll Cry became one of twelve films and film projects-almost an entire year's production-that were banned in 1965-1966 due to their alleged anti-socialist aspects. Although scenes and dialogs were altered and the end was reshot twice, officials condemned this title as "particularly harmful." In 1989, cinematographer Ost restored the original version, and this and most of the other banned films were finally screened in January 1990. Belatedly, they were acclaimed as masterpieces of critical realism.
A Picture of You

2014

A Picture of You

2014
6.2
Kyle and Jen, estranged siblings, travel from New York City to rural Pennsylvania to pack up the home of their recently deceased mother. While there, they make a discovery that turns their world upside-down. A Picture of You is a serious movie about life that gets sideswiped in the supermarket parking lot by a funny movie about death. It’s a story about family, loss, secrets, letting go, and starting anew.
Fallen Angels' Paradise

1999

Fallen Angels' Paradise

1999
5.8
Tabel abandons his luxurious family life in favor of a bohemian life with his eccentric marginalized friends. When Tabel dies, his daughter attempts to give him a decent burial, but his friends take the corpse away to bid him farewell in their own way.
Land Without Evil: Ivy Maraey

2013

Land Without Evil: Ivy Maraey

2013
4.9
A filmmaker and a Guarani Indian travel from La Paz to Bolivia’s swamps, exploring Guarani culture, ancient knowledge, and identity.
Karmen Gei

2001

Karmen Gei

2001
4.1
Bizet's Carmen gets a modern adaptation. Seducting, provocating, sensual. All the ingredients for a perfect drama. With her charm, Karmen gets out of many situations.
Mixing Nia

1998

Mixing Nia

1998
4.9
An ad agency copywriter, ordered to push a new brand of beer to black ghetto kids, resigns from her job and goes searching for her racial identity.
Samba Traoré

1993

Samba Traoré

1993
5.6
During a robbery at a petrol station in town, one of the accomplices is shot dead. The other, Samba Traoré, flees with the loot: a suitcase full of banknotes. After years away, he returns to his native village. Life has gone on as usual, and Saratou is as beautiful as he remembers her. Director Idrissa Ouedraogo paints a portrait of a man haunted by his past, trying to rebuild his life and start afresh. But past mistakes never stay buried for long.
Illiterate

2014

Illiterate

2014
5.2
Ximena is an illiterate woman in her fifties, who has learned to live on her own to keep her illiteracy as a secret. Jackeline, is a young unemployed elementary school teacher, who tries to convince Ximena to take reading classes. Persuading her proves to be an almost impossible task, till one day, Jackeline finds something Ximena has been keeping as her only treasure since she was a child: a letter Ximena's father left when he abandoned her many years before. Thus, the two women embark on a learning journey where they discover that there are many ways of being illiterate, and that not knowing how to read is just one of them.
Mama, I’m Alive

1977

Mama, I’m Alive

1977
3.6
In a Russian POW camp, four Germans determined to end WWII agree to pose as Red Army soldiers. Are they patriots or traitors, heroes or opportunists? Although they go to the frontlines, their new Russian comrades are initially unsure whether to trust them. Three of them then accept a mission behind German lines, but they are unprepared to fire upon their countrymen and it ends up costing the life of a Russian soldier. In the meantime, the fourth man has fallen in love with Russian radio operator Svetlana. After being criticized by the other Russians, he too agrees to participate in the mission..
Winter Wind

1969

Winter Wind

1969
7.1
Croatian anarchists collaborate with Hungarians to make a bid for the life of King Alexander of Yugoslavia.
Bezness

1992

Bezness

1992
3.9
Fred, a photographer, is in Tunisia to report on the « Bezness » (male prostitutes). Thanks to Roufa, Fred will discover this surprising environment where young men are confronted with the contradictions between tradition and modernity.
Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask

1996

Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask

1996
7
Explores the life and work of the psychoanalytic theorist and activist Frantz Fanon who was born in Martinique, educated in Paris and worked in Algeria. Examines Fanon's theories of identity and race, and traces his involvement in the anti-colonial struggle in Algeria and throughout the world.
Liars, Fires and Bears

2012

Liars, Fires and Bears

2012
4.2
The poignant story of nine-year old Eve, a street savvy orphan, who crosses paths with Dave, a man-child, accidentally on the run from the law. Dave embarks on a mission to help Eve reunite with her older brother, and consequently clear his name along the way.
Wings of the Morning

1937

Wings of the Morning

1937
6.1
A beautiful Gypsy girl falls in love with a horse trainer.
Manito

2002

Manito

2002
5.8
Fifteen years ago, their Washington Heights neighborhood was dubbed the crack-cocaine capital of the world, but today it is transforming into one of the most vibrant, Spanish-speaking communities in the United States. While the drug dealers continue to disappear, their violent legacy still casts a shadow over the neighborhood and its residents. Junior, an ex-convict struggling to get his life back on track, is a product of this legacy. His younger brother Manny, the salutatorian of his high school class, embodies the hope of the future. On the night of his graduation party, Manny finds himself faced with an ill-fated decision that could change his life forever
Sally of the Sawdust

1925

Sally of the Sawdust

1925
6.1
Judge Foster throws his daughter out because she married a circus man. She leaves her baby girl with Professor McGargle before she dies. Years later Sally is a dancer with whom Peyton, a son of Judge Foster's friend, falls in love. When Sally is arrested McGargle proves her real parentage.
Zan Boko

1988

Zan Boko

1988
6.5
In the Mossi culture, one of the rites attending the birth of a child and its induction as a new member of the community involves the burial of the placenta. The space in which the placenta is buried is called 'Zan Boko' - a phrase which connotes the religious, cultural and affective relations that bind the child to the land and that embraces the notions of 'rootedness' and 'belonging'. Kaboré tells the story of Tinga, who resists the encroaching urbanization of his native territory. The specific rhythms and vision of the rural community, including its values, social relationship, and individual & collective destinies, are altered when a city is planted on the edge of an ancient native village.