What better excuse does one need to cuddle up on the couch under the blankets and settle in for some Black romance films than Valentine’s Day?
Whether you’re in the mood for a laugh-out-loud comedy, a swoon-worthy melodrama, or a steamy love affair, Black cinema has got the range. While Black romance films feel rarer than blue diamonds, over the years, some major films have entered the zeitgeist. We’ve got our juggernauts like “Love & Basketball” and “The Best Man,” which capture Black love in all of its complexity. Then we have slightly newer editions like “Really Love” and “Moonlight,” which depict Black love’s beauty.
You could be planning a cozy date night in, a gathering with your crew, or a solo mission — either way, we’ve rounded up 15 must-watch Black romance movies below. While this list is non-exhaustive, there is something for every vibe.
1. Rye Lane (2023)
Follow two young adults dealing with fresh breakups who meet and spend one random day together in South London.
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
2. Really Love (2020)
In what is part love story and part love letter to the DMV, “Really Love,” is the story of what happens when a painter (Kofi Siriboe) and a lawyer (Jade Eshete) based in Chocolate City become embroiled in a whirlwind romance.
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
3. Sylvie’s Love (2020)
After Sylvie (Tessa Thompson) takes a summer job at her father’s Harlem-based record shop, she soon finds herself in a lively and jazz-filled romance with a saxophonist (Nnamdi Asomugha).
Related: Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha melt the screen in ‘Sylvie’s Love’ trailer
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
4. The Photograph (2020)
Issa Rae and LaKeith Stansfield star in this love story about a late photographer’s estranged daughter who discovers an old photo by her mother and, with it, an unexpected romance of her own.
Related: Issa Rae cancels sold-out event at the Kennedy Center following Trump’s takeover
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
5. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
Director Barry Jenkins delivers an emotional love story about a family and a beautiful love story unfolding in 1970s Harlem that is suddenly broken up by the often unjust justice system.
Related: Regina King wins first Oscar for “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
6. Moonlight (2016)
In this Oscar-winning coming-of-age story, a boy becomes a man in Miami and eventually learns how to let another man love him.
Related: In bizarre mix-up, ‘Moonlight’ wins Best Picture at Oscars
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
7. Think Like A Man (2012)
When a group of women get their hands on Steve Harvey’s book “Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man” and begin to use its strategies in their own dating lives, the men in their lives barely know what hit them…until they do!
Related: 7 thoughts about Drake and PartyNextDoor’s ‘$ome $exy $ongs 4 U’ collaboration album
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
8. Just Wright (2010)
Queen Latifah plays a physical therapist thrilled to take on a job working with a star from her favorite basketball team (Common). However, things take a turn when he begins to fall for her.
Related: Queen Latifah’s top 5 singing moments
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
9. Love & Basketball (2000)
Childhood friends evolve into an adult game of will they or won’t they as they pursue professional basketball careers in this classic starring Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps.
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
10. The Best Man (1999)
A man (Taye Diggs) is headed to fulfill his Best Man duties at the bachelor party of his best friend. There’s just one problem: the book he just published is a thinly veiled fictionalization of his friends’ love lives.
Related: The Wayans family are the latest inductees in the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
11. How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)
See what happens in this epic 90s classic when heartbroken stockbroker, Stella (Angela Bassett), retreats to Jamacia for an escape and ends up falling in love with a younger, extremely handsome local (Taye Diggs).
Related: 20 years after ‘Hitch’ smashed box office records, Will Smith is reportedly developing a sequel
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
12. Love Jones (1997)
Larenz Tate and Nia Long star as Darius and Nina, lovers in Chicago who get on so well that it scares Nina. She abruptly leaves Chi-Town to head to New York City and the arms of her former fiancé —that is, unless Darius has something to do with it.
Related: Issa Rae becomes a club partner of San Diego FC ownership group
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
13. Jason’s Lyric (1994)
Jason (Allen Payne) is striving for more in a rough part of Houston when he meets Lyric (Jada Pinkett Smith). The two fall in love, and Jason is left with his future in one hand and something from his past he must contend with in the other.
Related: Amandla Stenberg addresses the controversy surrounding her casting in ‘Children of Blood and Bone’
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
14. Poetic Justice (1993)
Still mourning the death of her boyfriend, Justice (Janet Jackson) a poet and a hairdresser, ends up in the back of a postal worker’s — Lucky’s (Tupac) — truck after her car breaks down on the way to a convention. Hell-bent on not letting love in again; Justice may have just met her match in Lucky!
Related: ‘Harlem’ Season 3 series finale recap: To happy endings, fulfilling relationships and…to ‘Harlem’
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
15. Claudine (1974)
In this epic classic, Diahann Carroll stars as Claudine, a single mother in New York City who works as a maid in an affluent white community who meets and falls for Roop, played by the late James Earl Jones. However, when Roop learns of her children, he’s left deciding between their blossoming love and accepting fatherhood.
Related: Michael B. Jordan says he’s ‘lonely’ at times but not looking
Follow us on MSN to see more exclusive content.
!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“has-featured-video”,”true”)})}(); ( () => { ( ( cb ) => { window.tpd = window.tpd || {}; if ( true === tpd.cmpReady ) { console.log( ‘[TPD][Brid] CMP was already ready, running player.’ ); cb(); return; } let tpdCmpReadyListener = () => { console.log( ‘[TPD][Brid] CMP ready event fired, running player.’ ); window.removeEventListener( ‘tpd:cmpCb’, tpdCmpReadyListener ); cb(); }; window.addEventListener( ‘tpd:cmpCb’, tpdCmpReadyListener ); } )( () => { let s = document.createElement( ‘script’ ); s.src = ‘https://player.target-video.com/player/build/targetvideo.min.js’; s.async = true; let target = document.getElementById( ‘Brid_21951’ ); target.parentElement.insertBefore( s, target ); window._bp = window._bp || []; window._bp.push( {“div”:”Brid_21951″,”obj”:{“id”:”41122″,”width”:”1280″,”height”:”720″,”stickyDirection”:”below”,”playlist”:”21951″}} ); } ); } )();
More must-reads:
