12 South African movies you've probably never seen

The more you begin to delve into the vast library of South African movies on Showmax, the more you find you want to watch. The array is nothing short of dazzling with a wide range of genres, multiple languages (with subtitles, of course), top acting talent, world class production values, and stories written especially for us.

This tip-of-the-iceberg collection includes examples of the underrated short film format too, which offer brilliant examples of succinct narratives. Love a film? Try our recommendations for stories with a similar vibe or themes. 

Quick links

1. The Chemo Club

2. Sterring

3. Vaya

4. Glasshouse

5. Kaalgat Karel

6. Love, Lies & Hybrids

7. Mr Johnson

8. Swirl: A Letter to Hair on the Cape Flats

9. Tannie Elsie

10. Tshepo

11. uMakoti Wethu

12. Umnisamvula

12 must-see South African movies you might have missed

1. The Chemo Club

Lulu (Brümilda van Rensburg) and Faith (Lillian Dube) embark on a heist to recover stolen funds from Grant Roberts (Chris Chameleon), the slimy manager of Trusted Pensions and Investments. To execute their plan, Lulu, a sharp-tongued old lady from hell who needs to pay for her cancer treatments, and Faith, a gentle, church-going granny who’s scared of authority figures but wants to support her family, need to draw on their former careers as the models for 1970s photo-story action adventure comics. Lulu? No. Meet Tessa the Sex Goddess. Faith who? Meet She, the martial arts babe kicking butt in white high heeled boots and a micro-mini.

And because a good heist needs a squad of experts with different skills, Tessa and Lulu rope their goody-two-shoes old colleague Gerhard (Tobie Cronjé) the photographer into their scheme, along with Sivu (Rea Rangaka), a photo-story obsessed media studies student. Prepare for comic shenanigans, and a real blast from South Africa’s past for fans of heroes like Die Swart Kat, Chunkie Charlie, Juweel, and Big Ben. PS: She was a real photo-story title, with Linda Mhlongo playing She.

Also watch: The Adventures of Supermama, Die Man Met die Snor, Leading Lady, Die Groot Twis

2. Sterring

This Setswana action comedy is great family fun, with an entertainment obsessed hero at its heart (so relatable)! Inspired by 90s action movie stars like Sylverster Stallone and Chuck Norris, Ramz (Mathews Rantsoma) dreams of becoming a hero who can take down bullies like Shaka (Sabelo Majola). His dream turns into reality when he accidentally saves a superstar actress from a mugging, earning him the reputation of a real-life Sterring. His newfound fame puts him in the crosshairs of Bra Tony (Siphiwe Nkosi), a powerful businessman and underground drug kingpin whose empire in Shoshanguve starts crumbling because of Ramz’s growing influence. 

While Sterring is ready to support Ramz’ big dreams, the film also contains a warning for fame obsessed youth – that being famous for who you are rather than what you do is a dangerous game, because it makes it easy for people to manipulate you.

Also watch: Kings of Mulberry Street, Nul Is Nie Niks Nie, Maskandi Queen, Ken Jy My Nou?

3. Vaya

Three people board the train to Johannesburg, each hoping to find a family member to help them. Zanele (Zimkitha Nyoka) is taking a young girl named Zodwa (Azwile Chamane-Madiba) to be reunited with her mother, Thobeka (Nomonde Mbusi). Nkulu (Sibusiso Msimang) must fetch his coal miner father's body for burial, and Nhlanhla (Sihle Xaba) is expecting to start working at the job his gangster cousin Xolani (Warren Masemola) promised him. But they all find themselves betrayed or abandoned, at the mercy of the city. 

Director Akin Omotoso blends moments of comedy with heart-wrenching drama and realism as all three storylines slowly twist together in Hillbrow and Soweto, and the film tackles issues like human trafficking, loss of innocence, the wealth divide, and alcohol abuse.

Also watch: The Tokoloshe, Tess, u-Carmen eKhayelitsha, Thando

4. Glasshouse

This one is, it has to be said, a little weird, but visually stunning. It’s classified as dystopian, and set in a world in which a neurological toxin called The Shred destroys people’s minds and erases their memories.

A family of a stern mother, her three daughters, and one son who is a bit demented, have created a safe space inside a greenhouse where they cultivate plants for food and for safe oxygen. One day a handsome stranger arrives and is brought into the fold. Naturally there are repercussions, and suspect recollections. Even on a normal day, our brain plays tricks on us.

Also watch: Apokalips, My Beskermer, Wesens, Limnale, The Fix, Gaia, Benjamin

5. Kaalgat Karel

In this sweet and innocent rom com, Karel (Francois Jacobs) inseminates cows for a living and streaks at public events for YouTube likes in his spare time, egged on by his best mate Flip (Schalk Bezuidenhout). After a painful misadventure, Karel is rescued by a pretty paramedic single mom, for whom he develops feelings.

Unfortunately, she’s not particularly taken with his streaking so Karel has to decide what’s more important, especially when the object of his desire is being courted by a smarmy handsome plastic surgeon.

Also watch: Poena, Poena Season 1, Swaaibraai, Khaki Fever

6. Love, Lies & Hybrids

An engaged couple and a best friend. All the elements for a triangle of love and lust. In this case, Daniel (Alexander Maniatis) is Sophia’s (Shamilla Miller) best friend, and his fiancée Jessica (Meghan Oberholzer) is the one tangling the sheets with Sophia. The two women head off to Daniel’s family home in a beautiful country setting to enjoy some sexy time before he joins them.

"You have to tell him,” says Sophia. “I will, I’m just waiting for the right time,” says Jessica. Of course there’s no such thing as the right time – not even when Daniel arrives unexpectedly in the middle of the night and climbs into bed with both women. All the relationship permutations are challenged and tested, and choices have to be made.

Also watch: Expiry Date, No Love Lost, Forever Yena, Not My Type, Vir Altyd, 

7. Mr Johnson

Imagine waking up from a 47-year coma. Your last memory is being 26 years old, in love, filled with invincibility and with your whole life ahead of you, with all its hopes, plans and dreams. Now, not only are you old and wrinkled, a trauma in itself, but you have to learn to use your ancient body again, in a world that has bewilderingly moved on.

The inimitable Paul Slabolepzy stars in the titular role in this story about second chances. Mr Johnson is one of the sweetest, gentlest movies you can hope to watch. You’re reeled slowly in to engage with the protagonist, who has the enthusiasm and innocence – and fashion sense and recklessness – of a much younger man, combined with the realities of ageing. There’s a twist or three in the last few minutes of the film that will tug at the heartstrings, after you’ve been seduced by moments of tender humour.

Also watch: Voor Ek Vergeet, Altyd Pa, Dominee Tinie, ’n Tyd Van Waterpere, Tjommies, Abomkhulu

8. Swirl: A Letter to Hair on the Cape Flats

To the rest of the world, swirl means “move in a twisting or spiralling pattern”. On the Cape Flats, it’s how women coax their natural curls inside a stocking cap to achieve and maintain straight hair, “good” hair. It’s a generations-old practice involving harsh chemical treatments in the quest for perceived beauty.

Our heroine is Elaine Williams (Chanelle Davids), a hairdressing student who specialises in hair straightening, including her own. But when it starts falling out and life seems to be falling apart along with it, she has to take stock of the situation. How crazy is it that leaving your hair natural is a revolutionary act, she asks? This movie is about learning to love yourself, and the empowerment that brings. Also in the cast are Ilse Klink and the late, great Shaleen Surtie-Richards in one of her last roles.

Also watch: Mince Jou Hare Season 1, Barakat, 36 DDD, Susters, Baber

9. Tannie Elsie

Antoinette Kellerman is a living legend. In this 50-minute film, she plays Tannie Elsie, an old-age-home resident with a penchant for pranks and practical jokes. The head nurse Sister Rut (Esther van Waltsleben) begs her to stop when Meneer Bruwer (Hans Brümmer) is due to inspect the home.

Elsie promises, but when the Christmas Eve dinner proves too boring to endure, she spikes the tipsy tart with brandy. Elsie puts Die Heuwels Fantasies on the CD player and everyone gets way more than tipsy – not bad for less than a bottle. Suster Rut is terrified of losing her job, and makes a deal with Elsie – one last prank, and it’s a doozie…

Also watch: Hans Steek Die Rubikon Oor, ’n Snuf In Die Neus, Steek vir Steek, Elsa en Magriet Op Skou

10. Tshepo

In this Sesotho gangster drama, Tshepo (Mpho Shebang) is an innocent young man from Lesotho. When his father dies, he finds out he owes a seemingly insurmountable debt so he heads for Soweto to find work. There he runs into childhood friend Neo (Khojane Morai), who’s a debt collector for the local Godfather (Molefi Monaisa).

Trying to stay on the right side of things, Tshepo gets a job at Bra Jake's tavern but when that debt keeps climbing (plus his girlfriend is pregnant), he accepts Neo’s offer to be the Godfather’s bookkeeper. Then a job goes wrong, someone is shot, and Tshepo must go on the run.

Also watch: iNumber Number, Tsotsi, Noem My Skollie, Nommer 37, Sons of the Sea

11. uMakothi Wethu

The main ingredients in this pot are Khatu (SAFTA winner Fulu Mugovhani), her husband Sizwe (Melusi Mbele), the woman in the middle Nobuhle (Kwanele Mthethwa), and Sizwe’s horrendous mother Nokuthula (Duduzile Ngcobo).

Sizwe is a doctor, one who is surprisingly resistant to being checked out by another doctor when Khatu struggles to conceive. Anyway. The plan hatched by Sizwe and Nokuthula is for him to take a second wife – Nobuhle, who hasn’t been consulted on the matter. Her reluctance has a lot to do with the fact she prefers Khatu. As it turns out, Khatu is not opposed to this.

Also watch: Something About Busi, Welcome to the Family, 

12. Umnisamvula

Zanemvula (Bohlokwa Mpiti) is rejected by his father after his mother dies in childbirth, and to add insult to injury, the baby is blind, and therefore deemed useless. The father orders his employee to kill the infant. He can’t bring himself to do this so he fashions a little boat from a plastic bottle and sets the child afloat on a river, ala Moses.

As in the bible story, the babe is found and adopted, and much loved. Many years later, it’s discovered he has the ability to summon rain. In a time of drought for his birth village, Zanemvula has the opportunity to save the very people who spurned him – but can he put the past behind him?

Also watch: Mkhonto, The Butcher’s Soul, The Return