Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Tensions rise when the trailblazing Mother of the Blues and her band gather at a Chicago recording studio in 1927. Adapted from August Wilson's play.
Movies Like Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Similar in style, tone, and themes — find your next watch.
Cadillac Records
2008★ 7.1
The story of sex, violence, race and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, and the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.
Bessie
2015★ 6.4
The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.
Rocketman
2019★ 7.3
The story of Elton John's life, from his years as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music through his influential and enduring musical partnership with Bernie Taupin.
I Am Woman
2020★ 6.2
In 1966, Helen Reddy landed in New York with her three year old daughter, a suitcase, and $230 in her pocket. Within weeks, she was broke. Within months, she was in love. Within five years, she was one of the biggest superstars of her time and an icon of the 1970s feminist movement who wrote a song which galvanized a generation of women to fight for change.
Hounddog
2008★ 6.5
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
The Trial of the Chicago 7
2020★ 7.7
What was supposed to be a peaceful protest turned into a violent clash with the police. What followed was one of the most notorious trials in history.
Marshall
2017★ 7.2
Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, battles through one of his career-defining cases.
A
2017★ 6.2
A young alcoholic ambient musician locks himself in his apartment on a dangerous seven day bender as he attempts to finish his upcoming album.
Whiplash
2014★ 8.4
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.
What's Love Got to Do with It
1993★ 7.1
Singer Tina Turner rises to stardom while mustering the courage to break free from her abusive husband Ike.
The Five Heartbeats
1991★ 7.3
In the early 1960s, a quintet of hopeful, young African-American men form an amateur vocal group called The Five Heartbeats. After an initially rocky start, the group improves, turns pro, and rises to become a top flight music sensation. Along the way, however, the guys learn many hard lessons about the reality of the music industry.
Born to Be Blue
2015★ 6.5
Jazz legend Chet Baker finds love and redemption when he stars in a movie about his own troubled life to mount a comeback.
Beats
2019★ 6.6
An agoraphobic hip-hop prodigy and a disgraced former music manager cross paths in Chicago’s South Side and help each other face demons of their pasts.
Selena
1997★ 7.7
In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham, realizes that his young daughter is talented and begins performing with her at small venues. She finds success and falls for her guitarist, Chris Perez, who draws the ire of her father. Seeking mainstream stardom, Selena begins recording an English-language album which, tragically, she would never complete.
Like Sunday, Like Rain
2014★ 7.3
A struggling musician becomes a 12-year-old musical prodigy's guardian for a summer.
The Boys in the Band
2020★ 6.8
At a birthday party in 1968 New York, a surprise guest and a drunken game leave seven gay friends reckoning with unspoken feelings and buried truths.
Battle of the Year
2013★ 6.8
A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
Clika
2026★ 8.1
Aspiring small-town musician Chito is determined to make it big. When a clip of him performing one of his songs goes viral, he seizes the opportunity and pushes to carve out a place for himself in the new wave of Mexican-American music... and ultimately gets caught in a game more dangerous than anticipated.
The Young One
1960★ 7.0
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Valentino
1977★ 5.8
The untimely death of silent screen star Rudolph Valentino prompts the many women in his past to reminisce about his troubled rise to superstardom.