Music backdrop

Music movies

Stories where rhythm and melody take center stage, including biographies of legends and dance-filled spectacles.

Subgenres include: Narrative Musical, Jukebox Musical, Concert Film.

8 Mile

551. 8 Mile

Drama Music Entertainment Industry Drama Narrative Musical
7.2

20021h 51min

Germany, United States

Director: Curtis Hanson

For Jimmy Smith, Jr., life is a daily fight just to keep hope alive. Feeding his dreams in Detroit's vibrant music scene, Jimmy wages an extraordinary personal struggle to find his own voice - and earn a place in a world where rhymes rule, legends are born and every moment… is another chance.

Themes

Class inequality, Loyalty vs ambition, Working-class aspiration, Pursuit of voice, Street credibility, Family instability

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie

552. Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie

Adventure Animation Comedy Family Music
6.4

20021h 22min

United States

Director: Mike Nawrocki

Get ready as Bob the Tomato, Larry the Cucumber and the rest of the Veggies set sail on a whale of an adventure in Big Idea's first full-length, 3-D animated feature film. This is the story of Jonah and the Whale as you've never seen it before - a story where we learn that one of the best gifts you can give - or get - is a second chance.


24 Hour Party People

553. 24 Hour Party People

Comedy Drama Music Satire Entertainment Industry Drama
7.3

20021h 57min

United Kingdom, United States

Director: Michael Winterbottom

Manchester, 1976. Tony Wilson is an ambitious but frustrated local TV news reporter looking for a way to make his mark. After witnessing a life-changing concert by a band known as the Sex Pistols, he persuades his station to televise one of their performances, and soon Manchester's punk groups are clamoring for him to manage them. Riding the wave of a musical revolution, Wilson and his friends create the legendary Factory Records label and The Hacienda club.

Themes

Artists control, Ownership tensions, Subculture emergence, Finances strain, Media exposure, Industry risk

Available on

Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Video
Apple TV
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Rock Star

554. Rock Star

Music Drama Comedy Narrative Musical Entertainment Industry Drama
6.3

20011h 45min

United States

Director: Stephen Herek

A wannabe rock star who fronts a Pennsylvania-based tribute band is devastated when his bandmates kick him out of the group he founded. Things begin to look up for Izzy when he is asked to join Steel Dragon, the heavy metal rockers he had been imitating for so long. This film is loosely based on the true story of the band Judas Priest.

Themes

Creative independence, Relationship problems, Ambition of rock star, Fame and heavy metal, Bandmates loyalty, Mentorship versus exploitation

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

555. Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Comedy Music Drama Narrative Musical Dark Comedy
7.7

20011h 35min

United States

Director: John Cameron Mitchell

Raised a boy in East Berlin, Hedwig undergoes a personal transformation in order to emigrate to the U.S., where she reinvents herself as an 'internationally ignored' but divinely talented rock diva, inhabiting a 'beautiful gender of one'.

Themes

Gender identity negotiation, Exploitation within performance economy, Outsider status and belonging, Fame and personal cost, Ownership of creative work, Artistic integrity under pressure

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Moulin Rouge!

556. Moulin Rouge!

Drama Romance Music Passionate Romance Narrative Musical
7.6

20012h 8min

Australia, United States

Director: Baz Luhrmann

A celebration of love and creative inspiration takes place in the infamous, gaudy and glamorous Parisian nightclub, at the cusp of the 20th century. A young poet, who is plunged into the heady world of Moulin Rouge, begins a passionate affair with the club's most notorious and beautiful star.

Themes

Duke leverage, Courtesan agency, Nightclub constraint, Tuberculosis stigma, Bohemian aspiration, Dance hall spectacle

Available on

Netflix
Amazon Video
Apple TV
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Save the Last Dance

557. Save the Last Dance

Drama Family Romance Music Family Drama
6.2

20011h 53min

United States

Director: Thomas Carter

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.

Themes

Friendship under strain, Romance amid conflict, Mentorship and responsibility, Family loss and resilience, Neighborhood belonging and tension, Artistic ambition under constraint

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
MGM+ Amazon Channel
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Billy Elliot

558. Billy Elliot

Drama Comedy Music Coming-of-Age Drama Dance-Centered Music Film
7.7

20001h 51min

France, United Kingdom

Director: Stephen Daldry

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

Themes

Class inequality, Pursuit of dreams, Mentorship and sacrifice, Working class solidarity, Identity and stigma, Generational loyalty

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Almost Famous

559. Almost Famous

Drama Music Coming-of-Age Drama Backstage & Showbiz Music
7.9

20002h 4min

United States

Director: Cameron Crowe

In 1973, 15-year-old William Miller's unabashed love of music and aspiration to become a rock journalist lands him an assignment from Rolling Stone magazine to interview and tour with the up-and-coming band, Stillwater.

Themes

Loyalty and betrayal, Coming of age on tour, Groupie culture and desire, Fame and exploitation, Creative ambition under pressure, Mentorship and gatekeeping

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Duets

560. Duets

Comedy Drama Music Buddy Comedy Entertainment Industry Drama
6.1

20001h 52min

United States

Director: Bruce Paltrow

Duets is a road-trip comedy which revolves around the little known world of karaoke and the whimsical characters who inhabit it. All roads lead to Omaha, site of a national karaoke competition where this motley group of singers and stars come together for a blow-out sing-off.

Themes

Economic precarity on tour, Belonging via performance, Competition as social glue, Drug-based anxiety coping, Family seeking reconciliation, Risk and violence on tour

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.