Movies Like Beijing Bastards

If you liked Beijing Bastards (1993), a music movie directed by Zhang Yuan, 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
Teen Spirit (2019)
★ 6/10Also music
A shy teenager living on the Isle of Wight dreams of pop stardom. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a singing competition that will test her integrity, talent, and ambition.
2
Find Me Falling (2024)
★ 6.6/10Also music
After a failed comeback album, a rock star retreats to a cliffside home on Cyprus, only to find his new life complicated by visitors — and an old flame.
3
Too Late Blues (1961)
★ 6.4/10Also music
Ghost is an ideological musician and leader of a jazz band who would rather play his blues in the park to the birds than compromise himself. His peripatetic performances lead him to cross paths with a singer, while his…
4
Hounddog (2008)
★ 6.5/10Also music
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
5
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006)
★ 6.8/10Also music
In Venice Beach, naive Midwesterner JB bonds with local slacker KG and they form the rock band Tenacious D. Setting out to become the world's greatest band is no easy feat, so they set out to steal what could be the…
6
Step Up: Year of the Dance (2019)
★ 6.1/10Also music
Two young people from different social classes put aside their differences and come together to form a dance group and win a championship in China.
7
Coyote Ugly (2000)
★ 6.3/10Also music
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…
8
Cover Girl (1944)
★ 6.4/10Also music
A nightclub dancer makes it big in modeling, leaving her dancer boyfriend behind.
9
A Star Is Born (1976)
★ 6/10Also music
Has-been singing idol John Norman Howard falls in love with young, up-and-coming songstress Esther Hoffman in Frank Pierson's version of the classic love story updated to the rock and roll era.
10
Coda (2020)
★ 6.1/10Also music
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.
11
Clika (2026)
★ 8.3/10Also music
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…
12
Footlight Parade (1933)
★ 6.8/10Also music
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.
13
Stuck in the Suburbs (2004)
★ 6/10Also music
Brittany Aarons is one of the many girls who has a crush on popular singer and boy-toy Jordan Cahill. However, she is bored of living a suburban existence and seeks a little something more.
14
Song for Marion (2012)
★ 6.8/10Also music
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…
15
Ghosts (1997)
★ 8.1/10Also music
In the town of Normal Valley, an eccentric magician named Maestro entertains the local children every day in his spooky mansion. One stormy night, the town's mayor leads a group of angry citizens to the mansion in an…
16
Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
★ 6.8/10Also music
In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.
17
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)
★ 6.1/10Also music
An all-girl rock band moves to Hollywood in the hope of achieving success, only to fall into a whirlpool of wickedness and decadence.
18
Cadillac Records (2008)
★ 7.1/10Also music
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
Mo' Better Blues (1990)
★ 6.5/10Also music
Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo and Clarke. But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend…
20
Apple Music Live: Lady Gaga MAYHEM Requiem (2026)
★ 8.3/10Also music
For Apple Music Live, Gaga presents MAYHEM Requiem, a celebration and musical reimagining of MAYHEM.