Many dramas about friendship have also been made including 1997's Good Will Hunting, the Australian drama September, and an inspirational drama about a wealthy Frenchman and a poor young black man called The Intouchables. Many road movies are also about friendship like Gus Van Sant's 1991 drama My Own Private Idaho and 2004's The Motorcycle Diaries, a movie that follows Che Guevara and his best friend Mial as they ride their motorbikes through South America. Friendship is also a theme in many coming-of-age dramas like Stand By Me about a gang of teenage boys and Thirteen about a girl who gets into lots of trouble while she's growing up.

Another popular genre is the family drama. Some family dramas show the joys of family life, but most are about the problems and conflicts in dysfunctional families. Highly-rated examples include Robert Redford's Ordinary People, Mike Leigh's Secrets & Lies, and 2009 Academy Award winner Precious about the many problems faced by members of a dysfunctional African American family. A more uplifting family drama is the 2014 movie Boyhood in which we follow twelve years in the lives of a boy and his family.

Biopics about real people and docudramas about real events are also very popular, and good examples include Ray about the blind musician Ray Charles, The Insider about the tobacco industry's attacks on Dr Jeffrey Wigand, and a movie about gay activists who supported Welsh coal miners during a 1984 strike called Pride.

Some of the most highly-acclaimed dramas contain several plot lines related to different genres. In Robert Altman's classic movie Nashville there are plot lines about the country music business, plot lines about American politics, and plot lines about various romances. Other complex dramas that mix genres in this way include Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia, Paul Haggis's Crash and several movies by Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu including his 2000 drama Amores Perros and Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) which won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Picture.

Drama genres and recommended movies

• Mystery: Rear Window (1954), The Long Goodbye (1973), Chinatown (1974), Blue Velvet (1986), Inherent Vice (2015)
• Police: In the Heat of the Night (1967), Serpico (1973), Cop Land (1997), L.A. Confidential (1997), End of Watch (2012)
• Crime: Get Carter (1972), Scarface (1983), Pulp Fiction (1994), The Usual Suspects (1995), Traffic (2000), City of God (2007)
• Gangster: The Godfather (1972), GoodFellas (1990), Miller's Crossing (1990), The Departed (2006), Gomorrah (2008)
• Courtroom: 12 Angry Men (1957), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), The Accused (1988), The Verdict (1992), A Time to Kill (1996)
• Prison: Cool Hand Luke (1967), Scum (1979), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), A Prophet (2010), Starred Up (2013)
• Political: The Candidate (1974), All the President's Men (1976), Recount (2008), The Ghost Writer (2010), Leviathan (2014)
• Espionage: The Manchurian Candidate (1962), The Conversation (1974), Fair Game (2010), A Most Wanted Man (2014)
• Violence: Fury (1936), Wake in Fright (1971), Straw Dogs (1971), Once Were Warriors (1994), Elephant (2003)
• Workplace: Salt of the Earth (1950), Comrades (1989), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), North Country (2005), Made in Dagenham (2010)
• Medical: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Dallas Buyers Club (2013), 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days (2008), Still Alice (2015)
• Sport: Rocky (1976), Hoosiers (1986), Million Dollar Baby (2004), The Wrestler (2008), The Fighter (2010), Rush (2013)
• Arts: Lust For Life (1956), 'Round Midnight (1986), Billy Elliot (2000), Séraphine (2009), Mr Turner (2014)
• Romance: Before Sunrise (1995), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Titanic (1997), Lost in Translation (2003), Samson and Delilah (2010)
• Same-sex: Brokeback Mountain (2005), Weekend (2011), Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013), The Way He Looks (2014)
• Friendship: Midnight Cowboy (1971), Good Will Hunting (1997), September (2007), The Intouchables (2011)
• Road Movie: Easy Rider (1969), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Thelma & Louise (1991), The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
• Coming-of-age: The 400 Blows (1959), Kes (1969), Stand By Me (1986), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Thirteen (2003)
• Family: Ordinary People (1980), Secrets & Lies (1996), Precious (2009), A Separation (2009), Boyhood (2014)
• Docudrama: The Insider (1999), Erin Brockovich (2000), Argo (2012), Fruitvale Station (2013), Pride (2014)
• Biopic: Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), Wilde (1997), Iris (2001), Ray (2004), Capote (2005), Milk (2008), W. (2008)
• Mixed genre: Nashville (1975), Magnolia (1999), Amores Perros (2001), Mulholland Dr. (2001), Crash (2004), Birdman (2014)

wealthy [´welθi]   a.富有的；丰富的   (初中英语单词)

frenchman [´frentʃmən]   n.法国人   (初中英语单词)

academy [ə´kædəmi]   n.专科学校；学会；协会   (初中英语单词)

tobacco [tə´bækəu]   n.烟草(叶)；卷烟   (初中英语单词)

contain [kən´tein]   v.包含；容纳；抑制   (初中英语单词)

politics [´pɔlitiks]   n.政治(学)；政治活动   (初中英语单词)

complex [´kɔmpleks]   a.复杂的 n.综合企业   (初中英语单词)

mexican [´meksikən]   n.&a.墨西哥人(语)的   (初中英语单词)

director [di´rektə]   n.指导者；….长；导演   (初中英语单词)

virtue [´və:tʃu:]   n.美德；贞操；长处   (初中英语单词)

velvet [´velvit]   n.&a.天鹅绒(般的)   (初中英语单词)

traffic [´træfik]   n.交通，运输   (初中英语单词)

prophet [´prɔfit]   n.预言家；先知；提倡者   (初中英语单词)

candidate [´kændideit]   n.候选人；投考者   (初中英语单词)

writer [´raitə]   n.作者；作家   (初中英语单词)

fright [frait]   n.惊吓；恐怖；怪人   (初中英语单词)

elephant [´elifənt]   n.象   (初中英语单词)

midnight [´midnait]   n.午夜；漆黑   (初中英语单词)

musician [mju:´ziʃən]   n.音乐家，作曲家   (高中英语单词)

classic [´klæsik]   a.第一流的 n.杰作   (高中英语单词)

unexpected [ʌniks´pektid]   a.突然的；意外的   (高中英语单词)

fiction [´fikʃən]   n.小说；虚构；谎言   (高中英语单词)

fighter [´faitə]   n.战士；战斗机   (高中英语单词)

sunrise [´sʌnraiz]   n.日出，黎明   (高中英语单词)

translation [træns´leiʃən, trænz-]   n.翻译；译文；译本   (高中英语单词)

separation [,sepə´reiʃən]   n.分离；分开；分居   (高中英语单词)

boyhood [´bɔihud]   n.少年时代(期)   (高中英语单词)

confidential [,kɔnfi´denʃəl]   a.极受信任的；心腹的   (英语四级单词)

verdict [´və:dikt]   n.裁决，判决；判定   (英语四级单词)

recount [ri´kaunt]   vt.描述；列举 n.重计   (英语四级单词)

dallas [´dæləs]   n.达拉斯   (英语四级单词)

weekend [´wi:kend, ,wi:k´end]   n.周末休假   (英语四级单词)

hunting [´hʌntiŋ]   n.打猎   (英语六级单词)

inherent [in´hiərənt]   a.固有的，天生的   (英语六级单词)

departed [di´pɑ:tid]   a.已往的；已故的   (英语六级单词)

turner [´tə:nə]   n.车工   (英语六级单词)

cowboy [´kaubɔi]   n.牧童；牛仔   (英语六级单词)