Movies like The Exile (1931)
The best movies like The Exile (1931) are Cadillac Records (2008), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) and King Creole (1958). If The Exile hooked you with its drama and music, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhiplash (2014)8.4/10 from 17,377 votes
- NewestMotor City (2026)Released 2026
Cadillac Records (2008)
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 James and Chuck Berry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMa Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
Tensions rise when the trailblazing Mother of the Blues and her band gather at a Chicago recording studio in 1927. Adapted from August Wilson's play.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKing Creole (1958)
Delinquent Danny Fisher flunks out of high school, quits his job as a nightclub busboy, and one night gets the chance to perform. Success is imminent and local crime boss Maxie Fields wants to hire him to perform at The Blue Shade. Danny declines, but Fields won't take no for an answer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSarafina! (1992)
A Soweto schoolgirl named Sarafina is galvanized to protest apartheid after her teacher is arrested for her activism, leading her to join the student resistance movement.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBessie (2015)
The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKöln 75 (2025)
The true story of Vera Brandes, teenage patron saint of the 1970s Cologne music scene, who risked everything to organize the greatest solo concert in music history: Keith Jarrett’s legendary Köln Concert.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBorn to Be Blue (2015)
Jazz legend Chet Baker finds love and redemption when he stars in a movie about his own troubled life to mount a comeback.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhiplash (2014)
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMo' Better Blues (1990)
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, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisToo Late Blues (1961)
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 masculinity is thrown into question following a violent brawl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cotton Club (1984)
Harlem's legendary Cotton Club becomes a hotbed of passion and violence as the lives and loves of entertainers and gangsters collide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWidows (2018)
A police shootout leaves four thieves dead during an explosive armed robbery attempt in Chicago. Their widows have nothing in common except a debt left behind by their spouses' criminal activities. Hoping to forge a future on their own terms, they join forces to pull off a heist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMotherless Brooklyn (2019)
New York City, 1957. Lionel Essrog, a private detective living with Tourette syndrome, tries to solve the murder of his mentor and best friend, armed only with vague clues and the strength of his obsessive mind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShadows (1960)
The relationship between Lelia, a light-skinned black woman, and Tony, a white man is put in jeopardy when Tony meets Lelia’s darker-skinned jazz singer brother, Hugh, and discovers that her racial heritage is not what he thought it was.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
What was supposed to be a peaceful protest turned into a violent clash with the police. What followed was one of the most notorious trials in history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCradle Will Rock (1999)
A true story of politics and art in the 1930s USA, centered around a leftist musical drama and attempts to stop its production.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMotor City (2026)
In 1970s Detroit, John Miller falls for a local gangster's girl and lands in prison for a crime he didn't commit. With his life ruined, Miller plots revenge against the man who took his girl away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDancer in the Dark (2000)
Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her young son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life becomes increasingly difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Sound of Silence (2019)
A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Nothing Factory (2017)
One night, a group of workers realises that the administration is stealing machines and raw materials from their own factory. As they organize to survey the equipment and block the relocation of production, they are forced to stand at their posts with no work to do, as a form of retaliation, while negotiations over general lay-offs take place. The pressure leads to a breakdown of the workers along with the world around them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & drama
Gloomy Sunday (1999)
Budapest in the 1930s. Restaurant owner Laszlo hires pianist András to play in his restaurant. Both men fall in love with the beautiful waitress Ilona who inspires András to his only composition. His song of Gloomy Sunday is, at first, loved and then feared, for its melancholic melody sets off a chain of suicides. The fragile balance of the erotic ménage à trois is sent off kilter when the German Hans falls in love with Ilona as well.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChicago (2002)
Murderesses Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEn una playa junto al mar (1971)
In the midst of many songs, the young musician misunderstood by his father, the studious and hardworking girl and the family reunion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Estrada on the Screen (1968)
A comedy from the stage troupe of Tiranë and Shkodër. A collection of sketches, songs and humorous numbers performed by well-known Albanian pop artists. With a combination of humor and satirical situations, the film aims to bring entertainment to the audience, reflecting diverse characters of everyday life and addressing social themes of the time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Main Vaapas Aaunga (2026)
Haunted by a childhood romance and recollections of love lost during the 1947 Partition of India, 95-year-old Ishar Singh Grewal shares his story with his grandson Nirvair, the past unfolding through memories of migration, longing, and a romance that endures across generations.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Lake House (2006)
When architect Alex Wyler moves into an unusual glass house on stilts over a lake, he discovers a note from the previous tenant in the mailbox--but no one's lived in the house for years. He replies and soon discovers that he's corresponding with a doctor named Kate Forster. Their correspondence, only through the 'magical' mailbox, turns romantic and their paths cross in unexpected ways, but when they try to truly connect, danger looms. They must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it's too late.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEarth, Wind & Fire (2004)
One of the hottest R&B groups of all time, the legendary Earth, Wind & Fire in concert define excitement. Captured live on their remarkable 1994 sell-out tour of Japan, this performance showcases the band's distinctive style and raw energy and marks Maurice White's last taped appearance with the group in concert. Always dynamite on stage with their unmistakable sound and electrifying showmanship, Earth, Wind & Fire combine all the greatest elements of rock and soul! 1. September 2. Let Your Feelings Show 3. Let's Groove 4. Runnin' 5. Boogie Wonderland 6. Can't Hide Love 7. Fantasy 8. Kalimba Interlude 9. Evil 10. Shining Star 11. Keep Your Head To The Sky 12. Reasons 13. Sing A Song 14. That's The Way Of The World 15. Wouldn't Change A Thing About You 16. After The Love Is Gone 17. System Of Survival
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Wattstax (1973)
A documentary film about the Afro-American Woodstock concert held in Los Angeles seven years after the Watts riots. Director Mel Stuart mixes footage from the concert with footage of the living conditions in the current-day Watts neighborhood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
The Burden (2017)
A shopping center along a large highway is the scene of an apocalyptic musical. Animation with a strong sense of form set to auto-tuned music by Klungan. About liberation through great catastrophy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Like The Exile and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Exile?
The closest matches to The Exile are Cadillac Records (2008), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) and King Creole (1958). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Exile?
Start with Cadillac Records (2008), the closest match to The Exile.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Exile?
Whiplash (2014), rated 8.4/10 by 17,377 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Exile?
Motor City (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Exile?
Yes: Cadillac Records (2008), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) and King Creole (1958).
How are movies similar to The Exile chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Exile, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.