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Billy Elliot poster

Movies that feel likeBilly Elliot (2000)

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

If you loved Billy Elliot, the closest films we have are The Chorus (2004), Waiting for Guffman (1997) and A Mighty Wind (2003). All three share Billy Elliot's witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is O Lucky Man! (1973).

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See it on the Mood Map

If Billy Elliot hit the spot, these will too

The Chorus poster
The Chorus
2004 Β· dir. Christophe Barratier
πŸ… 68%β˜… 7.9drama Β· comedy Β· music

The same mix in both: stillness, then wit

The difference: Trades the warmth of Billy Elliot for an angle of its own

In 1940s France, a new teacher at a school for disruptive boys gives hope and inspiration.

Waiting for Guffman poster
Waiting for Guffman
1997 Β· dir. Christopher Guest
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7.4comedy Β· music

Playful where it counts, stylish underneath

Aspiring director Corky St. Clair and the marginally talented amateur cast of his hokey small-town musical production go overboard when they learn that Broadway theater agent Mort Guffman will be in attendance.

A Mighty Wind poster
A Mighty Wind
2003 Β· dir. Christopher Guest
πŸ… 87%β˜… 7.2comedy Β· music

Witty comedy in both cases

Three eclectic, never-quite-famous folk bands come together for the first time in decades following the death of their manager to put on an reunion concert in his honor, at the request of his son.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil poster
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
2008 Β· dir. Sacha Gervasi
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.9documentary Β· musicPrime Video

One thread runs through both: friendship

The difference: Leans harder into documentary than Billy Elliot does

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.

Wayne's World poster
Wayne's World
1992 Β· dir. Penelope Spheeris
πŸ… 79%β˜… 7comedy Β· music

Music built on play, twice over

The adventures of two amiably aimless metal-head friends, Wayne and Garth. From Wayne's basement, the pair broadcast a talk-show called "Wayne's World" on local public access television. The show comes to the attention of a sleazy network executive who wants to produce a big-budget version of "Wayne's World"β€”and he also wants Wayne's girlfriend, a rock singer named Cassandra. Wayne and Garth have to battle the executive not only to save their show, but also Cassandra.

You, the Living poster
You, the Living
2007 Β· dir. Roy Andersson
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.4drama Β· comedy Β· music

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

In the Swedish city of Lethe, people from different walks of life take part in a series of short, deadpan vignettes that rush past. Some are just seconds long, none longer than a couple of minutes. A young woman remembers a fantasy honeymoon with a rock guitarist. A man awakes from a dream about bomber planes. A businessman boasts about success while being robbed by a pickpocket, and so on. The absurdist collection is accompanied by Dixieland jazz and similar music.

Pitch Perfect poster
Pitch Perfect
2012 Β· dir. Jason Moore
πŸ… 81%β˜… 7.1comedy Β· music Β· romance

Warm comedy, and it commits to that

College student Beca knows she does not want to be part of a clique, but that's exactly where she finds herself after arriving at her new school. Thrust in among mean gals, nice gals and just plain weird gals, Beca finds that the only thing they have in common is how well they sing together. She takes the women of the group out of their comfort zone of traditional arrangements and into a world of amazing harmonic combinations in a fight to the top of college music competitions.

My Fair Lady poster
My Fair Lady
1964 Β· dir. George Cukor
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.7comedy Β· music Β· drama

Drama with a pulse of style, in both cases

The difference: Made in the 1960s, in a different era of the craft

A snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.

Yesterday poster
Yesterday
2019 Β· dir. Danny Boyle
πŸ… 64%β˜… 6.8comedy Β· fantasy Β· music

Music with a pulse of dream logic, in both cases

A struggling musician realizes he's the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles after waking up in an alternate reality where the group was forgotten.

O Lucky Man! poster
O Lucky Man!
1973 Β· dir. Lindsay Anderson
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.6comedy Β· music Β· fantasy

Dreamlike drama in both cases

An ambitious coffee salesman has a series of improbable and ironic adventures seemingly designed to challenge his naive idealism.

The Legend of 1900 poster
The Legend of 1900
1998 Β· dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
πŸ… 58%β˜… 8drama Β· music

Music built on stillness, twice over

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Musician Max Tooney goes to sell his prized Conn trumpet to a music shop, where he plays the instrument one last time. The shopkeeper recognises the song as one on a record matrix he found and asks who the piece is by. Tooney tells the story of an infant found abandoned in the first class dining room of the four-stacker ocean-liner SS Virginian on 1 January 1900. Danny Boodman, a coal-man from the boiler room, names the boy Danny Boodman T. D. Lemon 1900, after himself, the fruit crate the boy was found in, and the year, and raises him as his own.

La Vie en Rose poster
La Vie en Rose
2007 Β· dir. Olivier Dahan
πŸ… 50%β˜… 7.5music Β· drama

Stylish comedy, and it commits to that

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.

In the mood for more contemplative?

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The best-reviewed films that share Billy Elliot’s defining feeling.