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Anvil! The Story of Anvil poster

Movies that feel likeAnvil! The Story of Anvil (2008)

At 14, best friends Robb Reiner and Lips made a pact to rock together forever. Their band, Anvil, hailed as the "demi-gods of Canadian metal" influenced a musical generation that includes Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax. Following a calamitous European tour, Lips and Robb, now in their fifties, set off to record their 13th album in one last attempt to fulfill their boyhood dreams.

If you loved Anvil! The Story of Anvil, the closest films we have are The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2006), The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988) and 20 Feet from Stardom (2013). All three share Anvil! The Story of Anvil's contemplative and stylish feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988).

🍅 98% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Sacha Gervasicontemplativestylishwarm
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If Anvil! The Story of Anvil hit the spot, these will too

The Devil and Daniel Johnston poster
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
2006 · dir. Jeff Feuerzeig
🍅 88%★ 7.9documentary · music

One thread runs through both: music documentary

The difference: Lighter on warmth

This 2005 documentary film chronicles the life of Daniel Johnston, a manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist, from childhood up to the present, with an emphasis on his mental illness and how it manifested itself in demonic self-obsession.

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years poster
🍅 76%★ 7.2documentary · music

Both are built on the same subject: heavy metal

The difference: 20 years apart, and the 1980s show

An exploration of the heavy metal scene in Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on glam metal. It features concert footage and interviews of legendary heavy metal and hard rock bands and artists such as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Megadeth, Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne and W.A.S.P..

20 Feet from Stardom poster
20 Feet from Stardom
2013 · dir. Morgan Neville
🍅 99%★ 7.4documentary · music

Contemplative and stylish in the same breath

Backup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight. Their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music, but we've had no idea who these singers are or what lives they lead, until now.

We Are the Best! poster
We Are the Best!
2013 · dir. Lukas Moodysson
🍅 97%★ 7.1drama · musicPrime Video

Contemplative music in both cases

The difference: Played as drama first

Three girls in 1980s Stockholm decide to form a punk band—despite not having any instruments, and being told by everyone that punk is dead.

Stop Making Sense poster
Stop Making Sense
1984 · dir. Jonathan Demme
🍅 100%★ 8.7documentary · musicRent or buy

Both keep coming back to the same thing: rock band

A concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, on tour for their 1983 album "Speaking in Tongues." The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning and cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan poster
Bajrangi Bhaijaan
2015 · dir. Kabir Khan
🍅 91%★ 8.1music · dramaNetflix

Documentary built on style, twice over

A young mute girl from Pakistan loses herself in India with no way to head back. A devoted man with a magnanimous spirit undertakes the task to get her back to her motherland and unite her with her family.

Searching for Sugar Man poster
Searching for Sugar Man
2012 · dir. Malik Bendjelloul
🍅 95%★ 8.2music · documentaryHulu

Contemplative documentary, and it commits to that

Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock 'n' roller, Rodriguez.

Distant Voices, Still Lives poster
Distant Voices, Still Lives
1988 · dir. Terence Davies
🍅 80%★ 7.4drama · music

Music with a pulse of style, in both cases

Siblings Maisie and Tony, along with their mother, gather for their sister Eileen's wedding. It is a joyous occasion, but through flashbacks, it becomes clear that the family was not always happy. Their father was physically abusive to his wife and left the children emotionally traumatized. As a result, the children have grown into unhappy adults, looking for love they didn't receive when they were young.

The Last Waltz poster
The Last Waltz
1978 · dir. Martin Scorsese
🍅 98%★ 8.1documentary · musicPrime Video

Documentary of the same temperament

Martin Scorsese's documentary intertwines footage from The Band's incredible farewell tour with probing backstage interviews and featured performances by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, and other rock legends.

Gimme Shelter poster
Gimme Shelter
1970 · dir. Albert Maysles
🍅 93%★ 7.8documentary · musicMax

Both are music through and through

A detailed chronicle of the famous 1969 tour of the United States by the British rock band The Rolling Stones, which culminated with the disastrous and tragic concert held on December 6 at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, an event of historical significance, as it marked the end of an era: the generation of peace and love suddenly became the generation of disillusionment.

Leto poster
Leto
2018 · dir. Kirill Serebrennikov
🍅 78%★ 7.3music · drama

The same preoccupation in both: rock band

Leningrad, one summer in the early eighties. Smuggling LPs by Lou Reed and David Bowie, the underground rock scene is boiling ahead of the Perestroika. Mike and his beautiful wife Natasha meet with young Viktor Tsoi. Together with friends, they will change the destiny of rock’n’roll in the Soviet Union.

La Vie en Rose poster
La Vie en Rose
2007 · dir. Olivier Dahan
🍅 50%★ 7.5music · drama

The music is handled with the same confidence

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

From the mean streets of the Belleville district of Paris to the dazzling limelight of New York's most famous concert halls, Edith Piaf's life was a constant battle to sing and survive, to live and love. Raised in her grandmother's brothel, Piaf was discovered in 1935 by nightclub owner Louis Leplee, who persuaded her to sing despite her extreme nervousness. Piaf became one of France's immortal icons, her voice one of the indelible signatures of the 20th century.

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