100+ Good Character-driven Movies & Shows to Watch

If you’re less about adventurous plots, and more about the emotional journey and relationship arcs, we’ve got you covered. Here are the best character-driven movies and shows to stream right now.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles
Margo’s Got Money Troubles
7.2
Show

Margo’s Got Money Troubles

Because of the format, Margo’s Got Money Troubles doesn’t quite have the same laugh-out-loud humor as the original novel– televised…

La Grazia (2025)
La Grazia (2025)
7.4
Movie|Venice Winner

La Grazia (2025)

In his last few months as president, Mariano de Santis has a few loose ends to tie up. This includes…

Boots
Boots
8.2
Show

Boots

Inspired by The Pink Marine memoir, Boots expands on Greg Cope White’s story to widen its perspective from one recruit…

Death by Lightning
Death by Lightning
8.1
Show

Death by Lightning

Out of all the presidents in American history, you’ll be hard pressed to remember James A. Garfield. That’s because the…

Task
Task
8.0
Show|Golden Globe

Task

From the creators of HBO’s Mare of Easttown comes Task, a gritty crime drama that follows two men —one cop…

Bob Trevino Likes It (2025)
Bob Trevino Likes It (2025)
7.9
Movie

Bob Trevino Likes It (2025)

With the anonymity of the internet, it’s hard to trust that the stranger on the other side would be a…

Pillion (2025)
Pillion (2025)
7.5
Movie

Pillion (2025)

Given the other depictions of BDSM on film, we weren’t sure how Pillion would turn out. Much more so with…

A Nice Indian Boy (2025)
A Nice Indian Boy (2025)
7.8
Movie

A Nice Indian Boy (2025)

Sure, many of the tropes in this feel-good romcom would be familiar. Naveen, a shy Indian doctor, loves Jay, a…

Sorry, Baby (2025)
Sorry, Baby (2025)
8.0
Movie

Sorry, Baby (2025)

In Sorry, Baby, an unspeakable act of cruelty disrupts Agnes’ ambitious rise to the top. Despite being a literature professor,…

The Beast in Me
The Beast in Me
7.5
Show|Golden Globe

The Beast in Me

What makes crime thrillers exciting isn’t necessarily the crime itself– it’s when the leads meet their match. The Beast in…

A Thousand Blows
A Thousand Blows
8.0
Show

A Thousand Blows

Created by Peaky Blinders showrunner Steven Knight, A Thousand Blows zooms in on the London Victorian underworld and follows three…

The Long Walk (2025)
The Long Walk (2025)
7.5
Movie|Venice

The Long Walk (2025)

The dystopian survival thriller isn’t concerned about the reasons behind its death marathon, only giving a short speech about a…

Nickel Boys (2024)
Nickel Boys (2024)
8.3
Movie|Oscar · Golden Globe · BAFTA

Nickel Boys (2024)

The first things that grab your attention in Nickel Boys are its beauty and technicality. Director RaMell Ross, a large-format…

The Substance (2024)
The Substance (2024)
8.3
Movie|Golden Globe · Oscar · Golden Globe Winner

The Substance (2024)

There is nothing quite like The Substance right now. It’s unsubtle, it’s provocative, and its satirical humor can be a…

His Three Daughters (2024)
His Three Daughters (2024)
8.2
Movie|Spirit Winner

His Three Daughters (2024)

Not everybody holds a good relationship with their sisters, but ideally, we get to reunite and repair things in a…

A Real Pain (2024)
A Real Pain (2024)
8.0
Movie|Golden Globe · Oscar · Sundance Winner

A Real Pain (2024)

A Real Pain is a deceptively simple film. There’s not a lot going on on the surface, but Eisenberg’s smart…

Like Water for Chocolate
Like Water for Chocolate
8.1
Show|Sundance · Golden Globe · BAFTA

Like Water for Chocolate

With the gorgeous period costumes, the romance, and the familial dynamics, you would think that Like Water for Chocolate’s latest…

All Shall Be Well (2024)
All Shall Be Well (2024)
7.4
Movie|Berlin Winner · Berlin

All Shall Be Well (2024)

While the film is calm, contemplative, and never goes into histrionics, there’s a deep-seated anger in All Shall Be Well…

The Brutalist (2024)
The Brutalist (2024)
7.8
Movie|Golden Globe · Oscar · Spirit

The Brutalist (2024)

Just a few minutes in, you can already feel the immensity of The Brutalist. The rousing score stirs you. The…

The Sympathizer
The Sympathizer
8.0
Show|Spirit

The Sympathizer

After the only war the Americans have lost, American post-Vietnam war portrayals tend to lean as patriotic revenge fantasies or…

Goodbye Julia (2023)
Goodbye Julia (2023)
7.7
Movie|Cannes Winner

Goodbye Julia (2023)

FreeTubiPlexHoopla

Amidst the chaos that occurred when South Sudan split from the nation, a man is shot dead. To make up…

Touch (2024)
Touch (2024)
7.7
Movie|Spirit

Touch (2024)

With the internet able to connect people from miles away, the concept of the one that got away has become…

Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
8.0
Show|Berlin

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

If you’re expecting the sleek, playful, and totally over-the-top spy shenanigans of 2005’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith, you’re not going…

One Day
One Day
7.8
Show|Berlin

One Day

With a film version that didn’t live up to the hype of the original novel, Netflix’s adaptation of One Day…

The Dead Don’t Hurt (2024)
The Dead Don’t Hurt (2024)
7.5
Movie

The Dead Don’t Hurt (2024)

Written, directed, and scored by Viggo Mortensen, The Dead Don’t Hurt is a visually stunning, emotionally potent, but still impressively…

The Gentlemen
The Gentlemen
7.7
Show

The Gentlemen

After the successful release of The Gentlemen (2019), it would have been easy to just continue the story with the…

The Greatest Night in Pop (2024)
The Greatest Night in Pop (2024)
7.7
Movie|Sundance

The Greatest Night in Pop (2024)

We Are the World is a charity single created for African famine relief. It was a smash success– it inspired…

Bird (2024)
Bird (2024)
7.3
Movie|BAFTA · Cannes

Bird (2024)

Given the genre being centered on a child protagonist, many coming-of-age stories sideline parents in the narrative, sometimes to the…

The Believers
The Believers
7.7
Show

The Believers

When people donate to temples, they rarely contemplate the way these donations are used for its upkeep and renovation, and…

Interior Chinatown
Interior Chinatown
7.5
Show

Interior Chinatown

When adapting a novel, television showrunners have to transform the text into video, so sometimes, things get cut, lines get…

Fancy Dance (2024)
Fancy Dance (2024)
7.6
Movie

Fancy Dance (2024)

Before she captivated the film world with her performance in Scorcese’s crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon, Lily Gladstone…

Monkey Man (2024)
Monkey Man (2024)
7.4
Movie|BAFTA

Monkey Man (2024)

Often deemed as South Asian John Wick, Monkey Man, of course, has plenty of the stylish action that’s been captivating…

Oddity (2024)
Oddity (2024)
7.3
Movie

Oddity (2024)

When modern systems like law enforcement and forensics fail to come up with definite answers to a murder, loved ones…

Griselda
Griselda
7.6
Show|Golden Globe

Griselda

With the success of Narcos, Netflix has created multiple shows about drugs in Latin America to the point that the…

Exhibiting Forgiveness (2024)
Exhibiting Forgiveness (2024)
7.5
Movie|Sundance

Exhibiting Forgiveness (2024)

Exhibiting Forgiveness does what it says in the title. The plot moves when a repentant family member returns to the…

Kübra
Kübra
7.7
Show

Kübra

Saints used to be given divine messages, but in the modern age, what if God, or any higher power, communicated…

Twilight of the Gods
Twilight of the Gods
7.5
Show|Berlin

Twilight of the Gods

Partially due to the surviving Norse myths, as well as certain modernized cinematic depictions, most people think of the Norse…

Criminal Record
Criminal Record
7.8
Show

Criminal Record

With the various police procedurals available online, it can feel like an oversaturated genre, at best. At worst, with the…

Frida (2024)
Frida (2024)
7.5
Movie|Oscar · Oscar Winner · BAFTA

Frida (2024)

Frida Kahlo is an iconic Mexican painter, not just because of her outstanding art, but also because of her outlook…

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