Best movies like Play-Back
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Two best friends, Johanna and Jeanne, live in the small town of Decazeville, a mining town in France and sing in the music group "The Sirens". Suddenly their paths in music and in life drastically change.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 508
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like Play-Back (1997):
Similar in 78%
All About Love (2001)
Plot Summary:
Maria is a bright and attractive but not especially responsible young woman who is used to having things go her way in life. Out of school and with no clear career path, Maria ends up taking a job putting together cushions for chairs. But after a single day on the job she quits, claiming the work hurts her hands and she'd rather start her own restaurant. As Maria plots her next move, she impulsively swipes a piece of lingerie from a store, then tries to lie her way out of the situation when she's caught. But Maria finds that words can't get her out of this bind, and soon she's in jail and dealing with much deeper trouble than she ever imagined possible.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 469
Genere: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: thought provoking
Similar in 87%
Hometown Blue (1999)
Plot Summary:
Solange is unhappy. She's a meter maid in Tours, working in the rain, subject to verbal abuse from those she cites. Her husband Patrick is consumed by the work of finishing their new house: carpet, tile, faucets. He's also a hothead, subjecting Sonange to tantrums. While she's often quiet and withdrawn, she longs to be a singer. When by chance she meets Mylène, an accomplished, beautiful Parisian writer she admires, Solange gives her a demo tape. Mylène is encouraging, a friendship of sorts develops, and when Solange despairs after a series of personal, emotional setbacks, she heads for Mylène's doorstep in Paris. Does a singing career await, and what about Patrick?.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 249
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: France
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: sincere, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious
Similar in 83%
My Best Pals (1989)
Plot Summary:
They are the best friends of the world. Five friends who shared everything: may 68, hippies years, the rock and their love for Bernadette. This Bernadette has left them to become a rock-star, and is back 15 years later for a weekend. Jean-Marie Poire describes with this movie the portrait of a generation with lots of humor served by excelent actors.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, contemplative, talky, semi serious, cult film
Similar in 79%
Piaf: The Early Years (1974)
Plot Summary:
Édith Giovanna Gassion is born in 1915. As a young girl she sings on the streets of Paris until a nightclub owner, Louis Leplée, discovers her. When he is murdered the composer Raymond Asso takes care of her and lets her perform at the ABC theatre, which leads to her breakthrough.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 80
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: France
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 85%
I Used to Be Famous (2022)
Plot Summary:
A former boy band star unexpectedly gets a second shot at success when he forms a bond with a gifted young drummer.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: buddy comedy
Similar in 81%
Dance of the Wind (1997)
Plot Summary:
The mother of the Indian female singer Pallavi (Kitu Gidwani) is at the end of her life. She was master and teacher for her daughter for the art of Indian singing. But she will not be able to complete her lessons. So Pallavi experiences the lack of the guru of her mother. Finally she finds him in a very young street-girl who is able to sing marvelously. But this girl keeps disappearing again and again.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 144
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: India
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Barbara (2017)
Plot Summary:
A director wants to make a biopic about the female singer Barbara.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: France
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 83%
Just Like Before (2006)
Plot Summary:
A movie about the Filipino rock Band The Dawn.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 24
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Philippines
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: captivating, semi autobiographical, independent film, entertaining
Similar in 87%
Backstage (2005)
Plot Summary:
An adolescent groupie zeroes in on her Blondie-like idol after the singer chances to cross her orbit on a publicity tour. Gradually their lives intertwine as, with near-operatic intensity, the film delves into the emotional dependency on both sides of celebrity culture.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 674
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, disturbing, crying
Similar in 85%
Amy (1997)
Plot Summary:
Amy's father, Franco, was a popular rock musician accidentally electrocuted while performing on stage. The psychological trauma leaves Amy mute and deaf. So the 8-year-old is brought by her mother, Tanya, to Melbourne to diagnose the reasons for her continued silence.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 816
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Australia
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, touching, feel good, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 85%
Cat's Play (1974)
Plot Summary:
Karoly Makk's heartbreaking story of two unmarried sisters who cast wistful glances back at their lives, but still believe in hope and love, earned an Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1974. In this follow-up to the director's internationally acclaimed Love, Makk once again exhibits his extraordinary skills at drawing emotionally compelling performances from his talented female leads. Makk's film opposes the bleakness of the outside world with passion, love, and loyalty.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 230
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Hungary
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
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 87%
Boy's Choir (2000)
Plot Summary:
A young teen's father dies, and he is sent to an orphanage. He's teased because he stutters almost runs away, until a beautiful, androgynous boy, Yasuo (Sora Toma), convinces him to join the choir.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 254
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Japan
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 90%
Stanley's Gig (2000)
Plot Summary:
An emotionally dysfunctional ukulele minstrel lands a gig at a nursing home where he strikes up an unlikely relationship with an ancient jazz chanteuse and awakens from a lifetime of loneliness and inconsequence.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 213
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, realistic, touching, independent film
Similar in 80%
Teen Spirit (2018)
Plot Summary:
Violet, a shy teenager living on the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England dreams of pop stardom and with the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a singing competition that will test her integrity, talent and ambition.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: captivating, entertaining, light, exciting
Similar in 90%
My Way (2012)
Plot Summary:
A biopic of French pop star Claude Francois, most famous for co-writing the song 'My Way'. Tracing his life from his childhood in Egypt through his success in France to his untimely death in Paris in 1978.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 148 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, serious, realistic, tragic
Similar in 75%
Playing for Time (1980)
Plot Summary:
When Jewish songstress Fania Fénelon is plucked from the stage and sent to Auschwitz, she and other musicians find themselves assigned to a terrible task – using their talents to soothe fellow prisoners who are sentenced to die in the gas chambers.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: dark, disturbing, historical drama, freeze frame
Similar in 85%
The High Note (2020)
Plot Summary:
Set in the dazzling world of the LA music scene comes the story of Grace Davis, a superstar whose talent, and ego, have reached unbelievable heights. Maggie is Grace’s overworked personal assistant who’s stuck running errands, but still aspires to her childhood dream of becoming a music producer. When Grace’s manager presents her with a choice that could alter the course of her career, Maggie and Grace come up with a plan that could change their lives forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: UK, USA, China
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: light, sweet, touching, sentimental
Similar in 77%
Stardust (1974)
Plot Summary:
Sequel to 1973's That'll Be The Day. Jim McLain is now enjoying the nomadic 'gigs and groupies' life on tour with his band. When he achieves all his wildest dreams of international stardom, the sweet taste of success begins to turn sour.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: independent film, serious, realistic, stylized, cult film
Similar in 88%
Falling from Grace (1992)
Plot Summary:
Rock singer John Mellencamp makes his screen and directorial debut in this story by "Lonesome Dove" author, Larry McMurtry. The story, not too separated from Mellencamp's real life, finds him as a country music star whose meanderings and philandering has thrown his life into turmoil. Returning to his native Indiana to try to reestablish a normal life. Instead he takes up with an old lover (Lenz), ignoring his loving wife (Hemingway), and duplicating the lifestyle of his womanizing father (Akins).
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 695
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 88%
A Star is Born (2018)
Plot Summary:
Seasoned musician Jackson Maine discovers-and falls in love with-struggling artist Ally. She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer – until Jack coaxes her into the spotlight. But even as Ally's career takes off, the personal side of their relationship is breaking down, as Jack fights an ongoing battle with his own internal demons.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 410000
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: sad, inspirational, romantic drama, sincere, uplifting, touching, feel good, depressing, heartbreaking, captivating
Similar in 84%
Vox Lux (2018)
Plot Summary:
In 1999, teenage sisters Celeste and Eleanor survive a seismic, violent tragedy. The sisters compose and perform a song about their experience, making something lovely and cathartic out of a catastrophe - while also catapulting Celeste to stardom. By 2017, Celeste is a mother to a teenage daughter of her own and is struggling to navigate a career fraught with scandals when another act of terrifying violence demands her attention.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: exciting, inspirational, rough, thought provoking, suspense, philosophical, political, cult classic, visually stunning, freeze frame
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 89%
Her Smell (2018)
Plot Summary:
A self-destructive punk rocker struggles with sobriety while trying to recapture the creative inspiration that led her band to success.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA, Greece
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, captivating, art house
Similar in 85%
Rock On!! (2008)
Plot Summary:
Sakshi Shroff, the lonely and neglected wife of busy banking executive, Aditya, decides to give him a surprise on his birthday on July 22nd, but ends surprising him multiple times. While Aditya is thrilled to know that he is going to be a dad, he is unhappy when he notices that Sakshi had also invited some ghosts (Rob Nancy and Kedar Zaveri) from his past. This gives rise to unpleasant memories involving a failed music group 'Magik' ; why the music group broke up, the acrimony especially between Aditya and his former friend, Joseph Mascarenhas; Sakshi takes it on herself to bring Magik back together.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: India
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, inspirational, sincere, captivating, entertaining, cult classic, non-linear, cult film, nostalgic
Similar in 83%
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 75%
'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 80%
Billy Elliot (2000)
Plot Summary:
Set against the background of the 1984 Miner's Strike, Billy Elliot is an 11 year old boy who stumbles out of the boxing ring and onto the ballet floor. He faces many trials and triumphs as he strives to conquer his family's set ways, inner conflict, and standing on his toes!.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 141000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: UK, France
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, feel good, uplifting, emotional, crying, sweet, sentimental, captivating, realistic
Similar in 75%
Georgia (1995)
Plot Summary:
Sadie looks up to her older sister Georgia, a successful folk singer who's happily married with children, but can't break out of the bar-band circuit and hit the big time she desperately covets. It's in part due to her attraction to drugs and booze, and also to her own unwise choice in men. Finally, though, Sadie's Achilles heel is a rough, unlovely voice very different than her sister's crowd-pleasing singing.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: France, USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: emotional, melancholic, sincere, serious, realistic, talky, independent film, touching, gloomy, sexy
Similar in 78%
8 Mile (2002)
Plot Summary:
The setting is Detroit in 1995. The city is divided by 8 Mile, a road that splits the town in half along racial lines. A young white rapper, Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith Jr. summons strength within himself to cross over these arbitrary boundaries to fulfill his dream of success in hip hop. With his pal Future and the three one third in place, all he has to do is not choke.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 314000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: inspirational, hood, serious, realistic, harsh, feel good, lyrical, stylized, captivating, tense