Movies Like Sophiatown

If you liked Sophiatown (2003), a movie directed by Pascale Lamche, 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
Sarafina! (1992)
★ 6.2/10
A Soweto schoolgirl named Sarafina is galvanized to protest apartheid after her teacher is arrested for her activism, leading her to join the student resistance movement.
2
Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
★ 6.8/10
In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.
3
Escape from Pretoria (2020)
★ 7.2/10
South Africa, 1978. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, two white political activists from the African National Congress imprisoned by the apartheid regime, put a plan in motion to escape from the infamous Pretoria Prison.
4
Searching for Sugar Man (2012)
★ 7.9/10
Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock 'n' roller, Rodriguez.
5
Paris Blues (1961)
★ 6.5/10
During the 1960s, two American jazz musicians living in Paris meet and fall in love with two American tourist girls and must decide between music and love.
6
When We Were Kings (1996)
★ 7.6/10
It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both…
7
Cadillac Records (2008)
★ 7.1/10
The story of sex, violence, race and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, and the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta…
8
Uncut Gems (2019)
★ 7.2/10
A charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act…
9
Amy (2015)
★ 7.6/10
A documentary on the life of Amy Winehouse, the immensely talented yet doomed songstress. We see her from her teen years, where she already showed her singing abilities, to her finding success and then her downward…
10
The Harder They Come (1972)
★ 6.6/10
Ivanhoe Martin arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, looking for work and, after some initial struggles, lands a recording contract as a reggae singer. He records his first song, "The Harder They Come," but after a bitter…
11
The Glenn Miller Story (1954)
★ 7/10
A vibrant tribute to one of America's legendary bandleaders, charting Glenn Miller's rise from obscurity and poverty to fame and wealth in the early 1940s.
12
Crooklyn (1994)
★ 6.8/10
From Spike Lee comes this vibrant semi-autobiographical portrait of a school-teacher, her stubborn jazz-musician husband and their five kids living in '70s Brooklyn.
13
Born to Be Blue (2015)
★ 6.5/10
Jazz legend Chet Baker finds love and redemption when he stars in a movie about his own troubled life to mount a comeback.
14
Bessie (2015)
★ 6.4/10
The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.
15
Tupac: Resurrection (2003)
★ 7.9/10
Home movies, photographs, and recited poetry illustrate the life of Tupac Shakur, one of the most beloved, revolutionary, and volatile hip-hop MCs of all time.
16
The Dogs of War (1980)
★ 5.8/10
Mercenary soldiers Jamie and Drew are hired by a large corporation to liberate Zangaro, a small African nation, from an despot. Havoc ensues.
17
Stander (2003)
★ 6.2/10
The life and career of Andre Stander, a South African police officer turned bank robber.
18
District 9 (2009)
★ 7.5/10
Thirty years ago, aliens arrive on Earth. Not to conquer or give aid, but to find refuge from their dying planet. Separated from humans in a South African area called District 9, the aliens are managed by…
19
The Bang Bang Club (2011)
★ 6.6/10
In the early to mid '90s, when the South African system of apartheid was in its death throes, four photographers - Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and João Silva - bonded by their friendship and a sense…
20
Whiplash (2014)
★ 8.4/10
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.