Drama Movies 2003 List

With Victor Garber • Taylor • Erika Christensen • Roxanne Hart • Busy Philipps • Agnes Bruckner • Raphael Sbarge • James Pickens • Constance Zimmer • Nathan West • Arthur Taxier • Ken Jenkins

The aftermath of a high school shooting leaves Deanna (Erika Christensen), seriously wounded and nine others dead. Det. Van Zandt (Victor Garber), is assigned the task of finding someone to hold responsible. His attention settles on Alicia (Busy Philipps), a troubled outsider considered both the key witness and a possible suspect. Worlds collide when the high school principal compels Alicia to pay a reluctant visit on the still-hospitalized Deanna. United by their traumatic experience, the two young women form an unlikely friendship -- one tested by depression, despair, and the growing weight of the police investigation.

With Stellan Skarsgard • Harvey Keitel • Moritz Bleibtreu • Ulrich Tukur • Hanns Zischler • R. Lee Ermey • Birgit Minichmayr • Oleg Tabakov • István Szabó

Set shortly after World War II in Berlin, this is the story of an American officer's (Harvey Keitel) prosecution of German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler (Stellan Skarsgard) as part of the Allied Forces' de-Nazification trials. As the investigation progresses, the American, wanting to convict a man he sees as a Jew-killing Nazi is brought face-to-face into conflict with a man consumed entirely by his art, not politics.

With Angela Molina • Lio • Chiara Mastroianni • Lucia Sanchez • Esther Gorintin • Feodor Atkine • Pascal Bongard • Clovis Cornillac • Marilyne Even • Jacques Gamblin • Raphaelle Molinier • Bernard Sens • Delphine Gleize

After it is killed in a bullfight, a bull's body parts are transported across Europe, in Spain, France, Italy and Belgium, with this ensemble drama showing us the people who are the recipients of the remains in one way or another, like an Italian actress (Chiara Mastroianni) selling the bones in a supermarket promotion, a Spanish woman (Angela Molina) who dines on its steaks, a little girl (Raphaelle Molinier) in northern France who imagines a world where animals are much larger than humans, and a taxidermist (Jacques Gamblin) whose wife is simultaneously giving birth to quintuplets.

With Tom Sternberg • Diane Lane • Raoul Bova • Lindsay Duncan • Audrey Wells • Kate Walsh • Dan Bucatinsky • Vince Riotta • Giulia Steigerwalt • Laura Fattori • Frances Mayes

Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) is a 35-year-old San Francisco writer whose perfect life has just taken an unexpected detour. Her recent divorce has left her with terminal writer's block and extremely depressed, and her best friend, Patti (Sandra Oh), is beginning to think she might never recover. "Dr. Patti's" Rx: 10 days in Tuscany. And it's there that, on a whim, Frances purchases a villa named Bramasole - literally, "something that yearns for the sun." The home needs much restoration, but what better place for a new beginning than the home of the Renaissance? As she flings herself into her new life at the villa in the lush and beautiful Italian countryside, Frances makes new friends among her neighbors, but in the quiet moments, she is fearful that her ambitions for her new life - and a new family - may not be realized... until a chance encounter in Rome throws Frances into the arms of an intriguing Protobello antiquities dealer named Marcello (Raoul Bova). Can this be what she dreamed of? Can love last with Marcello? Will her new life flower under the Tuscan sun?

With Nicolas Cage • Sam Rockwell • Ridley Scott • Alison Lohman • Bruce Altman • Bruce McGill

Phobia-addled con artist Roy (Nicolas Cage) and his protégé Frank (Sam Rockwell) are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle when the unexpected arrival of Roy's teenage daughter Angela (Alison Lohman) disrupts his carefully-ordered life and jeopardizes his high-risk scam.

With Samuel L. Jackson • Stellan Skarsgard • Milla Jovovich • Robert Welch • Shannon Lawson • Bob Rafelson • Grace Zabriskie • Doug Hutchison • Jonathan Higgins • Joris Jarsky

While doing a friend a favor and searching for a runaway teenager on Turk Street, Jack (Jackson) stumbles upon a bizarre band of criminals about to pull off a bank robbery. Jack finds himself being held hostage while the criminals decide what to do with him, and the leader's beautiful girlfriend, Erin (Jovovich), is left alone to watch Jack. Erin, who is a master manipulator of the men in the gang, reveals another side to Jack - a melancholy romantic who could have been a classical pianist. She finds Jack's captivity an irresistible turn-on and he can't figure out if she's for real, or manipulating him, too. Before the gang returns, Jack and Erin's connection intensifies...

With Adrien Brody • Vera Farmiga • Milla Jovovich • Jared Harris • Ron Leibman • Joanne Bayes • Jessica Walter • Illeana Douglas • Mirabella Pisani • Adam LeFevre • Helen Hanft • Richmond Hoxie • Lou Martini Jr. • Gabor Morea • Edward Hibbert • Greg Pritikin

Set in suburbia, the Greg Pritikin-directed film centers on socially challenged Steven (Adrien Brody), who quits his job to pursue a life-long dream of becoming a ventriloquist. Ignored at home by his father (Ron Leibman), mother (Jessica Walter) and embittered sister (Illeana Douglas), Steven begins to find his voice with the help of a wisecracking dummy.

With Mami Koyama • Masatane Tsukayama • Miyoko Shoji • Fumiko Orikasa • Shouzou Iizuka • Masaya Onosaka • Shouko Tsuda • Hirotaka Suzuoki • Koichi Yamadera • Satoshi Kon

Genya Tachibana is a director and the president of a small production company. One day, he is contacted by the famous Gin Ei studios, that ask him to direct a documentary commemorating their 70 years of existence. Genya chooses as a subject the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, a superstar actress who 30 years earlier chose to end her career and disappear from public life. Chiyoko Fujiwara is a cinematographic enigma that nobody ever seemed to shed light on. Genya is obsessed by this fallen star, wanting to unravel the truth behind her secret. Accompanied by a young cameraman, Genya finds his way to Chiyoko, who has transformed into an elderly hermit living alone in an isolated house. At their first meeting, Genya sees that Chiyoko, although touched by the hand of time, has not lost any of her charm or energy. To gain her confidence, he brings her an ancient key that holds sentimental value, that rapidly allows Chiyoko to begin recounting her memories. The interview takes course, and our 3 protagonists are plunged into the past, visiting each fragment of what has been long gone, where the past and present meld together. The actress' recollections soon metamorphosize into a great adventure where cinema confronts her history and an incredible love is unveiled, that conflicted with her rather uncommon lifestyle...

With Al Pacino • Michelle Pfeiffer • Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio • Robert Loggia • Steven Bauer • Brian De Palma

Released in 1983, Scarface is directed by Brian Del Palma and written by Oliver Stone and stars Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer and Steven Bauer. Scarface is the rags-to-riches story of Tony “Scarface” Montana (Al Pacino), a Cuban immigrant who finds wealth, power and passion beyond his wildest dreams…at a price he never imagined. Tony Montana’s meteoric rise, lavish life and soul-destroying fall anchor an epic film that inspired a worldwide following.

With Scarlett Johansson • Sofia Coppola • Anna Faris • Bill Murray • Giovanni Ribisi

The second feature film from writer-director Sofia Coppola ("The Virgin Suicides") is set in Tokyo, where two bored Americans — a fading TV star (Bill Murray) shooting an alcohol ad and a young married woman (Scarlett Johansson) with an ambitious, neglectful husband — become fast friends after meeting in a hotel bar. The two then spend an adventure-filled weekend together "finding themselves."

With Laurence Fishburne • Sean Penn • Emmy Rossum • Kevin Bacon • Clint Eastwood • Marcia Gay Harden • Laura Linney • Tim Robbins • Cayden Boyd • Robert Lorenz • Kevin Chapman • Jonathan Togo • Judie Hoyt • Dennis Lehane

When Jimmy Markum's daughter is found murdered, his childhood friend Sean Devine--now a detective--is assigned to the case. Sean's personal life starts unraveling, as his investigation takes him back into a world of violence and pain he thought he'd left behind. It also puts him on a collision course with Jimmy Markum, a man with his own mysterious dark past, who is now eager to solve the crime with brutal justice. And then there is Dave Boyle, a man who hides monstrous secrets beneath a bland facade--secrets that his wife, Celeste, is only beginning to suspect. As the race for a killer heats up, all are pulled closer toward an abyss that will force them to face their true selves--and will mark them as irrevocably, as the past itself has tainted their lives.

With Josh Lucas • Robert Duvall • Michael Caine • Kyra Sedgwick • Haley Joel Osment • Nicky Katt • Tim McCanlies • Corey Sienega • David Kirschner • Scott Ross

"Secondhand Lions" follows the comedic adventures of an introverted 14 year-old boy (Haley Joel Osment) who reluctantly finds himself spending the summer with a pair of cranky, eccentric great-uncles (Michael Caine and Robert Duvall). At first appalled by their gruff uncaring manner, over time he becomes enthralled with his uncles as the exotic tales and remembrances of their own youthful exploits introduce the boy to a world of imagination and wonder and re-ignites the old men's spirits.

With Katie Holmes • Patricia Clarkson • Isiah Whitlock • Alison Pill • Derek Luke • Peter Hedges • Oliver Platt • Alice Drummond • John Gallagher Jr. • Sisqo • Sean P. Hayes • Lillias White • Susan Bruce • Gary Winick • John Lyons • Alexis Alexanian • Holly Becker

April Burns (Katie Holmes) is a 21-year-old wild child with a very big problem. Against her better judgment, she's invited her straightlaced family for Thanksgiving dinner. Her boyfriend, Bobby, wants to help, but she banishes him from the apartment while she attempts to cook the meal. To make matters worse, she then discovers that her oven doesn't work. So, while April is forced to ask her eccentric neighbors for help in cooking her fifteen pound turkey, the Burns Family begins a reluctant journey from suburban Pennsylvania toward New York City's Lower East Side. April's Dad, Jim Burns (Oliver Platt) tries to convince the family that the day will be beautiful. Her mom, Joy (Patricia Clarkson) has her doubts and freely voices them. April's teenage sister and brother are squeezed between Grandma Dottie and a bag of snacks in the back seat as the Burns' family car hurtles toward Manhattan and what will most likely be certain disaster.

With Eishy Hayata • Eva Hayata • Andrew Molina

This is the true story of how a Japanese businessman from Los Angeles, Eishy Hayata, built an emerald mining empire in Columbia that is today one of the world's largest and most powerful, starting in the 1970s as an "esmeraldero", an emerald buyer who goes directly to rural areas where emeralds can be procured from locals at bargain prices in their rough form. Central to the film's intrigue are Columbia's more brutal realities, as guerrilla warfare and street kidnappings are quite common. To combat this, Hayata fashions himself as a sort of modern cowboy, armed and dressed to fit the bill, along with a powerful cadre of personal bodyguards.

With Eytan Fox • Assi Cohen • Ohad Knoller • Yehuda Levi • Hani Furstenberg • Aya Steinovitz • Sharon Raginiano

Two male soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces fall in love, which is forbidden in the army. They hide their love while stationed at an outpost during the Lebanon war.

With Alfred Molina • Joseph Fiennes • Eric Till • Peter Ustinov • Bruno Ganz • James Babson • Jonathan Firth • Claire Cox • Uwe Ochsenknecht • Mathieu Carrière • Marco Hofschneider • Torben Liebrecht • Herb Andress • Jeff Caster • Cesare Cremonini • Jens Winter

A German monk challenges the political and religious authorities of his time.