Musicals

Musicals

All of these films push the boundary of what constitutes a musical. Whether they are documentaries or unconventional narrative films, they use music in surprising and inventive ways.

For more films about music, check out the overall Music collection.

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Musicals
  • The Inspector General

    Directed by Henry Koster • Drama • With Danny Kaye • 1949 • 102 minutes

    Danny Kaye plays a buffoon who is mistaken for a prominent visiting bureaucrat in a small European village in this riotous musical comedy, based on a story by Gogol.

  • Narrow Path to Happiness

    Directed by Kata Oláh • Documentary • 2023 • 83 minutes

    Gergő and Lénárd are a young gay male couple living in a remote Roma settlement in the poorest part of Hungary. They live in a community where being gay is considered an unforgivable sin, yet they dream of making a musical film about their ...

  • The Queen of Hearts

    Directed by Valérie Donzelli • Drama • With Valerie Donzelli, Jeremie Elkalim • 2009 • 88 minutes

    Thirty-something Adele is devastated following a painful breakup. With no close friends or family, her distant cousin, Rachel, reluctantly takes her in and graciously attempts to salvage Adele’s pro...

  • Sita Sings the Blues

    Directed by Nina Paley • Animation • 2008 • 82 minutes

    Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully ...

  • Footnotes

    Directed by Paul Calori & Kostia Testut • Drama • With Pauline Etienne, Oliver Chantreau, François Morel, Loïc Corbery, Julie Victor • 2017 • 85 minutes

    Inspired by the films of Jacques Demy and Stanley Donen, Footnotes is a whimsical and original musical comedy about Julie, a young woman strugg...

  • Guy

    Directed by Alex Lutz • Drama • With Alex Lutz, Tom Dingler, Pascale Arbillot • 2018 • 101 minutes

    Gauthier (Tom Dingler), a young journalist, finds a letter suggesting he might be the son of Guy Jamet (Alex Lutz in a César award-winning performance), a 72-year-old French pop singer who was fam...

  • Tosca's Kiss

    Directed by Daniel Schmid • Documentary • 1984 • 87 minutes

    Meet the inhabitants of the "Casa di Riposa" in Milan, the world's first nursing home for retired opera singers, founded by composer Giuseppe Verdi in 1896.

    In his documentary film Tosca's Kiss, which has developed an underground cult...

  • The Underground Orchestra

    Directed by Heddy Honigmann • Documentary • 1999 • 108 minutes

    THE UNDERGROUND ORCHESTRA is a glorious documentary profile of musicians who play on the sidewalks of Paris and in the Metro. Filmmaker Heddy Honigmann (METAL AND MELANCHOLY and O AMOR NATURAL), illuminates the lives and music of a r...

  • Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc

    Directed by Bruno Dumont • Drama • With Lise Leplat Prudhomme, Jeanne Voisin, Lucile Gauthier • 2017 • 115 minutes

    In the midst of the Hundred Years’ War, the young Jeannette, at the still tender age of 8, looks after her sheep in the small village of Domremy.

    One day, she tells her friend Hauv...

  • Karmen Gei

    Directed by Joseph Gai Ramaka • Drama • With Djeïnaba Diop Gaï, Magaye Niang, Stephanie Biddle • 2001 • 82 minutes

    Director Joseph Gaï Ramaka writes: "Carmen is a myth but what does Carmen represent today? Where do Carmen's love and freedom stand at the onset of the 21st Century? Therein lies my...

  • Lomax the Songhunter

    Directed by Rogier Kappers • Documentary • 2005 • 95 minutes

    Alan Lomax (1915-2002) devoted his life to recording the world's folk tunes before they would permanently disappear with the rise of the modern music industry. In LOMAX THE SONGHUNTER filmmaker Rogier Kappers follows the route that Lom...

  • Mercedes Sosa: The Voice of Latin America

    Directed by Rodrigo H. Vila • Documentary • With Mercedes Sosa, Pablo Milanes, Leon Gieco, Chichi Sosa, Chico Buarque, Elba Bustelo, David Byrne • 2013 • 93 minutes

    Journey into the world of Argentina's most famous musical artist in Mercedes Sosa: The Voice of Latin America. Over a career that ...

  • Revenge of the Mekons

    Directed by Joe Angio • Documentary • With Fred Armisen, Jonathan Franzen, Mary Harron • 2014 • 96 minutes

    Revenge of the Mekons charts the unlikely career of the genre-defying collective notorious for being—as rock critic Greil Marcus notes—“the band that took punk ideology most seriously.” Bor...

  • Chavela

    Directed by Catherine Gund & Darsha Kyi • Documentary • With Chavela Vargas • 2017 • 93 minutes

    Chavela is the captivating look at the unconventional life of beloved performer Chavela Vargas, whose passionate renditions of Mexican popular music and triumphant return to the stage late in life bro...

  • Violeta Went to Heaven

    Directed by Andrés Wood • Drama • With Francisca Gavilán, Cristian Quevedo, Thomas Durand , Roberto Farías, Gabriela Aguilera, Juan Quezada, Marcial Tagle • 2013 • 110 minutes

    Violeta Went to Heaven tells the story of famed Chilean singer and folklorist Violeta Parra, tracing her evolution f...

  • Anne Clark – I’ll Walk Out Into Tomorrow

    Directed by Claus Withopf • Documentary • 2017 • 81 minutes

    Anne Clark, English poet and spoken word-artist, has been celebrated worldwide on stage for more than 30 years. She set standards as an iconic eloquent, yet modest rebel and is a pioneer of electronic music. Shaped by the punk scene, An...

  • Johnnie To's Office

    Directed by Johnnie To • Drama • With Sylvia Chang, Chow Yun-Fat, Eason Chan, Tang Wei, Lang Yueting, Wang Ziyi • 2015 • 120 minutes

    Based on the hit play 'Design for Living' by star and producer Sylvia Chang, Office is a movie musical spectacular revolving around corporate maneuvering and roman...