Movies Like
Movies Like Maestro: Musical Biopics
By Jordan A. · · 2 min read
Maestro is Brady Corbet's black and white movie about Leonard Bernstein's obsession with his own genius. It's three hours of a man who can't stop working and can't stop destroying the people around him. If you want more musical biopics about artistic genius and the cost of obsessive creativity, here's the list.
These aren't movies about nice people. They're movies about people who can't not create even when it's killing them.
For the musical genius angle
Rocketman is Elton John and the same obsession in color. Bigger and weirder than Maestro.
Bohemian Rhapsody is Queen and Freddie Mercury. Less subtle but the performance is incredible.
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is the parody version. Watch it if you want to understand what the biopic formula is.
I Am Love isn't about a musician but it's Guido Guantanomo and obsession and Italian cinema at its most beautiful.
For the black and white prestige
The Lighthouse is black and white madness. Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe going insane on a rock.
The Artist is a silent film in black and white. Jean Dujardin's face carries the whole movie.
Frances is Jessica Lange as Frances Farmer and it's 1982 prestige that still holds up.
For the creative obsession
The Master is Paul Thomas Anderson and Tom Hardy obsessing over Scientology and power.
There Will Be Blood is Daniel Day-Lewis as a man who can't stop building even though it's hollow.
Synecdoche, New York is Charlie Kaufman making a movie about a man making a movie that slowly consumes him.
The Fountain is Darren Aronofsky and obsession across three timelines.
For the prestige biopic
The Imitation Game is Alan Turing and the birth of computing and quiet desperation.
A Beautiful Mind is Russell Crowe as John Nash. Schizophrenia and genius and what happens when you can't trust your own mind.
The Social Network is Fincher and Sorkin doing the tech genius origin story.
For the family destruction angle
Spotlight is about institutions but it's also about people obsessing over a story at the cost of everything else.
All the Light We Cannot See is about obsession and war and beauty across a family.
The Power of the Dog is Jane Campion and obsession eating a family from the inside.
For the conductor/composer specifically
Amadeus is Peter Shaffer and Tom Hulce as Mozart. The template for all music biopics.
Immortal Beloved is Gary Oldman as Beethoven. Hammier than Maestro but committed.
La La Land is jazz and ambition and people who choose music over everything.
If you want to find what's streaming and what's worth watching, BingeNext will sort the list. Maestro is the anchor. Everything else is about the cost of genius and whether it's ever worth it.
The greatest artists aren't great because they're happy people. These movies understand that and don't apologize for it.
Topics covered: biography, music, drama, artistic, prestige, contemporary
About the author
Jordan A., Founder, BingeNext
Jordan A. is the founder of BingeNext and writes every guide on this site. He built the recommendation engine after one too many nights lost to the streaming menu, and he still tests every pick the hard way: by watching it.