Movies Like Farina & The Perpetual Shine Machine

If you liked Farina & The Perpetual Shine Machine, a movie directed by Ralphie Wilson, 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
Cradle Will Rock (1999)
★ 6.5/10
A true story of politics and art in the 1930s USA, centered around a leftist musical drama and attempts to stop its production.
2
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
★ 7.1/10
The story of journalist Edward R. Murrow's stand against Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witch-hunts in the early 1950s.
3
Skin (2009)
★ 6.4/10
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
4
Hoodlum (1997)
★ 6.5/10
In 1934, the second most lucrative business in New York City was running 'the numbers'. When Madam Queen—the powerful woman who runs the scam in Harlem—is arrested, Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson takes over the business and…
5
Disgrace (2008)
★ 6.2/10
Disgrace is the story of a South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his good looks, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect…
6
Young and Innocent (1937)
★ 6.5/10
When a young writer is falsely accused of murdering a famous actress, he escapes custody and joins forces with the daughter of a police constable to prove his innocence.
7
Looking for Richard (1996)
★ 6.8/10
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
8
Bright Young Things (2003)
★ 6.3/10
During the 1930s in England, a group of young socialites dominate the national gossip with extravagant and outlandish antics. Among the group is the aspiring novelist Adam Fenwick-Symes, who is attempting to raise…
9
Momo (2025)
★ 7.1/10
Momo is a young orphan girl who lives in the ruins of an old Roman amphitheater and becomes friends with everybody in the neighborhood. But when a powerful international corporation starts stealing everybody’s time…
10
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…
11
The Best of Enemies (2019)
★ 7.4/10
Centers on the unlikely relationship between Ann Atwater, an outspoken civil rights activist, and C.P. Ellis, a local Ku Klux Klan leader who reluctantly co-chaired a community summit, battling over the desegregation…
12
Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
★ 6.6/10
The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress, who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice.
13
Bad (1977)
★ 6.5/10
Hazel runs a beauty salon out of her house, but makes extra money by providing ruthless women the oppurtunity to perform hit jobs. L.T. is a parasite, and contacts Hazel looking for work after he runs out of money. She…
14
Scarecrow (1973)
★ 7/10
Two drifters bum around, visit earthy women and discuss opening a car wash in Pittsburgh.
15
Guilty by Suspicion (1991)
★ 6.5/10
Owing to his alleged involvement with communist parties, film director David Merrill is forbidden from working in Hollywood. He decides to fight for his rights and faces numerous challenges.
16
Black Beauty (1994)
★ 6.7/10
The fates of horses, and the people who own and command them, are revealed as Black Beauty narrates the circle of his life.
17
Passing (2021)
★ 6.3/10
In 1920s New York City, a Black woman finds her world upended when her life becomes intertwined with a former childhood friend who's passing as white.
18
Savage House (2026)
★ 7/10
Against the backdrop of 18th century England, a massive pox outbreak, and Jacobite uprising – Sir Chauncey Savage and Lady Savage blindly pursue a better life. It's not without a tinge of irony that their family name…
19
A Jazzman's Blues (2022)
★ 7.4/10
A tale of forbidden love and family drama unravels 40 years of secrets and lies against a soundtrack of juke joint blues in the Deep South.
20
The Long Walk Home (1990)
★ 7.7/10
Two women, black and white, in 1955 Montgomery Alabama, must decide what they are going to do in response to the famous bus boycott led by Martin Luther King.