Drama Movies 2003 List

With Gus Van Sant • Matt Malloy • Alex Frost • John Robinson • Timothy Bottoms • Eric Deulen • Elias McConnell • Dany Wolf • Bill Robinson

Based partially on the shootings at Columbine High School, writer-director Gus Van Sant presents "Elephant", which takes place during one day at a typical American high school. Following ten kids in their daily activities, an atmosphere of violence and lawlessness becomes brutally evident as tension mounts, leading to a tragic event.

With Jon Favreau • Sean Bean • Rachael Leigh Cook • Kelsey Grammer • Daryl Hannah • Joey Lauren Adams • Adam Beach • Steve Anderson

John Person (Jon Favreau), a struggling actor on the verge of eviction from his Hollywood studio apartment, goes against his better judgement -- and that of his pretty neighbor Grace (Joey Lauren Adams) -- and accepts an offer from his strange neighbor Neely (Bud Cort) to courier a blue suitcase up to the desert truck stop of Baker, California. His instructions are simple: deliver the suitcase to a trucker called Cowboy (Sean Bean) and collect $27 thousand. Oh yeah, and he has to defend the suitcase with his life. Naturally, nothing goes according to plan once John arrives. The Cowboy is nowhere to be found, John meets with some kooky alien-obsessed locals and Special Agent Banks (Kelsey Grammer) questions John about the mysterious decapitation of Neely and about other missing persons. When the final showdown approaches, John is faced with a choice that could change his life forever. Has the whole town gone mad? Or are the loony locals, who he dismissed as crazy, the only sane ones in this strange parallel universe called The Big Empty?

With Russell Crowe • Paul Bettany • David Threlfall • Billy Boyd • John Collee • John DeSantis • Peter Weir • Ian Mercer • Patrick Gallagher • Richard McCabe • Robert Pugh • Samuel Goldwyn • Duncan Henderson

Russell Crowe is Lucky Jack Aubrey, the Navy's greatest fighting captain and Paul Bettany is ship's doctor Stephen Maturin. The ship, the Surprise, is suddenly attacked by a superior enemy. With the Surprise badly damaged and much of his crew injured, Aubrey – the "Master" of the Surprise and "Commander" of his men – is torn between duty and friendship as he sets sail in a high-stakes chase across two oceans, to the far side of the world, to intercept and capture their foe. It's a mission that can decide the fate of a nation – or destroy Lucky Jack and his crew. The film is based on the narrative outline of the tenth book in Patrick O'Brian's legendary "Aubrey/Maturin" series of high seas novels about the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars.

With Paul Mazursky • Shirley Knight • Rebecca Staab • Henry Rollins • Jack Conley • Laura San Giacomo • Phillip Baker Hall • James Karen • Daphna Kastner • Charles Lucia • Domenica Scorses • Darryl E. Smith • Robert Harders • Chuck Workman

Harry Mayfield (Baker Hall) was once an extremely successful Los Angeles architect. Today, he is an aging, charming but cantankerous idealist who teaches rather than practices architecture. Decades earlier, he had started work on a magnificent house for his family on a hillside site overlooking the city and the sea. A rich young couple, Kate and Richard Banks, see the charred remains of what was once his house, and decide they want Mayfield to come out of retirement and re-build the house for them. Mayfield, flattered by the attention and attracted by the challenge, agrees. Kate hires him to redesign the house and asks a young Hollywood friend, Gaby (Sangiacomo), to make a documentary record, a film of the building of the house. She learns that Mayfield's work made considerable impact on his colleagues and experts in the field, but for some reason he never achieved great public fame. The house was not finished, and the incidents surrounding its failure to be completed caused the tragic death of his young son, and possibly the end of his career. Mayfield works hard to make a new design. After getting it approved by Kate he starts construction with the contractor he has hired to rebuild the house.

With Benicio Del Toro • Sean Penn • Naomi Watts • Danny Huston • Eddie Marsan • Melissa Leo • Clea DuVall • Charlotte Gainsbourg • Teresa Delgado • Marc Musso

From the Mexican writing-directing team behind the Oscar-nominated "Amores Perros" comes this explosive, emotionally charged English-language drama about a woman (Naomi Watts), her cheating lover (Sean Penn), and an ex-convict (Benicio Del Toro).

With Markita Boies • Toni Checchinato • Marie-Josee Croze • Sophie Lorain • Remy Girard • Dominique Michel • Louise Portal • Yves Jacques • Pierre Curzi • Dorothee Berryman • Isabelle Blais • Denis Bouchard • Yves Desgagnes • Sylvie Drapeau • Roy Dupuis • Mitsou Gelinas • Micheline Lanctot

A revisiting, some 15 years later, of the principal characters of Denys Arcand's 1986 comedy drama film, "The Decline of the American Empire". Rémy, now divorced and in his early fifties, is hospitalized. His ex-wife, Louise, asks their son Sébastien to come home from London where he now lives. Sébastien hesitates; he and his father haven't had much to say to one another for years now. He relents, however, and flies to Montreal to help his mother and support his father. As soon as he arrives, Sébastien moves heaven and earth, brings his contacts into play and disrupts the system in every way possible to ease the ordeal that awaits Rémy. Around his father's bedside, Sébastien also reunites the merry band of folk who were all players in Rémy's complicated past: relatives, friends and former mistresses.

With Bo-Lin Chen • Lun-Mei Guey • Joanna Chou • Shu-Hui Liang • Ming-Gin Cheng • Chin-Yen Yee

In this romantic triangle teen drama set in modern Taipei, high school students Ke-Rou (Lun-Mei Guey) and Yueh-Chen (Shu-Hui Liang) are best friends. When Yueh-Chen asks Ke-Rou to approach a boy, Shih-Hao (Bo-Lin Chen) that she has a crush on (but is too shy to ask), Shih-Hao unexpectedly asks Ke-Rou out instead. She excepts, but with a warning, because she has a secret: she thinks she might be a lesbian because she's actually in love with Yueh-Chen. Going out with Shih-Hao, however, is her chance to test herself to see if she is, or if she isn't...

With Lisa Lu • Vivian Wu • Chin Han • Anna Chi

Set in Los Angeles at home of the middle-class Hong family, a drama thriller in which many layers of deception in a bi-cultural clan are unraveled--upon the arrival of an intruder brandishing a gun.

With Djimon Hounsou • Paddy Considine • Sarah Bolger • Samantha Morton • Emma Bolger • Jim Sheridan • Kirsten Sheridan • Nye Heron • Arthur Lappin • Paul Myler • Naomi Sheridan

With their two young daughters in tow, Johnny and Sarah emigrate from Ireland to New York City in pursuit of a dream. The family uses ingenuity and sheer strength of will to make the most of their new life. Ultimately it is their kindness to a stranger and that stranger's response in return that builds their new home.

With Frances Fisher • Kim Dickens • Ben Kingsley • Jennifer Connelly • Shohreh Aghdashloo • Ron Eldard • Vadim Perelman • Jonathan Ahdout • Carlos Gomez

Based on the acclaimed bestseller by Andre Dubus III. Massoud Amir Behrani (Ben Kingsley) is living a lie to fulfill a dream. Once a member of the Shah of Iran's elite inner circle, he has brought his family to America to build a new life. Despite a pretense of continued affluence, he is barely making ends meet until he sees his opportunity in the auction of a house being sold for back taxes. It is a terrible mistake. Through a bureaucratic snafu, the house had been improperly seized from its rightful owner, Kathy Lazaro (Jennifer Connelly). The loss of her home tears away Kathy's last hope of a stable life—a life that had been nearly destroyed by addiction—and Kathy decides to fight to recover her home…at any cost.

With Jessica Alba • Mekhi Phifer • Missy Elliott • Sean Desmond • Bille Woodruff • David Moscow • Joy Bryant • Lil' Romeo • Zachary Williams • Lonette McKee • Genuine • Third Story • Tweet • The L.O.X

This is the story of Honey (Jessica Alba), a tough sexy dancer from the inner city, who becomes a successful music video choreographer, a career which is threatened when her mentor makes him either sleep with him... or get blacklisted within the industry. She ultimately decides to pursue her lifelong dream of opening her own dance studio for inner-city youths.

With Tom Cruise • Timothy Spall • Aoi Minato • Billy Connolly • Tony Goldwyn • Ken Watanabe • Hiroyuki Sanada • Shun Sugata • Edward Zwick • Shin Koyamada • Seizo Fukumoto • Schichinosuke Nakamura • Koyuki • Masato Harada • Sosuke Ikematsu

Set in the late 1870s, this epic film depicts the beginnings of the modernization of Japan, as the island nation evolved past a feudal society, as symbolized by the eradication of the samurai way of life. We see all this happen from the point of view of an alcoholic Civil War veteran turned Winchester guns spokesman, Captain Woodrow Algren (Tom Cruise), who arrives in Japan to train the troops of the emperor, Meiji, as part of a break away from the long-held tradition of relying on employed samurai warriors to protect territories, as the emperor's new army prepares to wipe out the remaining samurai warriors. When Algren is injured in combat and captured by the samurai, he learns about their warrior honor code from their leader, Katsumoto, which forces him to decide which side of the conflict he actually wants to be on.

With Scarlett Johansson • Cillian Murphy • Colin Firth • Tom Wilkinson • Judy Parfitt • Essie Davis • Alakina Mann • Leslie Woodhall • Peter Webber

A speculative account of the life of Griet, a 16-year-old girl who appears in Johannes Vermeer's painting of the same title. Set in 17th century Holland, Griet is employed by Vermeer as a housemaid to care for his six children, his jealous pregnant wife and his uncommunicative mother-in-law. Tensions arise when Vermeer's wife suspects intimacy between her husband and the girl--and then climax, when the wife discovers that Griet borrowed her precious pearl earrings to sit for the now famous portrait.

With Cate Blanchett • Karl Urban • Ian McKellen • Viggo Mortensen • Elijah Wood • Sean Astin • Peter Jackson • Marton Csokas • Billy Boyd • Philippa Boyens • Dominic Monaghan • Hugo Weaving • Stephen Sinclair • Liv Tyler • Bernard Hill • John Noble • Barrie M. Osborne • Fran Walsh • Phillippa Boyens

The third of the trilogy. As the shadow of Mordor grows across the land, Aragorn is revealed as the hidden heir to the ancient kings. Gandolf miraculously returns and defeats the evil wizard, Saruman. Sam leaves his master for the dead after a battle with the giant spider, Shelob; but Frodo is still alive--in the hands of the Orcs. And while the armies of the Dark Lord are massing--and the one ring comes ever closer to the Cracks of Doom.

With Julia Roberts • Kirsten Dunst • Topher Grace • Marcia Gay Harden • Ginnifer Goodwin • Maggie Gyllenhaal • Julia Stiles • Dominic West • Mike Newell

Academy Award®-winner Julia Roberts heads an all-star cast featuring Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Marcia Gay Harden in "Mona Lisa Smile", an uplifting and poignant drama about one woman's desire to enrich the lives of her students. In 1953, a time when women's roles were rigidly defined, novice art history professor Katherine Watson (Roberts) begins teaching at the prestigious all-female Wellesley College, which despite its academic reputation is an environment where success is measured by how well the students marry. Encouraging these women to strive for a more enlightened future, Watson challenges the administration and inspires her students to look beyond the image of what is, and consider the possibilities of what could be.

With James Franco • Neve Campbell • Malcolm McDowell • Christine Vachon • Domingo Rubio • Robert Altman • Joshua Astrachan • Barbara Robertson • Pamela Koffler • Barbara Turner

This ensemble drama portraits the life of several dancers of a Chicago troupe, focusing on a young dancer who's on the verge of becoming a principal dancer, but finds herself distracted by other interests.

With Toni Collette • Reg Evans • Yumiko Tanaka • Justine Clarke • Lynette Curran • Gotaro Tsunashima • Matthew Dyktynski • Kate Atkinson • John Howard • Bill Young • George Shevtsov • Sue Brooks

Sandy, a geologist, finds herself stuck on a field trip to the Pilbara desert with a Japanese man she finds inscrutable, annoying and decidedly arrogant. Hiromitsu?s view of her is not much better. Things go from bad to worse when they become stranded in one of the remotest regions on earth. Japanese Story is a journey of change and discovery for its two lead characters.