Crime Drama
A type of drama that focuses on the lives, actions and moral dilemmas of criminals, often stressing the notion that crime doesn't pay. Unlike crime thrillers, these films usually offer a more serious, grim and realistic portrayal of the criminal environment, emphasizing character development and complex narratives over bloody action sequences, gunplay and violence. Closely related to the gangster subgenre, crime drama differs in the often low-key portrayal of the criminal protagonists, rather than the flash and heroic conventions dominating the former. Sometimes, in the case of The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Once Upon a Time in America and Goodfellas, films can contain elements of both, starting as gangster pictures and settling into slower, more contemplative narrative conventions of the crime drama. Often in these films, protagonists are looking for a way out of the criminal lifestyle, only to find themselves trapped. Many of the finest pure examples of this brand of filmmaking arrived following the post-war years, after the arrival of modernism in film. They first were found in film noir (Out of the Past, The Killers, They Live by Night). Other later examples include In Cold Blood, Dog Day Afternoon and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie.
Featured Films:
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| Rating | MPAA | Year | Title |
 | R | 2009 | Life Is Hot in Cracktown |
 | PG13 | 2009 | Fighting |
| R | 2009 | The Limits of Control |
 | 2009 | The Fish Child | |
 | PG13 | 2008 | The Dark Knight |
| R | 2008 | What Doesn't Kill You |
| NR | 2008 | Revanche |
| NR | 2008 | Gomorrah |
 | NR | 2008 | Off Jackson Avenue |
 | R | 2008 | In Bruges |
| R | 2008 | Julia |
| R | 2008 | Yonkers Joe |
| R | 2008 | Le Silence de Lorna |
| R | 2007 | We Own the Night |
| NR | 2007 | Savage Grace |
| PG13 | 2007 | Flawless |
 | R | 2007 | The Babysitters |
| R | 2007 | American Gangster |
| R | 2007 | City of Men |
| 2006 | Aces | |
| 2006 | Confessions of a Gangsta | |
| R | 2006 | The Dead Girl |
| R | 2006 | Infamous |
| R | 2006 | Alpha Dog |
| R | 2006 | Freedomland |
| R | 2005 | Carlito's Way: Rise to Power |
| PG13 | 2005 | Batman Begins |
| R | 2005 | Capote |
| R | 2005 | Four Brothers |
| 2005 | Iowa | |
| R | 2005 | Tsotsi |
| 2005 | Bones [TV Series] | |
| 2005 | Human Trafficking | |
| R | 2005 | Shadowboxer |
| R | 2005 | Two for the Money |
| R | 2005 | Revolver |
| R | 2005 | State Property 2 |
| 2005 | Havoc | |
| 2005 | The Beat That My Heart Skipped | |
| 2005 | 20 Funerals | |
| 2005 | Slingshot | |
| 2005 | Kojak [TV Series] | |
| R | 2005 | Lady Vengeance |
| R | 2005 | Confession |
| R | 2004 | The Edukators |
| R | 2004 | Cake |
| 2004 | Lustre | |
| R | 2004 | The Clearing |
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