Movies like Paljas (1998)
The best movies like Paljas (1998) are Skin (2009), The Color of Friendship (2000) and Disgrace (2008). If Paljas hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)7.3/10 from 326 votes
- NewestGoodbye June (2025)Released 2025
Skin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Color of Friendship (2000)
Mahree Bok lives on a farm in South Africa. Her father is a policeman who cannot hide his joy when activist Steve Biko is caught by the South African authorities. Piper Dellums is the daughter of a US congressman from California and who lives in a nice home in Washington DC. When Mahree is chosen to spend a semester at the Dellums' house, she doesn't expect that her host family would be black. Nor do her hosts suspect that she is not a black South African.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDisgrace (2008)
Disgrace is the story of a South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his good looks, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect his cherished daughter. After having an affair with a student, he moves to the Eastern Cape, where he gets caught up in a mess of post-apartheid politics.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Nest (2020)
Rory is an ambitious entrepreneur who brings his American wife and kids to his native country, England, to explore new business opportunities. After abandoning the sanctuary of their safe American suburban surroundings, the family is plunged into the despair of an archaic '80s Britain and their unaffordable new life in an English manor house threatens to destroy the family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lords of Discipline (1983)
Will arrives for his last year at Military Academy, in the Deep South USA, in the 1960's. A black student, Pearce, has been accepted, for the first time and Will is asked to keep an eye out for the inevitable racism. The racists come in the form of The Ten, a secret group of the elite students. They want Pearce to leave on his own free will, but are prepared to torture him to make it 'his free will'. Will is forced to help Pearce and he is prepared to risk his own career to do so.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGigi & Nate (2022)
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Power of One (1992)
PK, an English orphan terrorized for his family's political beliefs in Africa, turns to his only friend, a kindly world-wise prisoner, Geel Piet. Geel teaches him how to box with the motto “fight with your fists and lead with your heart”. As he grows to manhood, PK uses these words to take on the system and the injustices he sees around him - and finds that one person really can make a difference.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Kindness of Strangers (2019)
Clara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, the family meets Alice, who gets them into an emergency shelter. While stealing food at a Russian restaurant called ‘Winter Palace’, Clara meets Marc, who has been given the chance to help the old eatery regain its former glory. The ‘Winter Palace’ soon becomes a place of unexpected encounters between people who are all undergoing some sort of crisis and whom fate has now brought together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisO.G. (2018)
Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSarafina! (1992)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoly Lands (2019)
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGoodbye June (2025)
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Road Dance (2022)
A young girl lives in the Outer Hebrides in a small village in the years just before WWI. Isolated and hard by the shore, her life takes a dramatic change when a terrible tragedy befalls her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSink (2016)
‘Sink’ tells the story of Rachel, a Mozambican domestic worker based in Johannesburg, who is forced to make a devastating choice after her daughter drowns whilst under the care of her employer; return to poverty stricken Mozambique or continue working for the family responsible for the death of her child so she can support her extended family back home. The story is a haunting exploration of motherhood, loss and the walls that separate people.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Harvesters (2018)
South Africa, Free State region, isolated stronghold to the Afrikaans white ethnic minority culture. In this conservative farming territory obsessed with strength and masculinity, Janno is different, secretive, emotionally frail. One day his mother, fiercely religious, brings home Pieter, a hardened street orphan she wants to save, and asks Janno to make this stranger into his brother. The two boys start a fight for power, heritage and parental love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisPappa Lap 'n Verhaal van n pa en sy dogter (1971)
The picture explores the relationship between a poor widower and his 17-year-old daughter. She dreams of a matric farewell, the handsome boy in her class and a long, white dress. He secretly sells his beloved pigeons to make her a red dress, but in the meantime a teacher also makes Chrissie a dress: a white, elegant dress. Which one will Chrissie choose?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bopha! (1993)
In this story of a black policeman during South African apartheid, Danny Glover plays the cop, who believes he's trying to help his people, even while serving as a pawn of the racist government. When his son gets involved in the anti-apartheid movement, he finds himself torn between his family and what he believes is his duty.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
REM (2019)
"REM" is an Afrikaans Sci-Fi Drama about a grief-stricken father, Dehan, who becomes obsessed with the memory of his late wife, Lena, through the use of a high-tech, dream-altering device, the REM. This unhealthy obsession leads to Dehan struggling to reconnect with his young son, Erich, who survived the car accident that caused Lena's death. Dehan must decide to face and to confront his grief, reconnecting with his son, or to become so immersed in his fantasy dream-world that he loses touch with reality, and Erich, altogether.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Geel Trui vir 'n Wenner (1983)
The film takes place during the annual Rapport International Cycling Tour. Two brothers compete as Cain and Abel against each other. Not only for the coveted trophy, but also a girl who stole both hearts. A young champion must learn overnight to accept the harsh reality of adult life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Godless City (1958)
One of the earliest exploitation films from South Africa, directed and produced by independent film maker Pierre D. Botha. This is a classic example of a ‘restless youth’ film. The action takes place in Johannesburg (The Godless city of the title) and focuses on the youth sub culture of the ‘Ducktails’ (“a white youth gang subculture which emerged within post Second World War South Africa. Rebellious, hedonistic, apolitical and showing little respect for the law, education or work”).
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Niemandsland (TBA)
Just after the Anglo-Boer War, a dispute arises when Ester returns home from a concentration camp only to find that her cousin and her English-speaking husband have moved into Ester's house.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mirage Squadron (1975)
Lt. Gerhard Muller is the son of a pilot who was killed while flying with the South African Air Force in Korea. At the time his best friend and fellow pilot, Chris Fourie, was the only one to return from their mission and since then there have been various rumours about what happened. Now Gerhard is joining a Mirage squadron at Waterkloof Air Force Base, where Fourie will be his immediate superior. In addition his grandfather, Colonel Greeff, is the base commander. Also joining the squadron is Gerhard's best friend, Martin Bekker, who is the only one who knows about Gerhard's recent dizzy spells. It also emerges that there was a relationship between Gerhard's mother and Commander Fourie before she and his father got married.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Poena Is Koning (2007)
Poena is Koning follows the sexual awakening of Poena Pieterse and his high school buddy Vaatjie, who have decided that they have to lose their virginity by the time they finish school. But they've picked the worst moment to embark on their sexual escapade – it's matric exam time and their quest results in major distractions from their studies. The consequences are dire.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Like Paljas and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Paljas?
The closest matches to Paljas are Skin (2009), The Color of Friendship (2000) and Disgrace (2008). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Paljas?
Start with Skin (2009), the closest match to Paljas.
What is the highest-rated movie like Paljas?
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980), rated 7.3/10 by 326 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Paljas?
Goodbye June (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Paljas chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Paljas, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.