Best movies like Boris Godounov
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Zulawski tackles Modest Mussorgsky’s famous opera about the bloody battle for ascendancy to the throne of Russia in the 17th-century! With a score conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, Zulawski adds extra layers of devilish meta-textual embellishment by composing the film’s imagery as though we are watching a theater piece of a film crew making a movie about the opera of “Boris Godounov”! As well, the picture is full of delightful anachronisms that mock the then-contemporary Russian government, alongside jabs at other 20th-century dictatorships. So incensed was Rostropovich by Zulawski’s juiced final product — one that took liberties with the narrative’s sexual thrust, amongst other things — that he (unsucessfully) took Zulawski to court for “the violation of the Russian soul”! “Impressive in its use of whirling camera movements as well as mega close-ups of the contracted faces of its singers, ‘Boris Godounov’ is one of the most original opera movies ever made”.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 369
Genere: Musical, Drama
Country: France, Spain, Yugoslavia
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: visual, experimental, avant garde
Best tv shows and movies like Boris Godounov (1989):
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Life Is a Bed of Roses (1983)
Plot Summary:
In this whimsical fable, Resnais deftly interweaves three story lines: the creation of an early-20th-century utopia; romantic high jinks at a school conference; and a fantasy sparked by F/X pioneer Georges Méliès.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Musical
Country: France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: clever, offbeat, humorous, serious, witty, stylized
Similar in 75%
Aida (1985)
Plot Summary:
La Scala went all out for its 1986 production of this grandest of grand operas, with a strong cast and, most important for a video recording, a larger-than-life staging. The Triumph Scene in Act II is by no means Aida's only attraction, but it is the part that makes the strongest and most lasting impression and it is the visual and musical climax of this production. Stage director Luca Ronconi brings on a procession to dwarf all processions: looted treasures, heroic statuary, miserable captives struggling under the lash of whip-bearing slave drivers. On par with these visuals is Lorin Maazel's first-class performance of the popular Grand March with the outstanding La Scala chorus and orchestra. In Act III, the contrasting tranquility of the Nile Scene also gets a visual treatment to match the music's qualities.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 62
Genere: Drama, Musical, Romance
Country: Italy, UK
Duration: 160 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
New Wave (1990)
Plot Summary:
A hitchiker (Alain Delon) is taken in by a wealthy industrialist (Domiziana Giordano).
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Switzerland
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: avant garde, experimental, art film
Similar in 86%
The Big Departure (1972)
Plot Summary:
An experimental film from the painter and sculptor Martial Raysse.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 50
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 71 min
Plot tags: avant garde, experimental, allegory, weird
Similar in 90%
Lighter Fluid (2016)
Plot Summary:
An experimental look into the lives of teens and young adults in a dysfunctional town.
IMDB Rating:
IMDB Votes:
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 66 min
Plot tags: experimental
Similar in 78%
Calla Lily (2015)
Plot Summary:
An experimental drama, Melanie, who was drugged and raped in college. Now ten years later, she is in an abusive relationship and has a child. A chance encounter with someone from her past leads her to re-evaluate her past.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, France, Germany
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: experimental, underground film, avant garde, independent film
Similar in 90%
La Didone (2011)
Plot Summary:
Live performance by Les Arts Florissants at the Théâtre de Caen, recorded on 18 Octorber 2011. "One of the earliest operas deserving of the name, Didone is our first surviving musical version of the famous episode in Virgil's Aeneid where the Trojan Hero loves and then cruelly leaves the noble Dido." — from the DVD back cover.
IMDB Rating:
IMDB Votes:
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: France
Duration: 176 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
The Rose King (1986)
Plot Summary:
A mentally unstable woman and her son move to a sprawling mansion in Portugal to grow roses.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 284
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: West Germany, Portugal, France, Netherlands
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: art house
Similar in 76%
Stiffelio (2012)
Plot Summary:
Part of Tutto Verdi series - Stiffelio (2012) Parma. 'Stiffelio' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, from an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. The origin of this was the novel “Le pasteur d’hommes”, by Émile Souvestre, which was published in 1838. This was adapted into the French play 'Le pasteur, ou L'évangile et le foyer' by Émile Souvestre and Eugène Bourgeois. That was in turn translated into Italian by Gaetano Vestri as 'Stifellius'; this formed the basis of Piave's libretto.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 9
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: Germany, Italy
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
The Illiac Passion (1967)
Plot Summary:
Prometheus, on an Odyssean journey, crosses the Brooklyn Bridge in search of the characters of his imagination. After meeting the Muse, he proceeds to the "forest." There, under an apple tree, he communes with his selves, represented by celebrated personages from the New York "underground scene" who appear as modern correlatives to the figures of Greek mythology. The filmmaker, who narrates the situations with a translation of Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound , finds the personalities of his characters to have a timeless universality.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 40
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: avant garde, experimental, underground film, independent film
Similar in 80%
Deux fois (1968)
Plot Summary:
Deux fois is a 1968 experimental film by Jackie Raynal. Raynal stars in the film, her first as a director; she had previously worked for several years as a film editor, most notably for films in Éric Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales" series (she was, reportedly, the youngest professional editor in France at the time). The film's title, which literally translates as Twice and is sometimes translated into English as Twice Upon a Time, refers to the occasional repetition of scenes or actions.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 145
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: experimental, avant garde
Similar in 84%
Our Lady of the Turks (1968)
Plot Summary:
A man (Carmelo Bene) can not bear to be part of society. He considers himself a "jerk" and so invents its own philosophy, which involves the destruction of his land of Puglia where all citizens are devoted to the Catholic religion. However, the man can not destroy the belief of the pilgrims of Salento, because a woman would prevent that. It is an unknown "Santa Margherita", which tries to divert man from his weird and impossible philosophy. Successive scenes of the film show various situations unreal and dream in which the two protagonists try to obtain the best one on the other. After a blasphemous dialogue between monks, the man includes his whole philosophy in a Moorish building. In fact, this seems to have been the scene of the massacre of the famous 800 Martyrs of Otranto, which are considered by the scetic man the absolute death of Christianity.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 353
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: experimental, aesthetic, avant garde
Similar in 82%
Dog's Night Song (1983)
Plot Summary:
A priest arrives in a village and give advice and comfort to different people. He meets a wheelchair-bound former representative of the Communist party, a woman who is dying of tuberculosis and an astronomer who sings in a punk band.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 292
Genere: Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: avant garde, experimental, underground film
Similar in 88%
New old (1979)
Plot Summary:
Experimental film.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 103
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 67 min
Plot tags: experimental, avant garde
Similar in 77%
Chelsea Girls (1966)
Plot Summary:
Lacking a formal narrative, Warhol's art house classic follows various residents of the Chelsea Hotel in 1966 New York City, presented in a split screen with a single audio track in conjunction with one side of screen.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 210 min
Plot tags: underground film, experimental, avant garde, psychedelic, art house, art film, cult classic, independent film, gay cinema, queer cinema
Similar in 90%
Don Giovanni (1979)
Plot Summary:
Screen adapatation of Mozart's greatest opera. Don Giovanni, the infamous womanizer, makes one conquest after another until the ghost of Donna Anna's father, the Commendatore, (whom Giovanni killed) makes his appearance. He offers Giovanni one last chance to repent for his multitudinious improprieties. He will not change his ways So, he is sucked down into hell by evil spirits. High drama, hysterical comedy, magnificent music! (and unfortunately poor direction by film maker Joseph Losey. The final scene looks more like an industrial mishap than a supernatural event.).
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, Italy, West Germany
Duration: 176 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, emotional, realistic, stylized
Similar in 79%
In the Shadow of the Blue Rascal (1986)
Plot Summary:
300 kilos of heroin have disappeared in Necrocity, a city of terror—city of night—where Captain Speed has a gang, and the government hides the dead. Pierre Clémenti’s In the Shadow of the Blue Rascal (À l’ombre de la canaille bleue) is an experimental crime film considered to be a landmark of Parisian underground cinema.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 121
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: experimental, avant garde
Similar in 86%
Johanna (2005)
Plot Summary:
Johanna, a young drug addict, falls into a deep coma after an accident. Doctors miraculously manage to save her from death's doorstep. Touched by grace, Johanna cures patients by offering her body. The head doctor is frustrated by her continued rejection of him and allies himself with the outraged hospital authorities. They wage war against her but the grateful patients join forces to protect her. This is a filmic and musical interpretation of the Passion of Joan of Arc.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 525
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: Hungary
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, experimental, offbeat, sexual, sexy
Similar in 81%
The Public Woman (1984)
Plot Summary:
An inexperienced young actress is invited to play a role in a film based on Dostoyevsky's 'The Possessed'. The film director, a Czech immigrant in Paris, takes over her life, and in a short time she is unable to draw the line between acting and reality. She winds up playing a real-life role posing as the dead wife of another Czech immigrant, who is manipulated by the filmmaker into commiting a political assasination.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: erotic, avant garde, art house, deep, existential, cult classic, experimental, postmodern, political, weird
Similar in 79%
Black Tights (1960)
Plot Summary:
Live scenes of Paris and a continuity Narrator link together four dramatic choreographies, all by Roland Petit: Carmen (1949), La croqueuse de diamants (1950), Deuil en 24 heures (1953), and Cyrano de Bergerac (1959).
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 259
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: France, Portugal
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: anthology, feel good, captivating, realistic, stylized, semi serious
Similar in 76%
Tosca (2001)
Plot Summary:
Benoit Jacquot's acclaimed 2002 film of Puccini's opera stars Angela Gheorghiu in the title role, with Roberto Alagna, Ruggero Raimondi and the Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, under Antonio Pappano.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 448
Genere: Musical, Drama
Country: Italy, France, UK, Germany
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, sexy, sexual
Similar in 77%
Greendale (2003)
Plot Summary:
Neil Young's "musical novel", telling the story of a family, the murder of a cop and the evolution of a young girl named Sun Green. This is not a concert film. YOung himself shot actors on locations on his native Northern California home turf to craete his Greendale, a rural town that is a microcosm of a world in crisis. There is lots of music featured by Young and Crazy Horse. Special bonus features include "Making of" with brand new interviews with Neil and the cast; also 3 live performances of "Greendale" songs, more.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 446
Genere: Musical, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, experimental, captivating, independent film, offbeat, biting, suspense
Similar in 82%
Cremaster 5 (1997)
Plot Summary:
Cremaster 5 (55 min, 1997) is a five-act opera (sung in Hungarian) set in late-ninteenth century Budapest. The last film in the series, Cremaster 5 represents the moment when the testicles are finally released and sexual differentiation is fully attained. The lamenting tone of the opera suggests that Barney invisions this as a moment of tragedy and loss. The primary character is the Queen of Chain (played by Ursula Andress). Barney, himself, plays three characters who appear in the mind of the Queen: her Diva, Magician, and Giant. The Magician is a stand-in for Harry Houdini, who was born in Budapest in 1874 and appears as a recurring character in the Cremaster cycle.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 764
Genere: Musical, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: experimental, independent film, atmospheric, mind bending, offbeat, epic, serious, surreal, stylized, sexual
Similar in 81%
Eden and After (1970)
Plot Summary:
A group of French students are drawn into the psychological and sexual games of a mysterious Dutchman. Once they sample his "fear powder" the students experience a series of hallucinations.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Czechoslovakia, Tunisia
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: allegory, disturbing, erotic, psychological thriller, enigmatic, experimental, surreal, controversial, avant garde, weird
Similar in 80%
Boris Godunov (1986)
Plot Summary:
Praised for its fine photography and production design if not its narrative, Sergei Bondarchuk directed this adaptation of the tale by Alexander Pushkin. Boris Godunov came to the Czarist throne at the end of the 16th century, after the original heir to Ivan the Terrible had died. At first, things went well for Godunov (played by Bondarchuk), but when the Russian people began to believe he had killed Ivan the Terrible's son in order to gain the throne, an alliance sprang up against the new Czar. Events continued to spin out of control as a young monk was presented as the son Godunov had supposedly killed. Now he was openly accused of failing an assassination attempt, which seems to be even worse than succeeding. In addition to these woes, Boris Godunov began to suffer serious health problems. So much for the joys of kingship.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 279
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, West Germany, Poland
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: spiritual
Similar in 77%
Carmen in 3D (2011)
Plot Summary:
Passion, jealousy and betrayal take center stage at Londons Royal Opera House in a spectacular production of the worlds most popular opera. Bizets Carmen is packed with some of the best-loved and memorable music in all of opera. In this characteristically vivid and vibrant stage production by Francesca Zambello, beautifully filmed in 3D by Julian Napier, Seville is brought to life with ranks of soldiers, crowds of peasants, gypsies and bullfighters as well as a magnificent horse, a donkey and even some chickens! This spectacular RealD and Royal Opera House production features a supremely talented cast, gripping drama and Bizets energetic and passionate score. It is truly a musical event to remember!.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 85
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: UK
Duration: 170 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, stylized
Similar in 78%
Heart of Glass (1976)
Plot Summary:
A small Bavarian village is renowned for its "Ruby Glass" glass blowing works. When the foreman of the works dies suddenly without revealing the secret of the Ruby Glass, the town slides into a deep depression, and the owner of the glassworks becomes obssessed with the lost secret.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: West Germany
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: surreal, art house, disturbing, experimental, allegory, atmospheric, mind bending, psychedelic, psychological, serious
Similar in 86%
The Catcher in the Rye (2008)
Plot Summary:
This film consists of 75 minutes and 6 seconds of blue screen.
IMDB Rating: 2.0
IMDB Votes: 692
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: avant garde, psychological, captivating, disturbing, suspense, experimental, independent film, silent, silent film
Similar in 87%
I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse (1973)
Plot Summary:
Running away from the police, Aden goes to the desert where he meets an uncivilized man who has a special link with Mother-Earth. He ends up by convincing the hermit to come along with him into another desert... the big town!.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 950
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: surreal, disturbing, psychedelic, mind bending, experimental, controversial, avant garde, art house, psychotronic, deep
Similar in 86%
Tommy (1975)
Plot Summary:
A psychosomatically deaf, dumb and blind boy becomes a master pinball player and the object of a religious cult.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: UK
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: surreal, cult classic, stylized, visual, clever, mind bending, art house, psychotronic, cerebral, twisted