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Movies that feel likePhiladelphia (1993)

Two competing lawyers join forces to sue a prestigious law firm for AIDS discrimination. As their unlikely friendship develops, their courage overcomes the prejudice and corruption of their powerful adversaries.

If you loved Philadelphia, the closest films we have are Farewell My Concubine (1993), Through the Olive Trees (1994) and I Am Sam (2001). All three share Philadelphia's contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Ulee's Gold (1997).

🍅 81% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Jonathan Demmecontemplative
7 of 12 streaming nowParamount Plus Premium · Criterion Channel · MUBI

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See it on the Mood Map

If Philadelphia hit the spot, these will too

Farewell My Concubine poster
Farewell My Concubine
1993 · dir. Chen Kaige
🍅 90%★ 8.1drama

The same preoccupation in both: lgbt

In an epic tale of theater, gender, love and class, two Beijing opera actors navigate political turmoil as their friendship evolves over decades.

Through the Olive Trees poster
Through the Olive Trees
1994 · dir. Abbas Kiarostami
🍅 89%★ 7.7drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

When the actor in a scene for his film Life And Nothing More… has to quit, a film director casts another man for the part. However, complications arise since the man and the woman who was cast for the scene know each other.

I Am Sam poster
I Am Sam
2001 · dir. Jessie Nelson
🍅 35%★ 7.6drama

Both are built on the same subject: lawyer

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

Sam, a neurodivergent man, has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them when they leave the hospital, leaving Sam to raise Lucy on his own. But as Lucy grows up, Sam's limitations as a parent start to become a problem and the authorities take her away. Sam convinces high-priced lawyer Rita to take his case pro bono and in turn teaches her the value of love and family.

Scent of a Woman poster
Scent of a Woman
1992 · dir. Martin Brest
🍅 82%★ 8drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

Charlie Simms is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, a cantankerous middle-aged man who lives with his niece and her family.

Raise the Red Lantern poster
Raise the Red Lantern
1991 · dir. Zhang Yimou
🍅 97%★ 8.1drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

In 1920s China, 19-year-old Songlian becomes a concubine of a powerful lord and is forced to compete with his three wives for the privileges gained.

Blind Chance poster
Blind Chance
1987 · dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
🍅 73%★ 7.7drama

Drama in the same key

Witek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.

Stand and Deliver poster
Stand and Deliver
1988 · dir. Ramón Menéndez
🍅 89%★ 7.3drama

Both are drama through and through

Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher in a school in a hispanic neighbourhood. Convinced that his students have potential, he adopts unconventional teaching methods to try and turn gang members and no-hopers into some of the country's top algebra and calculus students.

The Sacrifice poster
The Sacrifice
1986 · dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
🍅 88%★ 7.8drama

Both know what they want from drama

Alexander, a journalist, philosopher and retired actor, celebrates a birthday with friends and family when it is announced that nuclear war has begun.

Brainstorm poster
Brainstorm
2001 · dir. Laís Bodanzky
★ 7.7drama

Drama approached the same way

Neto is a middle class teenager living a normal life. After his father finds a marijuana cigarette on his pocket, he is sent to a mental institution, where he gets to know a completely absurd and inhumane reality in which people are devoured by a corrupt and cruel system.

Erin Brockovich poster
Erin Brockovich
2000 · dir. Steven Soderbergh
🍅 87%★ 7.5drama

The drama is handled with the same confidence

A twice-divorced mother of three who sees an injustice, takes on the bad guy and wins -- with a little help from her push-up bra. Erin goes to work for an attorney and comes across medical records describing illnesses clustered in one nearby town. She starts investigating and soon exposes a monumental cover-up.

You Can Count on Me poster
You Can Count on Me
2000 · dir. Kenneth Lonergan
🍅 95%★ 7.5dramaParamount+

Cut from the same drama cloth

A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely-seen younger brother returns to town.

Ulee's Gold poster
Ulee's Gold
1997 · dir. Victor Nuñez
🍅 94%★ 7drama

The same drama instincts

Third-generation Florida beekeeper Ulee Jackson may have gotten out of Vietnam alive, but he left a part of himself behind. Now he methodically tends his bees, carefully provides for his two grandchildren and keeps his emotions at bay. But when a long-buried secret threatens Ulee's business and family, he is forced to break through his emotional walls and confront the terror of his wounded spirit.

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The best-reviewed films that share Philadelphia’s defining feeling.