Movies Like The Portable Phonograph

If you liked The Portable Phonograph (1977), a movie directed by John W. Barnes, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
The Last Repair Shop (2024)
★ 7.5/10
In a warehouse in the heart of Los Angeles, a dwindling handful of devoted craftspeople maintain more than 80,000 student musical instruments, the largest remaining workshop in America of its kind. Meet four…
2
Koyaanisqatsi (1983)
★ 7.9/10
Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by…
3
The Giver (2014)
★ 6.6/10
In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.
4
The Hill (2023)
★ 7.7/10
The story of Rickey Hill, who overcomes his physical disability and repairs his relationship with his father in a quest to become a major league baseball (MLB) player.
5
Swan Song (2021)
★ 7.1/10
In the near future, Cameron Turner is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Presented with an experimental solution to shield his wife and son from grief, he grapples with altering their fate in this thought-provoking…
6
Beast of War (2025)
★ 6.2/10
When their boat sinks while crossing the Timor Sea during World War II, a troop of young Australian soldiers must find a way to survive the harsh seas on a quickly shrinking raft. Hundreds of miles from anywhere, they…
7
Extinction (2015)
★ 6.4/10
And suddenly, overnight, the world came to a halt. Two men, two survivors, one kid, and hatred that separates them. A place forgotten by everyone, including the creatures that inhabit the Earth... until now.
8
Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022)
★ 6.4/10
Craig, a young boy living in a small town befriends an older, reclusive billionaire, Mr. Harrigan. The two form a bond over books and an iPhone, but when the man passes away the boy discovers that not everything dead…
9
Small Things Like These (2024)
★ 6.7/10
In 1985, while working as a coal merchant to support his family, Bill Furlong discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent and uncovers truths of his own; forcing him to confront his past and the complicit…
10
Piece by Piece (2024)
★ 7.2/10
A unique cinematic experience that invites audiences on a vibrant journey through the life of cultural icon Pharrell Williams. Told through the lens of LEGO® animation, turn up the volume on your imagination and…
11
This Is Where I Leave You (2014)
★ 6.7/10
When their father passes away, four grown, world-weary siblings return to their childhood home and are requested -- with an admonition -- to stay there together for a week, along with their free-speaking mother and a…
12
The Dog Stars (2026)
★ 7.2/10
After the world's population has been ravaged by a pandemic, a man lives a lonesome existence in a Colorado airplane hangar with his dog and a dour gunman he has befriended. When a mysterious transmission comes through…
13
Heaven Is for Real (2014)
★ 6.8/10
After their young son, Colton, undergoes emergency surgery, small-town parents Todd and Sonja Burpo are overjoyed at the child's miraculous recovery. However, the Burpos are unprepared for what happens next... Colton…
14
The Battery (2012)
★ 6.1/10
In rural Connecticut, baseball players Ben and Mickey are trying to survive a zombie plague. They are forced to form a battery: a catcher and a pitcher who work together to outwit the batter, the one who hits the ball…
15
Michael Jackson's Thriller (1983)
★ 8.3/10
A night at the movies turns terrifying when Michael and his date are attacked by zombies.
16
Someone Like You (2024)
★ 7.3/10
Shocking news hits after young architect Dawson loses his best friend London. In his heartbreak, Dawson is compelled to launch an impossible search for London’s secret sister, twins separated as embryos. But along the…
17
Tongues Untied (1990)
★ 6.7/10
Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, especially poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs…
18
Detour (1945)
★ 7.2/10
The life of Al Roberts, a pianist in a New York nightclub, turns into a nightmare when he decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to visit his girlfriend.
19
Richard Jewell (2019)
★ 7.4/10
Richard Jewell thinks quick, works fast, and saves hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives after a domestic terrorist plants several pipe bombs and they explode during a concert, only to be falsely suspected of the crime…
20
Salem's Lot (2024)
★ 5.9/10
Author Ben Mears returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem's Lot only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.