The 25 Best Movies About Musicians of All Time
by malthe-tuxen | created - 20 Dec 2018 | updated - 3 months ago | PublicMy 25 personal favorite movies about musicians of all time
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1. Amadeus (1984)
R | 160 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Roy Dotrice
Votes: 427,874 | Gross: $51.97M
2. The Red Shoes (1948)
Not Rated | 135 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann
Votes: 39,144 | Gross: $10.90M
3. La La Land (2016)
PG-13 | 128 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
While navigating their careers in Los Angeles, a pianist and an actress fall in love while attempting to reconcile their aspirations for the future.
Director: Damien Chazelle | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Rosemarie DeWitt, J.K. Simmons
Votes: 670,977 | Gross: $151.10M
4. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
R | 82 min | Comedy, Music
Spinal Tap, one of England's loudest bands, is chronicled by film director Marty DiBergi on what proves to be a fateful tour.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Kimberly Stringer
Votes: 147,336 | Gross: $4.74M
5. A Star Is Born (1954)
Passed | 154 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
A film star helps a young singer and actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career on a downward spiral.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson, Charles Bickford
Votes: 19,673 | Gross: $14.93M
6. Whiplash (2014)
R | 106 min | Drama, Music
A promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential.
Director: Damien Chazelle | Stars: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, Paul Reiser
Votes: 988,621 | Gross: $13.09M
7. Coco (I) (2017)
PG | 105 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family's ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer.
Directors: Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina | Stars: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach
Votes: 590,069 | Gross: $209.73M
8. Autumn Sonata (1978)
PG | 99 min | Drama, Music
A devoted wife is visited by her mother, a successful concert pianist who had little time for her when she was young.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Lena Nyman, Halvar Björk
Votes: 37,764
9. The Pianist (2002)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music
During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
Votes: 911,782 | Gross: $32.57M
10. The Piano Teacher (2001)
R | 131 min | Drama, Music
A young man romantically pursues his masochistic piano teacher.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Annie Girardot, Benoît Magimel, Susanne Lothar
Votes: 71,753 | Gross: $1.90M
11. Soul (2020)
PG | 100 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Joe is a middle-school band teacher whose life hasn't quite gone the way he expected. His true passion is jazz. But when he travels to another realm to help someone find their passion, he soon discovers what it means to have soul.
Directors: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers | Stars: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House
Votes: 379,470
12. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
R | 104 min | Drama, Music
A week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund
Votes: 163,441 | Gross: $13.24M
13. Green Book (2018)
PG-13 | 130 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A working-class Italian-American bouncer becomes the driver for an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South.
Director: Peter Farrelly | Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini, Sebastian Maniscalco
Votes: 571,436 | Gross: $85.08M
14. Almost Famous (2000)
R | 122 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A high-school boy in the early 1970s is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies them on their concert tour.
Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand
Votes: 293,302 | Gross: $32.53M
15. Sing Street (2016)
PG-13 | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A young lad notices a beautiful girl who begins to occupy his thoughts. While struggling with poverty, personal relationships and life's woes, he starts a band, hoping to catch her attention.
Director: John Carney | Stars: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Aidan Gillen, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Jack Reynor
Votes: 100,894 | Gross: $3.24M
16. Ray (I) (2004)
PG-13 | 152 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.
Director: Taylor Hackford | Stars: Jamie Foxx, Regina King, Kerry Washington, Clifton Powell
Votes: 157,372 | Gross: $75.33M
17. A Star Is Born (2018)
R | 136 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A musician helps a young singer find fame as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.
Director: Bradley Cooper | Stars: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott, Greg Grunberg
Votes: 419,228 | Gross: $215.29M
18. Elvis (2022)
PG-13 | 159 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The life of American music icon Elvis Presley, from his childhood to becoming a rock and movie star in the 1950s while maintaining a complex relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
Director: Baz Luhrmann | Stars: Tom Hanks, Austin Butler, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson
Votes: 234,330 | Gross: $151.04M
19. School of Rock (2003)
PG-13 | 109 min | Comedy, Music
After being kicked out of his rock band, Dewey Finn becomes a substitute teacher of an uptight elementary private school, only to try and turn his class into a rock band.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Jack Black, Mike White, Joan Cusack, Adam Pascal
Votes: 330,742 | Gross: $81.26M
20. Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
PG-13 | 134 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The story of the legendary British rock band Queen and lead singer Freddie Mercury, leading up to their famous performance at Live Aid (1985).
Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy
Votes: 592,570 | Gross: $216.43M
21. Walk the Line (2005)
PG-13 | 136 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.
Director: James Mangold | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick
Votes: 265,789 | Gross: $119.52M
22. La Vie En Rose (2007)
PG-13 | 140 min | Biography, Drama, Music
Biopic of the iconic French singer Édith Piaf. Raised by her grandmother in a brothel, she was discovered while singing on a street corner at the age of 19. Despite her success, Piaf's life was filled with tragedy.
Director: Olivier Dahan | Stars: Marion Cotillard, Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory, Emmanuelle Seigner
Votes: 90,729 | Gross: $10.30M
23. Straight Outta Compton (2015)
R | 147 min | Biography, Drama, History
The rap group NWA emerges from the mean streets of Compton in Los Angeles, California, in the mid-1980s and revolutionizes Hip Hop culture with their music and tales about life in the hood.
Director: F. Gary Gray | Stars: O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr.
Votes: 218,423 | Gross: $161.20M
24. Crazy Heart (2009)
R | 112 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A faded country music musician is forced to reassess his dysfunctional life during a doomed romance that also inspires him.
Director: Scott Cooper | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, James Keane
Votes: 94,647 | Gross: $39.46M
25. Control (2007)
R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A profile of Ian Curtis, the enigmatic singer of Joy Division whose personal, professional, and romantic troubles led him to die by suicide at the age of 23.
Director: Anton Corbijn | Stars: Sam Riley, Samantha Morton, Craig Parkinson, Alexandra Maria Lara
Votes: 68,542 | Gross: $0.87M
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