Narrative Musical movies

Vibe

Realistic Tense Intimate Stylish Hopeful

Overview

Charles Price may have grown up with his father in the family shoe business in Northampton, central England, but he never thought that he would take his father's place. Charles has a chance encounter with the flamboyant drag queen cabaret singer Lola and everything changes.

Themes

Class inequality, Gender performance, Labor instability, Factory resilience, Market pressure, Collaboration across roles

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Playful Bright Heartwarming Intimate Stylish

Overview

A tale of delinquent and lazy school girls. In their efforts to cut remedial summer math class, they end up poisoning and replacing the school's brass band.

Themes

Belonging through group work, Deception and improvisation, Peer pressure and coercion, Pursuit of skill under constraint, Identity formed by performance, Collective resilience and adaptation

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Tense Deliberate Intense Measured Vast

Overview

A musical romantic tragedy about a famous composer who moves back to his small hometown after having had heart troubles. His search for a simple everyday life leads him into teaching the local church choir, which is not easily accepted by the town yet the choir builds a great love for their teacher.

Themes

Community pressure, Mentorship through music, Underdog resilience through art, Domestic violence and escape, Suppressed past, Simple life vs ambition

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Vibe

Tense Dynamic Dry Energetic Satirical

Overview

Fired from his band and hard up for cash, guitarist and vocalist Dewey Finn finagles his way into a job as a fifth-grade substitute teacher at a private school, where he secretly begins teaching his students the finer points of rock 'n' roll. The school's hard-nosed principal is rightly suspicious of Finn's activities. But Finn's roommate remains in the dark about what he's doing.

Themes

Appearance vs reality, Private school pressure, Music as empowerment, Peer validation, Talent vs authority, Role expectations

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Vibe

Fast-paced Stylish Intense Energetic Nerve-wracking

Overview

Four talented alien musicians are kidnapped by a record producer who disguises them as humans. Shep, a space pilot in love with bass player Stella, follows them to Earth. Reprogrammed to forget their real identities and renamed The Crescendolls, the group quickly becomes a huge success playing soulless corporate pop. At a concert, Shep manages to free all the musicians except Stella, and the band sets out to rediscover who they really are — and to rescue Stella.

Themes

Deception and manipulation, Commodification of art, Memory control and autonomy, Identity through performance, Exploitation in the music industry, Resistance and awakening

Vibe

Tense Heartwarming Dry Witty Cynical

Overview

Three eclectic, never-quite-famous folk bands come together for the first time in decades following the death of their manager to put on an reunion concert in his honor, at the request of his son.

Themes

Authenticity vs performance, Intergenerational transmission of craft, Satire of showbiz, Fading fame and legacy, Romantic tension within groups, Reunion under pressure

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Vibe

Realistic Steady Intimate Witty Charged

Overview

A talented street drummer from Harlem enrolls in a Southern university, expecting to lead its marching band's drumline to victory. He initially flounders in his new world, before realizing that it takes more than talent to reach the top.

Themes

Class inequality, Talent versus discipline, Institutional pressure, Teamwork and unity, Mentorship and growth, Competition culture, Honor and loyalty

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Vibe

Realistic Tense Raw Claustrophobic Fast-paced

Overview

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

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Vibe

Steady Dynamic Dry Chaotic Stylish

Overview

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

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Vibe

Tense Relentless Fast-paced Stylish Gritty

Overview

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

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