Popular Music Movies on Kanopy

The Identical

2014

The Identical

2014
5.1
During the Great Depression, identical twins are separated at birth. One, Drexel Hemsley becomes a wildly successful '50s rock star, while the other, Ryan Wade, struggles to balance his passion for music and pleasing his parents, who want him to become a preacher. Finally, Ryan rebels against his parents' wishes and launches his own music career -- performing the hits of Drexel Hemsley. Ryan later learns the truth about Drexel when their fates tragically collide.
Barracuda

2017

Barracuda

2017
6.2
Sinaloa hitchhikes into Texas to meet Merle, her half-sister by way of their dead country musician father. As the two get to know each other, Sinaloa's chaotic influence starts to unravel Merle's quiet, comfortable life. While the family music legacy brought Sinaloa to Austin, she won't leave without taking revenge against the people who stole her daddy away years ago.
South Pacific

1958

South Pacific

1958
6.1
Can a girl from Little Rock find happiness with a mature French planter she got to know one enchanted evening away from the military hospital where she is a nurse? Or should she just wash that man out of her hair? Bloody Mary is the philosopher of the island and it's hard to believe she could be the mother of Liat who has captured the heart of Lt. Joseph Cable USMC. While waiting for action in the war in the South Pacific, sailors and nurses put on a musical comedy show. The war gets closer and the saga of Nellie Forbush and Emile de Becque becomes serious drama.
Blue Hawaii

1961

Blue Hawaii

1961
5.9
Chad Gates has just been discharged from the Army, and is happy to be back in Hawaii with his surf-board, his beach buddies and his girlfriend.
Rhinegold

2022

Rhinegold

2022
6.5
Xatar’s way from the ghetto to the top of the charts is as dramatic as it is daring: Fatih Akin’s new film is based on the autobiographical novel »Alles oder Nix« (»All or Nothing«) of the probably most authentic exponent of German gangsta rap. From the hell of an Iraqi jail, Giwar Hajabi (Emilio Sakraya) emigrated to Germany as a young boy with his family in the mid-1980s and has to start right at the bottom. There are opportunities, but far more obstacles. Giwar’s rise from petty criminal to major dealer is swift. Until one shipment goes missing. In order to clear his debts with the cartel, he plans a legendary gold heist. But just as everything goes wrong, another door opens for Giwar thanks to his passion for music …
Begin Again

2014

Begin Again

2014
7.2
Gretta, a budding songwriter, finds herself alone after her boyfriend Dave ditches her. Her life gains purpose when Dan, a record label executive, notices her talent.
Paris Blues

1961

Paris Blues

1961
6.5
During the 1960s, two American jazz musicians living in Paris meet and fall in love with two American tourist girls and must decide between music and love.
Electric Jesus

2020

Electric Jesus

2020
5.5
Alabama preacher’s daughter runs off with a touring Xian hair metal band during the summer of 1986.
Yentl

1983

Yentl

1983
6.7
In a time when girls were forbidden to study religious scriptures, a Jewish girl masquerades as a boy to enter religious training and unexpectedly finds love along the way.
Downtown '81

2001

Downtown '81

2001
6.7
The film is a day in the life of a young artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who needs to raise money to reclaim the apartment from which he has been evicted. He wanders the downtown streets carrying a painting he hopes to sell, encountering friends, whose lives (and performances) we peek into.
Fame

2009

Fame

2009
5.7
At New York's High School of Performing Arts, students from all walks of life get the chance to hone their skills as singers, actors, dancers, and more. Over four years, these young men and women will see if they truly have the dedication and talent to achieve success, while still juggling regular schoolwork, feelings of self-doubt, and budding romances.
Amazing Grace

2018

Amazing Grace

2018
7.2
A behind-the-scenes documentary about the recording of Aretha Franklin's best-selling album finally sees the light of day more than four decades after the original footage was shot.
Oz

1976

Oz

1976
4.9
Teenage groupie Dorothy is riding with a rock band when, suddenly, the van runs off the road, and she hits her head. She awakes in a fantasy world as gritty and realistic as her own and learns that her arrival killed a young thug. A gay clothier, Glyn the Good Fairy, gives her a pair of red heels as a reward to help her see the last concert of the Wizard, an androgynous glam rock star. As she's pursued and sexually threatened by the late thug's brother, she encounters and befriends a brainless surfer, a heartless mechanic, and a cowardly biker.
Zappa

2020

Zappa

2020
7.3
With the help of more than 10,000 dedicated Zappa fans, this is the long-awaited definitive documentary project of Alex Winter documenting the life and career of enigmatic groundbreaking rock star Frank Zappa. Alex also utilizes in this picture thousands of hours of painstakingly digitized videos, photos, audio, writing, and everything in between from Zappa's private archives. These chronicles have never been brought to a public audience before, until now.
Wild Rose

2019

Wild Rose

2019
6.8
A young Scottish singer, Rose-Lynn Harlan, dreams of making it as a country artist in Nashville after being released from prison.
Farinelli

1994

Farinelli

1994
6.6
The life and career of Italian opera singer Farinelli, considered one of the greatest castrato singers of all time.
Bel Canto

2018

Bel Canto

2018
5.4
A famous opera singer is held hostage in South America by a guerrilla rebel group after performing at a Japanese businessman's lavish birthday party. Unexpected bonds are forged in the standoff that ensues.
Marguerite

2015

Marguerite

2015
6.4
Paris in the 1920s. Marguerite Dumont is a wealthy woman with a passion for music and the opera. For years, she has performed regularly for a circle of guests. But Marguerite sings tragically out of tune and no one has ever told her. Her husband and her close friends have always encouraged her in her illusions. Things become very complicated the day she gets it into her head to perform in front of a genuine public, at the Opera.
Rock Dog

2016

Rock Dog

2016
6.3
When a radio falls from the sky into the hands of a wide-eyed Tibetan Mastiff, he leaves home to fulfill his dream of becoming a musician, setting into motion a series of completely unexpected events.
Glitter & Doom

2024

Glitter & Doom

2024
3.3
Serious musician Doom and free-spirited circus kid Glitter start a budding summer relationship filled with camping trips, late-night conversations, and plenty of song and dance. Their relationship is put to the test as they deal with trying to make it in the music biz, their mothers, and finding what feeds each of their souls and dreams.

Popular Music Movies on Kanopy

2014

2014

2017

2017

1958

1958

1961

1961

2022

2022

2014

2014

1961

1961

2020

2020

1983

1983

2001

2001

2009

2009

2018

2018

1976

1976

2020

2020

2019

2019

1994

1994

2018

2018

2015

2015

2016

2016

2024

2024