Best movies like Baal
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Plot Summary:
1982 BBC production of Bertholt Brecht's play Baal, starring and with music by David Bowie. Baal was the first full-length play written by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. It concerns a wastrel youth who becomes involved in several sexual affairs and at least one murder. It was written in 1918, when Brecht was a 20-year-old student at Munich University, in response to the expressionist drama The Loner (Der Einsame) by the soon-to-become-Nazi dramatist Hanns Johst. The play is written in a form of heightened prose and includes four songs and an introductory choral hymn ("Hymn of Baal the Great"), set to melodies composed by Brecht himself. Brecht wrote it prior to developing the dramaturgical techniques of epic theatre that characterize his later work, although he did re-work the play in 1926.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 311
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: UK
Duration: 64 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Baal (1982):
Similar in 79%
Romeo e Giulietta (1964)
Plot Summary:
First film adaptation of the renowned romantic work of William Shakespeare, "Romeo and Juliet", focused on the drama that must live two different families facing youth.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 49
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy, Spain
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Baal (1970)
Plot Summary:
Volker Schlöndorff transposes Bertolt Brecht’s late-expressionist work to latter-day 1969. Poet and anarchist Baal lives in an attic and reads his poems to cab drivers. At first feted and later rejected by bourgeois society, Baal roams through forests and along motorways, greedy for schnapps, cigarettes, women and men: ‘You have to let out the beast, let him out into the sunlight.’ After impregnating a young actress he soon comes to regard her as a millstone round his neck. He stabs a friend to death and dies alone. ‘You are useless, mangy and wild, you beast, you crawl through the lowest boughs of the tree.’.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 837
Genere: Drama
Country: West Germany
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
The Moving Creatures (2012)
Plot Summary:
Three families, in three different situations, have to deal with a sudden change in their lives, caused by a loss or a re encounter. Three mothers sing their love for their children while facing difficult times. A film about affection on the borders of painful happenings.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 101
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: Brazil
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: anthology
Similar in 76%
Madama Butterfly (1986)
Plot Summary:
Opera at La Scala Milan.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 29
Genere: Drama, Musical, Romance
Country: Italy, UK
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
The Saviour (1992)
Plot Summary:
Aapadbandhavudu is a 1992 Telugu film. It was the third collaboration between actor Chiranjeevi and director K. Viswanath after Shubhalekha and Swayamkrushi. The movie won critical acclaim, especially for Chiranjeevi, who received the Nandi Award for Best Actor & Filmfare Award for Best Actor - Telugu for his performance. This film marked Jandhyala's only screen appearance.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 442
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: India
Duration: 173 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
Saving Grace (1998)
Plot Summary:
Grace is a homeless teenager. She befriends an unemployed carpenter and he invites her to share his flat. She moves in and to her surprise a delicate relationship develops. He helps her repair her shattered self-esteem and she begins to feel loved and secure. But then she discovers his secret - he tells her he is Jesus Christ.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 81
Genere: Drama
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 76%
Blues (2012)
Plot Summary:
A modern adaptation of Cocteau's classic play "The Human Voice": A woman is waiting for her ex-boyfriend's last call.
IMDB Rating: 9.3
IMDB Votes: 30
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 84%
Hedda Gabler (1962)
Plot Summary:
Hedda Gabler has just come back from her honeymoon, married to boring but reliable academic George Tesman. Refusing to tie herself down in life and name, Hedda is banking on George being appointed a professorship to secure a better life for the young couple, However, the arrival of cleaned up ex-lover Eilert threatens to destroy everything.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 390
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
Cyrano (2021)
Plot Summary:
A man ahead of his time, Cyrano de Bergerac dazzles whether with ferocious wordplay at a verbal joust or with brilliant swordplay in a duel. But, convinced that his appearance renders him unworthy of the love of a devoted friend, the luminous Roxanne, Cyrano has yet to declare his feelings for her—and Roxanne has fallen in love, at first sight, with Christian.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Musical, Romance
Country: UK, Canada, USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, captivating, costume drama, inspirational, satirical, period drama
Similar in 76%
Cyrano de Bergerac (1985)
Plot Summary:
As incomparable in swordplay and wordplay as he is, the gallant soldier, philosopher, and poet Cyrano de Bergerac is as timid as a schoolboy before the fair Roxanne. Derek Jacobi delivers an electrifying award-winning portrayal of Rostand's legendary log-nosed swordsman in this highly acclaimed production from the world's premier theatre troupe, The Royal Shakespeare Company. The bold Cyrano boasts he can defeat a hundred men in a swordfight, but because of his grotesque nose lacks the confidence to court the woman he loves. Yet so entranced with Roxanne is Cyrano that he uses the eloquence of his poetry to woo her for a rival.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 116
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 176 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
Kamaladalam (1992)
Plot Summary:
Nandagopan (Mohanlal) is a respected dance teacher at the Kerala Kala Mandiram (alluding to the famed Kerala Kalamandalam repertory which performs Kerala's temple arts). However, his wife Sumangala (Parvathi) commits suicide, causing him to turn into an alcoholic and a compulsive rule breaker. He is suspected of having killed his wife and is suspended from his job for drunken misbehaviour. The new secretary of the institute Velayudhan (Nedumudi Venu) wants him to be sacked but his former reputation gives him a reprieve. He trains the talented student Malavika (Monisha) to perform in his ambitious composition of the Sita Kalyanam, but her jealous young lover Soman (Vineeth) poisons him.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 592
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: India
Duration: 154 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian (1984)
Plot Summary:
Sebastian, Chief Archer in the Roman Army, converts to Christianity. A favorite of Emperor Augustus, Sebastian's devotion to Christ eventually drives him to reject the Emperor's love, causing the Emperor to angrily order Sebastian to be shot with arrows by his fellow archers. The film retells this mystery play with a definite 'art-house' approach: an almost poetical use of language, singing, dancing, some homoerotic themes, and some special effects.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 107
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: West Germany
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
Nagara Haavu (1972)
Plot Summary:
This is the tale of an angry young man with flavours of Teacher-student relationship, the stubbornness of Ramachari (protagonist) and his attempts at having a romantic relationship.
IMDB Rating: 9.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: India
Duration: 184 min
Plot tags: kannada
Similar in 80%
A View from the Bridge (1962)
Plot Summary:
Eddie Carbone, a Brooklyn longshoreman is unhappily married to Beatrice and unconsciously in love with Catherine, the niece that they have raised from childhood. Into his house come two brothers, illegal immigrants, Marco and Rodolpho. Catherine falls in love with Rudolpho; and Eddie, tormented but unable to admit even to himself his quasi-incestuous love, reports the illegal immigrants to the authorities.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 553
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
The House of Bernarda Alba (1991)
Plot Summary:
A domineering,reclusive, and ostentatiously pious widow in a small Spanish town keeps such close watch on her daughters that they are unable to have normal social lives. However, the eldest is allowed to become engaged to an unprincipled young man, primarily for the financial advantages it will bring the mother, Bernarda. Jealousy and envy ensues among the other daughters.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 84
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
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 75%
Cuando tejen las arañas (1979)
Plot Summary:
Young woman tries to discover the family secret that led to her father being murdered, and she gradually is manipulated into a lesbian relationship.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 60
Genere: Drama
Country: Mexico
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: vintage
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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 80%
Cabaret (1993)
Plot Summary:
A filmed stage performance of the 1993 London revival. Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Skyfall) directed this new production for the Donmar Warehouse in London's West End. It supposedly only aired on television one time, though the theatrical production ran for about three and a half months.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 372
Genere: Musical, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Absolute Beginners (1986)
Plot Summary:
A musical adaptation of Colin MacInnes' novel about life in late 1950s London. Nineteen-year-old photographer Colin is hopelessly in love with model Crepe Suzette, but her relationships are strictly connected with her progress in the fashion world. So Colin gets involved with a pop promoter and tries to crack the big time. Meanwhile, racial tension is brewing in Colin's Notting Hill housing estate.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Musical, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: offbeat, cult classic, sentimental, serious, realistic, witty, crying, independent film, light, clever
Similar in 83%
Dear Evan Hansen (2021)
Plot Summary:
Film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical. The story follows Hansen, a high schooler with social anxiety. He unintentionally gets caught up in a lie after the family of a classmate who committed suicide mistakes one of Hansen’s letters for their son’s suicide note.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: USA, Japan, China
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, interactive
Similar in 89%
Master, Mistress and Servant (1962)
Plot Summary:
A Zamindar neglects his wife and prefers the company of alcohol and dancing girls. The decadence of the Bangali Zamindar milieu and the raising bourgeoisie in the late 19th century, seen through the eyes of a young upward mobile rustic seeking fortune in Calcutta, and fascinated by the lady of the house.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: India
Duration: 152 min
Plot tags: romantic, retro, entertaining, black and white, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 76%
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 81%
Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (2018)
Plot Summary:
The award-winning show is re-imagined as a live concert event, featuring an all-star cast of recording artists, set during the last week of Jesus' life as he deals with betrayal, love and jealousy, and told from the perspective of Judas.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating
Similar in 86%
Macbeth (1981)
Plot Summary:
An adaptation of Shakespeare's play.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 109
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 88%
Macbeth (1997)
Plot Summary:
In eleventh century Scotland, three witches foretell that Macbeth will become King, while Banquo will beget Kings. Macbeth accordingly has King Duncan slain, and is duly crowned in his place. But that's where his problems really begin.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 252
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 76%
Hamlet (2015)
Plot Summary:
From its sell-out run at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre comes a film version of this unique and critically acclaimed production of Hamlet with BAFTA-nominee Maxine Peake in the title role. This ground-breaking stage production, directed by Sarah Frankcom, was the Royal Exchange's fastest-selling show in a decade.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 129
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 184 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, serious, captivating, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Sarafina! (1992)
Plot Summary:
The plot centers on students involved in the Soweto Riots, in opposition to the implementation of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in schools. The stage version presents a school uprising similar to the Soweto uprising on June 16, 1976. A narrator introduces several characters among them the school girl activist Sarafina. Things get out of control when a policeman shoots several pupils in a classroom. Nevertheless, the musical ends with a cheerful farewell show of pupils leaving school, which takes most of act two. In the movie version Sarafina feels shame at her mother's (played by Miriam Makeba in the film) acceptance of her role as domestic servant in a white household in apartheid South Africa, and inspires her peers to rise up in protest, especially after her inspirational teacher, Mary Masombuka (played by Whoopi Goldberg in the film version) is imprisoned.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Musical
Country: South Africa, UK, France, USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: realistic, retro, political, uplifting, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, contemplative, light
Similar in 90%
Jesus Christ Superstar: Live Arena Tour (2012)
Plot Summary:
Celebrating 40 years since it first opened in London’s West End, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new production of Jesus Christ Superstar, directed by Laurence Connor, promises to be the rock event of 2012. The star-studded line-up includes award-winning musical comedian Tim Minchin for the role of Judas Iscariot. Three million album selling pop icon and former Spice Girl Melanie C will take the only female lead as Mary Magdalene. Former BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show host Chris Moyles will make his major stage debut as King Herod and Winner of the ITV primetime show Superstar Ben Forster in the title role of Jesus in the 21st century Rock Musical re-invention of Jesus Christ Superstar.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, Musical
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: humorous, stylized, semi serious, realistic, controversial
Similar in 78%
Les Misérables (2012)
Plot Summary:
An adaptation of the successful stage musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel set in 19th-century France, in which a paroled prisoner named Jean Valjean seeks redemption.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 342000
Genere: Drama, Musical, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 158 min
Plot tags: inspirational, epic, emotional, period piece, suspense, historical drama, harsh, stylized, lyrical, heartbreaking