Best movies like Bolero
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The film follows four families, with different nationalities (French, German, Russian and American) but with the same passion for music, from the 1930s to the 1960s. The various story lines cross each other time and again in different places and times, with their own theme scores that evolve as time passes. The main event in the film is the Second World War, which throws the stories of the four musical families together and mixes their fates. Although all characters are fictional, many of them are loosely based on historical musical icons (Édith Piaf, Josephine Baker, Herbert von Karajan, Glenn Miller, Rudolf Nureyev, etc.) The Boléro dance sequence at the end brings all the threads together.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France
Duration: 184 min
Plot tags: non-linear, sentimental, atmospheric, epic, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, period piece, vintage
Best tv shows and movies like Bolero (1981):
Similar in 79%
Love Songs (1984)
Plot Summary:
When Peter, Margaux's American writer husband, leaves Paris in a funk and heads home, she finds herself the single parent of two near teens. She also gets a new assignment at work: to find, sign, and promote new rock singers. She discovers a duo, Michel and Jeremy, and jump-starts their career. Jeremy is attracted to the older Margaux, asserts himself with her, befriends her children, and neglects Michel and the music. The kids go to New York to be with their father, freeing Margaux to respond to Jeremy. Does that relationship have any future? And what of the musical duo?.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 444
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: France, Canada
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: sexy, serious, captivating, realistic, sexual
Similar in 87%
For the Boys (1991)
Plot Summary:
With the help of the singer and dancer Dixie Leonhard US-Entertainer Eddie Sparks wants to bring some fun to the soldiers during World War II. Becoming a perfect team they tour from North Africa to the Pacific to act for "the boys". Later they continue their work but when the author Silver gets involved into McCarthy's campaign and is being fired by Eddie, Dixie turns away from him, too.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music, War
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, entertaining, humorous, captivating, realistic, semi serious, light, romantic, sexy
Similar in 85%
White Nights (1985)
Plot Summary:
An expatriate Russian dancer is on a plane forced to land on Soviet territory. He is taken to an apartment in which a black American who has married a Russian woman lives with her. He is to become a dancer for the Bolshoi again, but he wishes to escape, but can he trust the American?.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, retro, colorful, serious, captivating, realistic, sentimental, light, inspirational
Similar in 89%
The New World (1995)
Plot Summary:
A young boy who worships all things American comes of age in Orleans, where over 14,000 American GIs were stationed.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 307
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 77%
What War May Bring (2010)
Plot Summary:
A theater projectionist's daughter is involved in the Resistance in WWII, but she doesn’t share his political involvement & only believes in passion. She follows the men she loves unconditionally, suffering betrayal and hardship.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 744
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: captivating, psychological, serious, emotional, realistic, epic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 76%
The Hours and Times (1991)
Plot Summary:
A fictionalized account of what may have happened when John Lennon and Brian Epstein went on holiday together to Spain in 1963.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 808
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 57 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, serious, realistic, talky, tension, suspense, queer cinema
Similar in 81%
The Pianist (1998)
Plot Summary:
Mario Gas directed this music-themed Spanish drama set in Barcelona of the mid-'80s. When famed composer Lluis Doria (Laurent Terzieff) visits a transvestite club, he learns his lifelong friend Albert Rossell (Serge Reggiani) is the house pianist. A flashback takes the tale four decades into the past where the younger Rossell (Pere Ponce) rejoins Teresa (Paulina Galvez) after having spent years in prison for helping anti-Franco anarchists. The story continues into Paris of the '30s, the period when Doria and Rossell first met, sharing a mutual interest in music and Teresa, before civil war sent them in different directions.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 106
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 90%
Vanished Empire (2008)
Plot Summary:
This story take place in Moscow during the 1970s and unfolds around the love triangle between two young men and a girl who study at the same university. They argue, make up, and face their first disappointments and victories. While busy with personal lives and loves, they miss foreseeing that the country in which they were born and live will soon disappear from the map.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 583
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sentimental, atmospheric, serious, realistic, gloomy, period piece
Similar in 80%
Canone inverso - Making Love (2000)
Plot Summary:
Costanza is drinking a beer in a Prague pub, a summer night in 1968, while a violinist enters and starts playing a "canone inverso" for her. It is not a case, that music and that violin have a story behind that could concern her. It is the love story between Jeno Varga and the music, between Jeno and Sophie.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, serious, captivating, erotic, period piece, mind blowing, surprise ending, realistic
Similar in 81%
The King Is Dancing (2000)
Plot Summary:
Louis XIV, the French sun-king has two passions, establishing absolute rule over the realm -after decades of religious/civil wars- by divine right and artistic brilliancy as a dancer.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, Music
Country: France, Germany, Belgium
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, stylized, serious, realistic, captivating, dramatic, visual, historical drama, mesmerizing, contemplative
Similar in 82%
Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave (1980)
Plot Summary:
This is a lonely New Year's Eve for Hank Williams as he spends it en route to a huge New Years Day concert in Ohio. Hank Williams died that night on the road. Stars Sean McCann, Dixie Seatle. (.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 267
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Canada
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 85%
The Harmonists (1997)
Plot Summary:
Comedian Harmonists tells the story of a famous, German male sextet, five vocals and piano, the "Comedian Harmonists", from the day they meet first in 1927 to the day in 1934, when they become banned by the upcoming Nazis, because three of them are Jewish.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: Germany, Austria
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: visually stunning, sentimental, touching, visual, sincere, uplifting, feel good, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 90%
Hilde (2009)
Plot Summary:
A biography of Hildegard Knef, one of Germany's biggest post-war stars.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 790
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: Germany
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: sentimental, atmospheric, serious, captivating, realistic, compassionate, non-linear
Similar in 83%
Bus Palladium (2010)
Plot Summary:
Lucas, Manu, Philippe, Jacob et Mario s'aiment depuis l'enfance. Ils ont du talent et de l'espoir. Ils rêvent de musique et de gloire. Leur groupe de rock, Lust, connaît un succès grandissant, mais les aspirations de chacun rendent incertain leur avenir commun. L'arrivée de Laura dans leur vie va bousculer un peu plus ce fragile équilibre.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 366
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: humorous, captivating, light, atmospheric, sexy, serious, realistic, stylized, sexual, eighties
Similar in 78%
Rembetiko (1983)
Plot Summary:
The story of a group of Rembetes, singers and musicians of the Greek equivalent to the blues, in the early decades of the 20th century, seen through the eyes of a young female singer.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: Greece
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: philosophical, atmospheric, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 82%
The Man Who Cried (2000)
Plot Summary:
A young refugee travels from Russia to America in search of her lost father and falls in love with a gypsy horseman.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance, War
Country: UK, France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: lyrical, intense, touching, serious, realistic, visual, visually stunning, stylized, emotional, independent film
Similar in 88%
Beat the World (2011)
Plot Summary:
Three dance crews – one Latin American, one European and one Canadian – prepare to battle at the International Beat the World competition in Detroit. Along the way, they struggle with gambling debt, bad break-ups and their own egos. In the final showdown to become world champions they find that their lifelong hopes, dreams and even lives, are at stake.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Canada
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: realistic, stylized, exciting, serious, independent film
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Swing Kids (1993)
Plot Summary:
The story of a close-knit group of young kids in Nazi Germany who listen to banned swing music from the US. Soon dancing and fun leads to more difficult choices as the Nazi's begin tightening the grip on Germany. Each member of the group is forced to face some tough choices about right, wrong, and survival.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, realistic, sentimental, touching, political, retro, depressing, breathtaking, sad
Similar in 89%
The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll (2009)
Plot Summary:
In this film, childhood friends come face to face with the demons of rock and roll (lust, drugs, and passion) on a cross-country road trip that compels them to face their past, present, and future. Rocker Spyder, whose debut album was a huge hit saw his follow-on album bomb, causing him to retreat to his small hometown and give up. Seven years later, 27-year-old Spyder reconnects with his long-lost best friend and writer of his debut album Eric, son of a late great punk rock guitar legend, who has long settled into the sedate life of a suburban middle school music teacher. The reunion forces the two to recall their youthful ambitions and re-examine the choices they've made.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 552
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: realistic, psychological, atmospheric, captivating, sentimental, sincere, serious, independent film
Similar in 83%
Belleville-Tokyo (2010)
Plot Summary:
Un couple se dirige vers un train en partance pour Venise. Sur le quai, Julien annonce à Marie qu’il part en rejoindre une autre et s’en va, la laissant seule à Paris, enceinte. Bouleversée, Marie se refuse à être victime de cette situation. Elle trouve du réconfort dans son travail auprès de ses deux « cow-boys » de patrons, Jean-Jacques et Jean-Loup, qui dirigent un cinéma du quartier latin spécialisé dans les films classiques américains….
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 140
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, serious
Similar in 86%
The Dust of Time (2008)
Plot Summary:
A, an American film director of Greek ancestry, is making a film that tells his story and the story of his parents. It is a tale that unfolds in Italy, Germany, Russia, Kazakhstan, Canada and the USA. The main character is Eleni, who is claimed and claims the absoluteness of love. At the same time the film is a long journey into the vast history and the events of the last fifty years that left their mark on the 20th century. The characters in the film move as though in a dream. The dust of time confuses memories. A searches for them and experiences them in the present.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Greece, Italy, Germany, Russia, France
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, atmospheric, touching, serious, postmodern, slow cinema, aesthetic, epic, realistic
Similar in 83%
Dreaming of Space (2005)
Plot Summary:
A story of a simple, naive Russian man Konek and the people around him: his love and her sister and a mysterious man. The film is set in 1957, time of changes, time of waiting for something big to happen.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 729
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sentimental, atmospheric, serious, stylized, captivating, realistic
Similar in 84%
Bulgarian Rhapsody (2014)
Plot Summary:
the story of two adolescents, Moni and Zhozho, who meet 17-year-old Zheni in 1943 and with whom both fell in love. The events that follow unfold while Bulgaria has to decide on the deportation of 11 343 Jewish citizens in Macedonia and Thrace.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 437
Genere: Drama
Country: Bulgaria, Israel
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, emotional, suspenseful, serious, realistic
Similar in 90%
One Day You'll Understand (2008)
Plot Summary:
A man endeavors to collect memories of his grandparents who died in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 367
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Germany, Israel
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, bleak, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 81%
The Identical (2014)
Plot Summary:
During the Great Depression, identical twins are separated at birth. One, Drexel Hemsley becomes a wildly successful '50s rock star, while the other, Ryan Wade, struggles to balance his passion for music and pleasing his parents, who want him to become a preacher. Finally, Ryan rebels against his parents' wishes and launches his own music career -- performing the hits of Drexel Hemsley. Ryan later learns the truth about Drexel when their fates tragically collide.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: captivating, serious, realistic, touching, exciting, sentimental, disgusting
Similar in 88%
Dingo (1991)
Plot Summary:
Young John Anderson is captivated by jazz musician, Billy Cross when he performs on the remote airstrip of his Western Australian outback hometown after his plane is diverted. Years later, now a family man and making a meagre living tracking dingoes and playing trumpet in a local band, John still dreams of joining Billy on trumpet and makes a pilgrimage to Paris.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 450
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, Australia
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: realistic, independent film, touching, serious, emotional, scary, inspirational, sexy, thought provoking, unusual plot structure
Similar in 88%
The Mambo Kings (1992)
Plot Summary:
The Mambo Kings tells the story of César and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in search of the American Dream.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: sentimental, emotional, melancholic, serious, realistic, touching, captivating, fairy tale, romantic, sexy
Similar in 78%
New York, New York (1977)
Plot Summary:
An egotistical saxophone player and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long uphill climb.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Music, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, stylized, cult classic, atmospheric, serious, captivating, romantic, road movie, clever
Similar in 82%
'Round Midnight (1986)
Plot Summary:
Inside the Blue Note nightclub one night in 1959 Paris, an aged, ailing jazzman coaxes an eloquent wail from his tenor sax. Outside, a young Parisian too broke to buy a glass of wine strains to hear those notes. Soon they will form a friendship that sparks a final burst of genius in director Bertrand Tavernier.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA, France
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, independent film, light, inspirational
Similar in 78%
The Concert (2009)
Plot Summary:
A former world-famous conductor of the Bolshoï orchestra, known as "The Maëstro", Andreï Filipov had seen his career publicly broken by Leonid Brezhnev for hiring Jewish musicians and now works cleaning the concert hall where he once directed. One day, he intercepts an official invitation from the prestigious Théâtre du Châtelet. Through a series of mad antics, he reunites his old orchestra, now composed of old alcoholic musicians, and flies to perform in Paris and complete the Tchaikovsky concerto interrupted 30 years earlier. For the concerto, he engages a young violin soloist with whom he has an unexpected connection.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: France, Italy, Romania, Belgium
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: touching, melancholic, captivating, sentimental, feel good, breathtaking, sincere, surreal, humorous, realistic