Movies Like Love and Life

If you liked Love and Life (1961), a movie directed by Yasuzō Masumura, 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
Coda (2020)
★ 6.1/10
A famous pianist at the twilight of his career meets a free-spirited music critic who soon becomes his rock as his mental state deteriorates.
2
My Spy (2020)
★ 6.9/10
A hardened CIA operative finds himself at the mercy of a precocious 9-year-old girl, having been sent undercover to surveil her family.
3
The High Note (2020)
★ 7/10
Set in the dazzling world of the LA music scene comes the story of Grace Davis, a superstar whose talent, and ego, have reached unbelievable heights. Maggie is Grace’s overworked personal assistant who’s stuck running…
4
Grace Unplugged (2013)
★ 6/10
A talented young singer and aspiring songwriter’s Christian faith and family ties are tested when she defies her worship-pastor father and pursues pop-music stardom in GRACE UNPLUGGED, a moving and inspiring new film…
5
I Still Believe (2020)
★ 7.6/10
The true-life story of Christian music star Jeremy Camp and his journey of love and loss that looks to prove there is always hope.
6
Song for Marion (2012)
★ 6.8/10
Arthur is a grumpy pensioner who can't understand why his wife Marion would want to embarrass herself singing silly songs with her unconventional local choir. But choir director Elizabeth sees something special in the…
7
Clika (2026)
★ 8.3/10
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…
8
Rookie of the Year (1993)
★ 6.2/10
When the cast comes off his once broken arm, a 12-year-old boy can throw a 100-mile-an-hour fastball, and the Chicago Cubs want him as their new pitcher.
9
Battle of the Year (2013)
★ 6.8/10
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.
10
Footlight Parade (1933)
★ 6.8/10
A fledgling producer finds himself at odds with his workers, financiers and his greedy ex-wife when he tries to produce live musicals for movie-going audiences.
11
Honey: Rise Up and Dance (2018)
★ 6.9/10
Street dancer Skyler comes out of the shadow of her trained dancer sister, Tosha, & joins a dance competition with the Honey dance studio; the prize is a college scholarship.
12
Snoopy Presents: It's the Small Things, Charlie Brown (2022)
★ 7.3/10
Charlie Brown is determined to win the big baseball game. But things turn into a fiasco right before the matchup, when Sally bonds with a little flower on the pitcher's mound and vows to protect it at all costs.
13
Crossroads (1986)
★ 7.4/10
A wanna-be blues guitar virtuoso seeks a long-lost song by legendary musician, Robert Johnson.
14
Ruth & Boaz (2025)
★ 7.4/10
A talented singer leaves the Atlanta music scene and starts over in small-town Tennessee, where she finds love and new purpose but can't escape the past.
15
Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon (2025)
★ 8/10
In a Kaiju-filled Japan, Kafka Hibino works in monster disposal. After reuniting with his childhood friend Mina Ashiro, a rising star in the anti-Kaiju Defense Force, he decides to pursue his abandoned dream of joining…
16
Coyote Ugly (2000)
★ 6.3/10
Graced with a velvet voice, 21-year-old Violet Sanford heads to New York to pursue her dream of becoming a songwriter only to find her aspirations sidelined by the accolades and notoriety she receives at her "day" job…
17
Hardball (2001)
★ 6.5/10
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
18
Cadillac Records (2008)
★ 7.1/10
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…
19
A (2017)
★ 6.2/10
A young alcoholic ambient musician locks himself in his apartment on a dangerous seven day bender as he attempts to finish his upcoming album.
20
Taurus (2022)
★ 5.8/10
A rising but troubled musician searches for the inspiration to record one last song, pushing himself deep into the void.