Movies Like Maria Full of Grace

If you liked Maria Full of Grace (2004), a drama and thriller movie directed by Joshua Marston, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
The Principal (1987)
★ 6.4/10Also crime and drama
Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the…
2
Braven (2018)
★ 6.2/10Also drama and thriller
A logger defends his family from a group of dangerous drug runners.
3
Traffic (2000)
★ 7.1/10Also thriller and drama
An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated…
4
The Infiltrator (2016)
★ 6.7/10Also crime and drama
A U.S Customs official uncovers a massive money laundering scheme involving Pablo Escobar.
5
Veronica Guerin (2003)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and crime
In this true story, Veronica Guerin is an investigative reporter for an Irish newspaper. As the drug trade begins to bleed into the mainstream, Guerin decides to take on and expose those responsible. Beginning at the…
6
The Baker (2023)
★ 6.2/10Also drama and crime
A quiet, stoic man, lives a monk-like existence in self-imposed exile. When his estranged son is killed in a drug deal gone bad, he is left to look after a granddaughter he never knew existed, and he is forced back…
7
Echo Valley (2025)
★ 6.5/10Also thriller and drama
Kate lives a secluded life—until her troubled daughter shows up, frightened and covered in someone else's blood. As Kate unravels the shocking truth, she learns just how far a mother will go to try to save her child.
8
Paradise Highway (2022)
★ 5.9/10Also thriller and crime
A truck driver has been forced to smuggle illicit cargo to save her brother from a deadly prison gang. With FBI operatives hot on her trail, Sally's conscience is challenged when the final package turns out to be a…
9
Midnight Express (1978)
★ 7.4/10Also drama and crime
Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of a country. The courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made…
10
Layer Cake (2004)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and thriller
When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, XXXX has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin...
11
Kids (1995)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and crime
A group of bored, disaffected New York City teenagers spend a day skating, smoking, drinking, partying, deflowering virgins, and getting into fights.
12
25th Hour (2002)
★ 7.3/10Also crime and drama
On the eve of a seven-year prison sentence, a New York drug dealer spends his final day of freedom confronting his past, his relationships, and the choices that led to his downfall in a city still reeling from 9/11.
13
Jackie Brown (1997)
★ 7.4/10Also crime and drama
Jackie Brown is a flight attendant who gets caught in the middle of smuggling cash into the country for her gunrunner boss. When the cops try to use Jackie to get to her boss, she hatches a plan — with help from a bail…
14
Straight from the Barrio (2008)
★ 8.1/10Also drama and crime
A young drug dealer falls in love while facing disruption among the men in his gang, and being offered a career as a Reggaetón singer.
15
Blow (2001)
★ 7.4/10Also crime and drama
The story of how George Jung, together with the Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar, established the billion-dollar cocaine empire in the United States in the 1970s.
16
Wardriver (2026)
★ 7.4/10Also thriller and crime
He’s a Wardriver: a hacker who steals from banks, not people—until he’s noticed. Now the money turns violent, and the woman caught in it could save him or kill them both.
17
The Whistleblower (2010)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and thriller
Nebraska cop Kathryn Bolkovac discovers a deadly sex trafficking ring while serving as a U.N. peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia. Risking her own life to save the lives of others, she uncovers an international conspiracy…
18
Shaft (1971)
★ 6.4/10Also crime and thriller
Cool Black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.
19
Paid in Full (2002)
★ 6.9/10Also crime and drama
Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch, goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing…
20
Clockers (1995)
★ 6.7/10Also crime and drama
Strike is a young city drug pusher under the tutelage of drug lord Rodney Little. When a night manager at a fast-food restaurant is found with four bullets in his body, Strike’s older brother turns himself in as the…