Movies like Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored (1996)
The best movies like Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored (1996) are Soul Food (1997), The Learning Tree (1969) and The Watsons Go to Birmingham (2013). If Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored hooked you with its romance and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPurple Hearts (2022)8.0/10 from 2,979 votes
- NewestA Jazzman's Blues (2022)Released 2022
Soul Food (1997)
Traditional Sunday dinners at Mama Joe's turn sour when sisters Teri, Bird and Maxine start bringing their problems to the dinner table in this ensemble comedy. When tragedy strikes, it's up to grandson Ahmad to pull the family together and put the soul back into the family's weekly gatherings.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Learning Tree (1969)
The story, set in Kansas during the 1920's, covers less than a year in the life of a black teenager, and documents the veritable deluge of events which force him into sudden manhood. The family relationships and enmities, the fears, frustrations and ambitions of the black teenager in small-town America are explored with a strong statement about human values.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The Watsons Go to Birmingham (2013)
In the Summer of 1963, Flint, Michigan is home to the Watsons, a close knit family. When 15 year-old Byron’s antics go over the top, his parents realize enough is enough and they decide the family needs a dose of Grandma Sands' no nonsense approach in Birmingham, Alabama. So the Watsons load up their 1948 Plymouth Brown Bomber and head South. When they finally make it to Birmingham, they meet Grandma Sands and her friend, Mr. Robert and discover that life is very different there than in Flint. During that historic summer, the Watsons find themselves caught up in something far bigger than Byron’s antics; something that will change their lives and country forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Feast of All Saints (2001)
Set in 19th-century New Orleans, the story depicts the gens de couleur libre, or the Free People of Colour, a dazzling yet damned class caught between the world of white privilege and black oppression.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Night Catches Us (2010)
After growing up during the tumultuous 1960s, ex-Black Panther Marcus returns to his home in Philadelphia in 1976 and reconnects with Pat, the widow of a Panther leader. Marcus befriends Pat's young daughter and attempts to conquer his demons. Interfering with Marcus's good intentions are the neighborhood's continuing racial and social conflicts, as well as old enemies and friends -- both with scores to settle.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Daughters of the Dust (1991)
In 1902, a Gullah family on the Sea Islands off South Carolina decide whether to migrate to the mainland, risking their unique cultural heritage.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJungle Fever (1991)
A successful and married black man contemplates having an affair with a white girl from work. He's quite rightly worried that the racial difference would make an already taboo relationship even worse.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSavannah (2013)
Savannah is the true story of Ward Allen, a romantic and bombastic character who rejects his plantation heritage for the freedom of life on a river. Ward navigates the change of early 20th century America on the wrong side of the law and society, his long-time friend, a freed slave named Christmas Moultrie, at his side. Master of Shakespeare, and the shotgun that provides Savannah's markets with fowl, Ward fights for his rights as a hunter. His charisma and eloquent rhetoric win the heart of a society woman who defies her father to marry him. An elderly Moultrie tells the story of life on the river with his friend to a little boy, who passes the legendary Ward Allen down to the next generation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Poetic Justice (1993)
Still grieving after the murder of her boyfriend, hairdresser Justice writes poetry to deal with the pain of her loss. Unable to get to Oakland to attend a convention because of her broken-down car, Justice gets a lift with her friend, Iesha, and Iesha's postal worker boyfriend, Chicago. Along for the ride is Chicago's co-worker, Lucky, to whom Justice grows close after some initial problems. But is she ready to open her heart again?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Women of Brewster Place (1989)
A multigenerational story of the lives of several black women who call an inner-city tenement home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Disappearing Acts (2000)
A struggling construction worker and an aspiring musician find themselves falling in love.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisG (2002)
A young Hip Hop star named Summer G falls for a middle to upper class sister while in college. After she rejects him for a fellow social climber, Summer G spends ten years building a Hip Hop empire, then moves to the Hamptons where he finds the object of his affections.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Huey P. Newton Story (2001)
The story of how the radical Huey P. Newton developed the Black Panther Party based on his 10-point program for social reform.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
A Jazzman's Blues (2022)
A tale of forbidden love and family drama unravels 40 years of secrets and lies against a soundtrack of juke joint blues in the Deep South.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMississippi Masala (1991)
Years after her Indian family was forced to flee their Uganda home, twentysomething Mina finds herself co-operating a motel in the faraway land of Mississippi. Her passionate romance with charming Black carpet cleaner Demetrius challenges the prejudices of their conservative families and exposes the rifts between the region's Indian and African-American communities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Everlasting (2016)
Bridger is a young outsider who's always wanted more. He and his mother flee an abusive home, eventually finding a small town in the middle of nowhere. Once there, Bridger finds true acceptance with another misfit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between (2022)
Clare and Aidan make a pact to break up before college — no regrets, no broken hearts. But will one epic goodbye date offer them a last chance at love?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMansfield Park (1999)
Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy relatives, the Bertrams, where she is treated poorly by most except her cousin Edmund. Her life is complicated by the arrival of the worldly Mary and Henry Crawford.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNothing But a Man (1964)
Railroad laborer Duff Anderson struggles to maintain his dignity and marriage to a preacher's daughter in the racially segregated South.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisElephant Walk (1954)
Colonial tea planter John Wiley, visiting England at the end of World War II, weds lovely English rose Ruth and takes her home to Elephant Walk, Ceylon, where the local elephants have a grudge against the plantation. Ruth's delight with the tropical wealth and luxury of her new home is tempered by isolation as the only white woman in the district; her husband's occasional imperious arrogance; a mutual physical attraction with plantation manager Dick Carver; and the hovering, ominous menace of the hostile elephants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSave the Last Dance (2001)
After the death of her mother, Sara moves to the South Side of Chicago to live with her father and gets transferred to a majority-black school. Her life takes a turn for the better when befriends Chenille and her brother Derek, who helps her with her dancing skills.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReally Love (2020)
A rising black painter tries to break into a competitive art world while balancing an unexpected romance with an ambitious law student.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Best of Me (2014)
A pair of former high school sweethearts reunite after many years when they return to visit their small hometown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Sun Is Also a Star (2019)
Two young New Yorkers begin to fall in love over the course of a single day, as a series of potentially life-altering meetings loom over their heads - hers concerning her family’s deportation to Jamaica, and his concerning an education at Dartmouth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMoonlight Mile (2002)
As he copes with the death of his fiancee along with her parents, a young man must figure out what he wants out of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Easily Broken (2009)
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPurple Hearts (2022)
An aspiring musician agrees to a marriage of convenience with a soon-to-deploy Marine, but a tragedy soon turns their fake relationship all too real.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Lost Husband (2020)
Trying to put her life back together after the death of her husband, Libby and her children move to her estranged Aunt's goat farm in central Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWuthering Heights (1992)
Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored?
The closest matches to Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored are Soul Food (1997), The Learning Tree (1969) and The Watsons Go to Birmingham (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored?
People who watched Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored most often go on to Soul Food (1997), The Learning Tree (1969) and The Watsons Go to Birmingham (2013).
What is the highest-rated movie like Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored?
Purple Hearts (2022), rated 8.0/10 by 2,979 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored?
A Jazzman's Blues (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored?
Yes: Soul Food (1997), The Learning Tree (1969) and The Watsons Go to Birmingham (2013).
How are movies similar to Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.