Best movies like Stanley's Gig
Last updated March 2024
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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
Best tv shows and movies like Stanley's Gig (2000):
Similar in 86%
Ripple Effect (2007)
Plot Summary:
Believing that bad karma is keeping him from realizing his dream, hip clothing designer Amer Atrash (Philippe Caland) attempts to orchestrate salvation -- with unexpected results -- in this indie drama. Pushed to the edge of financial disaster and facing marital woes, Atrash resolves to right a wrong he committed years earlier when his car accidentally struck Philip Blackman (Forest Whitaker), leaving him paralyzed.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 763
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, sincere, serious, emotional, spiritual, realistic, crying
Similar in 83%
West of Here (2002)
Plot Summary:
Finding his only escape in music, Gil Blackwell (Josh Hamilton) decides to leave his monotonous business life in Boston when his cousin dies in a car accident. Gil ignores his father's disapproval and takes the family's antique truck for the promised land of California, but on the way a chance encounter reunites him with an old college flame, Genevieve (Fried Green Tomatoes' Mary Stuart Masterson), who joins his journey.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 146
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: road movie, sincere, touching, emotional, psychological, serious, realistic
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%
I Used to Be Darker (2013)
Plot Summary:
When Taryn, a Northern Irish runaway, finds herself in trouble in Ocean City, MD, she seeks refuge with her aunt and uncle in Baltimore. But Kim and Bill have problems of their own: they’re trying to handle the end of their marriage gracefully for the sake of their daughter Abby, just home from her first year of college. A story of family revelations, people finding each other and letting each other go, looking for love where they’ve found it before and, when that doesn’t work, figuring out where they might find it next.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, touching, serious, contemplative, mumblecore, independent film
Similar in 80%
Little Richard (2000)
Plot Summary:
The story of Little Richard Penniman, from his poor Southern upbringing to dealing with the trials and tribulations of being a Black singer in the 1950s, to his born-again phase and brief "retirement" from rock and roll.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 983
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: sentimental, uplifting, touching, captivating, serious, realistic, entertaining, black cinema
Similar in 79%
Pure Country 2: The Gift (2010)
Plot Summary:
Three angels bestow the gift of song to a young girl, who must follow a series of rules in order hold on to it during her rise to fame and fortune.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 903
Genere: Drama, Music, Musical, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sincere, realistic, sentimental, serious, contemplative
Similar in 77%
Tamla Rose (2013)
Plot Summary:
Three teen girls in a Motown band embark on an emotional ride to hell and back.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, feel good
Similar in 78%
The Sandy Bottom Orchestra (2000)
Plot Summary:
The young-adult novel by Garrison Keillor and Jenny Lind Nilsson gets a lively update in this Showtime feature about an unusual family in Sandy Bottom, Wisconsin. The Greens share musical aspirations, but daughter Rachel (Madeline Zima), a talented violinist, is the one most likely to achieve them. Norman (Tom Irwin) is a dairy farmer and Ingrid (Glenne Headly) is a choir director who abandoned the piano when she married and settled down, but the Greens are a happy family, for the most part. The trick is finding a way to reconcile their dreams with a reality that may hold more riches than they realize. When Norman gets a chance to conduct the local orchestra for the Dairy Days celebration, it's an opportunity for the family to come together, not just with each other, but with a community they had never fully appreciate.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 267
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, feel good, serious, realistic
Similar in 78%
Refuge (2017)
Plot Summary:
The lives of a Hollywood actress battling drug addiction, a teen with a violent past, a teacher fighting to keep a dream alive, and a cop caught in a love triangle are brought together by fate.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 30
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, tense, touching, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 89%
Prodigy (2007)
Plot Summary:
Naruse Uta is a "unique" 13 year old child. She possessed the talent to read sheet music even before she could speak, but has now come to the point where she hates playing the piano. Her father was also a piano virtuoso, but mysteriously disappeared from her life at a young age. Because of her father's disappearance Uta's mother had to move out of their posh home and into a far modest working class neighborhood. In this working class neighborhood there is a local grocer. The grocer's son Kikuna Oto happens to be a budding musician, but lacks the drive to truly succeed. That is until Uta Naruse comes into his life.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 231
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: Japan
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, touching
Similar in 89%
A Beautiful Soul (2012)
Plot Summary:
An R&B singer snagged by the trappings of superstardom loses his way and turns his back on his church and faith-filled beginnings. Tragedy strikes, leaving a chance for redemption in its wake. But with rebirth, first comes death.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 126
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, psychological, captivating, sincere, serious
Similar in 87%
Firelight (2012)
Plot Summary:
Incarcerated women join a band of volunteers who battle forest fires and assist during natural disasters.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 631
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, sincere, touching, serious, psychological, captivating
Similar in 78%
Broken Bridges (2006)
Plot Summary:
A fading country music star (Keith) returns to his hometown, where he reunites with his childhood sweetheart and also meets his 16-year-old daughter for the first time.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: sentimental, realistic, serious, touching, independent film
Similar in 78%
I Am Not a Hipster (2012)
Plot Summary:
Things are not looking good for Brook, a young, talented singer/songwriter who has become the clichéd tortured artist. Slow to come to terms with the death of his mother, Brook is self-absorbed, aggressive, and the major obstruction to his own career success. His isolation is lifted when his three sisters and estranged father come to spread his mother’s ashes. Brook’s loving sisters have a magical effect on his anger and apathy, suggesting there may be hope for the misanthropic musician after all.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, sincere, atmospheric, touching, realistic, mumblecore, gloomy, independent film, inspirational
Similar in 78%
Duet for One (1986)
Plot Summary:
When Stephanie, a famous violinist, contracts multiple sclerosis her life begins to fall apart. Her career ends, her husband leaves her for another woman and her favorite pupil leave the country. Unable to bear all this loss, Stephanie attempts suicide.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 998
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, touching, emotional, realistic, depressing, independent film
Similar in 88%
Country Strong (2010)
Plot Summary:
Soon after the rising young singer-songwriter Beau Williams gets involved with a fallen, emotionally unstable country star Kelly Canter, the pair embark on a career resurrection tour helmed by her husband/manager James and featuring a beauty queen-turned-singer Chiles Stanton. Between concerts, romantic entanglements and old demons threaten to derail them all.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: romantic, intense, sentimental, serious, visually appealing, feel good, heartbreaking, sad, cult classic, sincere
Similar in 83%
A Time for Dancing (2002)
Plot Summary:
Their love of dance, and their friendship, is challenged for two high school girls when one is diagnosed with cancer.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 952
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sincere, emotional, sentimental, touching, sad, serious, realistic
Similar in 85%
Tender Mercies (1983)
Plot Summary:
Alchoholic former country singer Mac Sledge makes friends with a young widow and her son. The friendship enables him to find inspiration to resume his career.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, emotional, realistic, atmospheric, sincere, serious, christian film, depressing, philosophical
Similar in 75%
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 89%
Preacher's Kid (2010)
Plot Summary:
Small-town girl Angie King leaves the church and her home to pursue a dream of singing stardom. Luckett plays Angie, the daughter of a stern but loving bishop, whose attraction to the hunky star (Tank) of a traveling gospel show takes her on the road…and into romance, heartbreak and the realization that happiness may lie in the home she left behind.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 865
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, christian film, independent film
Similar in 76%
A Touch of Fate (2003)
Plot Summary:
One night in a small town in North Carolina, fate brings together three lives: an entertainment lawyer returning home to his dying mother after years in escape of his past, a woman trying to reclaim her supposed love, and a boy with a penchant for the sixth sense who struggles with the death of his father and overbearing love of his single mother. When the past and future suddenly bind these people together on a journey of need, forgiveness and discovery, they realize they've gained something when they least expected it.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 216
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 83%
3 Nights in the Desert (2014)
Plot Summary:
Three former band mates enter a cave after hearing it has the power to give them what they need. As unsettling desires rise to the surface, they all wonder if the cave has real power.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, talky, serious, realistic, minimal cast, independent film
Similar in 80%
A Late Quartet (2012)
Plot Summary:
When the beloved cellist of a world-renowned string quartet is diagnosed with a life threatening illness, the group’s future suddenly hangs in the balance as suppressed emotions, competing egos and uncontrollable passions threaten to derail years of friendship and collaboration. As they are about to play their 25th anniversary concert — quite possibly their last — only their intimate bond and the power of music can preserve their legacy.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: realistic, intense, sentimental, sincere, touching, thought provoking, art house, serious, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 86%
The Locket (2002)
Plot Summary:
A bereaved man takes a job at a health care center, where he befriends an elderly and embittered woman - and as time passes, he becomes obsessed with reuniting her with her long-lost true love.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 671
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, uplifting, touching, feel good, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic
Similar in 81%
The Mulberry Tree (2010)
Plot Summary:
A drama centered on a young man working in Rhode Island's state corrections system and his relationship with a convicted murderer who is dying of AIDS and spending his remaining days on hospital detail.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 71
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, talky, independent film
Similar in 84%
For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000)
Plot Summary:
In the early 1970s, Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval (Andy Garcia) is torn between his own musical dreams and the dreams of his wife, Marianela (Mía Maestro), a fervent supporter of the ideals of the Castro revolution. Also starring Charles S. Dutton as Dizzy Gillespie and José Zúñiga as Paquito D'Rivera, this gripping jazz biopic is at once a detailed portrait of a musician and a stinging critique.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, realistic, sincere, serious, independent film
Similar in 76%
The Tic Code (1998)
Plot Summary:
A 10 year old gifted boy wants to be a jazz pianist much to the chagrin of his more classical oriented piano instructor. With his mother's help, he is an underage regular at a local nightspot, where he is teamed up with a sax superstar. Both come to learn that each suffers from Tourette's Syndrome (thus the film title). The older man has developed mannerisms to cover up his own fallibilities and resents the boy and his mother's acceptance of the disease.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 484
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, realistic, independent film, offbeat, serious, contemplative, light, inspirational, feel good
Similar in 76%
'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%
Hide Away (2011)
Plot Summary:
A successful businessman attempting to resurrect his life buys and boards a dilapidated sailboat.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: realistic, sentimental, emotional, psychological, captivating, sincere, touching, serious, independent film
Similar in 86%
Guilty Hearts (2006)
Plot Summary:
Over the course of this drama's six separate stories, a variety of couples struggle with the infidelity, dishonesty and heartbreak that plagues their varied pasts. In overcoming their challenges, these diverse individuals embrace a brighter future.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 818
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic