Best movies like Shine
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Pianist David Helfgott, driven by his father and teachers, has a breakdown. Years later he returns to the piano, to popular if not critical acclaim.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: inspirational, emotional, feel good, intense, realistic, poignant, touching, thought provoking, epic, sad
Best tv shows and movies like Shine (1996):
Similar in 90%
Farinelli (1994)
Plot Summary:
Farinelli is a 1994 biopic film about the life and career of Italian opera singer Farinelli, considered one of the greatest castrato singers of all time.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: France, Italy, Belgium, UK
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: realistic, heartbreaking, factual, sexy, emotional, disturbing, touching, erotic, dramatic, visual
Similar in 87%
Mozart's Sister (2010)
Plot Summary:
A re-imagined account of the early life of Maria Anna 'Nannerl' Mozart, five years older than Wolfgang and a musical prodigy in her own right.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, captivating, entertaining, heartbreaking, period piece, historical drama, gloomy, crying
Similar in 90%
Callas Forever (2002)
Plot Summary:
A fictionalized account of the last days of opera singer Maria Callas (Ardant).
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Italy, France, Spain, UK, Romania
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, realistic, serious, crying
Similar in 83%
Immortal Beloved (1994)
Plot Summary:
The life and death of the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven. Beside all the work he is known for, the composer once wrote a famous love letter to a nameless beloved and the movie tries to find out who this beloved was. Not easy as Beethoven has had many women in his life.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Mystery, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: emotional, visual, costume drama, informative, dramatic, visually stunning, touching, epic, intellectual, gothic
Similar in 90%
Marina (2013)
Plot Summary:
The true story of Rocco Granata, an Italian coal miner's son who followed his passion for music against his father's wishes and social barriers.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Belgium, Italy
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: touching, sentimental, sincere, realistic, feel good, sad, visual, serious
Similar in 87%
Mao's Last Dancer (2009)
Plot Summary:
At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he fell in love with an American woman. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, independent film, powerful, captivating, realistic, stylized, crying
Similar in 89%
Nowhere Boy (2009)
Plot Summary:
The drama tells the story of Lennon's teenage years and the start of his journey to becoming a successful musician. The story also examines the impact on his early life and personality of the two dominant females in his childhood.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, intense, sincere, touching, witty, feel good, realistic, semi serious, teen
Similar in 85%
Love & Mercy (2014)
Plot Summary:
The life of reclusive and eccentric Beach Boys songwriter and musician Brian Wilson.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: emotional, factual, melancholic, talky, intense, serious, touching, inspirational, philosophical, intellectual
Similar in 79%
Copying Beethoven (2006)
Plot Summary:
A fictionalised exploration of Beethoven's life in his final days working on his Ninth Symphony. It is 1824. Beethoven is racing to finish his new symphony. However, it has been years since his last success and he is plagued by deafness, loneliness and personal trauma. A copyist is urgently needed to help the composer. A fictional character is introduced in the form of a young conservatory student and aspiring composer named Anna Holtz. The mercurial Beethoven is skeptical that a woman might become involved in his masterpiece but slowly comes to trust in Anna's assistance and in the end becomes quite fond of her. By the time the piece is performed, her presence in his life is an absolute necessity. Her deep understanding of his work is such that she even corrects mistakes he has made, while her passionate personality opens a door into his private world.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: Germany, UK, Hungary
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, realistic, serious, stylized, period piece, psychological, inspirational, sincere, spiritual
Similar in 80%
Beyond the Sea (2004)
Plot Summary:
Based on the life and career of legendary entertainer, Bobby Darin, the biopic moves back and forth between his childhood and adulthood, to tell the tale of his remarkable life. Kevin Spacey did his own singing for Beyond the Sea, recreating Bobby Darin's vocal style with uncanny accuracy.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music, Musical
Country: UK, Germany, USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, stylized, intense, realistic, inspirational, indie film, serious, independent film, light
Similar in 84%
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (2010)
Plot Summary:
A glimpse at the life of French singer Serge Gainsbourg, from growing up in 1940s Nazi-occupied Paris through his successful song-writing years in the 1960s to his death in 1991 at the age of 62.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: France
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: surreal, atmospheric, lyrical, visually appealing, captivating, sincere, touching, thought provoking, stylized, intense
Similar in 81%
Lennon Naked (2010)
Plot Summary:
A profile of John Lennon in the late 1960s as the Beatles are set to fall apart.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, period piece, gloomy, iconic
Similar in 85%
Amadeus (1984)
Plot Summary:
The incredible story of genius musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told in flashback by his peer and secret rival Antonio Salieri – now confined to an insane asylum.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 421000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA, France
Duration: 160 min
Plot tags: inspirational, epic, costume drama, clever, period piece, visual, atmospheric, visually appealing, historical drama, captivating
Similar in 82%
La Bamba (1987)
Plot Summary:
Biographical story of the rise from nowhere of singer Ritchie Valens whose life was cut short by a plane crash.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, hispanic, intense, suspense, sentimental, serious, sincere, captivating, emotional
Similar in 81%
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Plot Summary:
Singer Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and bass guitarist John Deacon take the music world by storm when they form the rock 'n' roll band Queen in 1970. Hit songs like "Killer Queen", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "We Are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You" become instant classics. When Mercury's increasingly wild lifestyle starts to spiral out of control, Queen soon faces its greatest challenge yet – finding a way to keep the band together amid the success and excess.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 576000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, rough, informative, sad, historical drama, tragic ending, sexy, motivational, retro
Similar in 83%
Elvis (2022)
Plot Summary:
The life story of Elvis Presley as seen through the complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 221000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 159 min
Plot tags: touching, historical drama, thought provoking, captivating, realistic, disturbing, semi autobiographical, inspirational, meta, costume drama
Similar in 79%
Control (2007)
Plot Summary:
Control is the biography of Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis, taking his story from schoolboy days of 1973 to his suicide on the eve of the band's first American tour in 1980.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 68000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: UK, USA, Australia, Japan, France
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: depressing, atmospheric, black and white, stylized, sad, touching, melancholic, harsh, lyrical, bleak
Similar in 78%
Candy (2006)
Plot Summary:
A poet falls in love with an art student, who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle -- and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: disturbing, depressing, romantic, touching, emotional, sexy, independent film, realistic, erotic, crying
Similar in 85%
The Legend of 1900 (1998)
Plot Summary:
The story of a virtuoso piano player who lives his entire life aboard an ocean liner. Born and raised on the ship, 1900 (Tim Roth) learned about the outside world through interactions with passengers, never setting foot on land, even for the love of his life. Years later, the ship may be destroyed, and a former band member fears that 1900 may still be aboard, willing to go down with the ship.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 68000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Italy
Duration: 169 min
Plot tags: touching, breathtaking, sincere, inspirational, sentimental, philosophical, unusual plot structure, sad, stylized, costume drama
Similar in 90%
August Rush (2007)
Plot Summary:
A drama with fairy tale elements, where an orphaned musical prodigy uses his gift as a clue to finding his birth parents.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 110000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA, South Korea
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, sentimental, feel good, romantic, sad, emotional, spiritual, crying, thought provoking
Similar in 86%
Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)
Plot Summary:
In 1965, passionate musician Glenn Holland takes a day job as a high school music teacher, convinced it's just a small obstacle on the road to his true calling: writing a historic opus. As the decades roll by with the composition unwritten but generations of students inspired through his teaching, Holland must redefine his life's purpose.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: inspirational, emotional, touching, sentimental, sincere, serious, realistic, dramatic, sad, motivational
Similar in 80%
Ray (2004)
Plot Summary:
Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered couping gospel and country together.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 155000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 152 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, sincere, emotional, captivating, sentimental, dramatic, psychological, motivational, romantic
Similar in 77%
What's Love Got to Do with It (1993)
Plot Summary:
A film about the singer Tina Turner and how she rose to stardom with her abusive husband Ike Turner and how she gained the courage to break free.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: inspirational, sincere, intense, serious, emotional, touching, intellectual, hood, captivating, realistic
Similar in 83%
Selena (1997)
Plot Summary:
In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham, realizes that his young daughter is talented and begins performing with her at small venues. She finds success and falls for her guitarist, Chris Perez, who draws the ire of her father. Seeking mainstream stardom, Selena begins recording an English-language album which, tragically, she would never complete.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: touching, sad, factual, sincere, emotional, hispanic, sentimental, historical drama, informative, uplifting
Similar in 75%
Whiplash (2014)
Plot Summary:
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 952000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: motivational, dramatic, psychological, realistic, intense, inspirational, independent film, melancholic, harsh, exciting
Similar in 80%
Awakenings (1990)
Plot Summary:
Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy research physician, uses an experimental drug to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease. Leonard is the first patient to receive the controversial treatment. His awakening, filled with awe and enthusiasm, proves a rebirth for Sayer too, as the exuberant patient reveals life's simple but unutterably sweet pleasures to the introverted doctor.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 155000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: inspirational, motivational, sentimental, sincere, uplifting, psychological, touching, serious, cerebral, emotional
Similar in 88%
Temple Grandin (2010)
Plot Summary:
A biopic of Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who has become one of top scientists in humane livestock handling.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, sincere, compassionate, emotional, feel good, thought provoking, intense, visually appealing, psychological
Similar in 77%
The Theory of Everything (2014)
Plot Summary:
The Theory of Everything is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 474000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Japan
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: touching, uplifting, emotional, inspirational, compassionate, thought provoking, heartbreaking, dramatic, factual, sentimental
Similar in 76%
The Chorus (2004)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1940's France, a new teacher at a school for disruptive boys gives hope and inspiration.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 66000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, Switzerland, Germany
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: touching, inspirational, uplifting, emotional, sentimental, feel good, educational, realistic, epic, art house
Similar in 86%
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Plot Summary:
At Princeton University, John Nash struggles to make a worthwhile contribution to serve as his legacy to the world of mathematics. He finally makes a revolutionary breakthrough that will eventually earn him the Nobel Prize. After graduate school he turns to teaching, becoming romantically involved with his student Alicia. Meanwhile the government asks his help with breaking Soviet codes, which soon gets him involved in a terrifying conspiracy plot. Nash grows more and more paranoid until a discovery that turns his entire world upside down. Now it is only with Alicia's help that he will be able to recover his mental strength and regain his status as the great mathematician we know him as today.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 972000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: psychological, touching, cerebral, emotional, motivational, dramatic, intellectual, thought provoking, captivating, factual