Movies like David Bowie: The Last Five Years (2017)
The best movies like David Bowie: The Last Five Years (2017) are The Last Waltz (1978), Searching for Sugar Man (2012) and Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That's the Weight of the World) (2026). If David Bowie: The Last Five Years hooked you with its music and documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedStop Making Sense (1984)8.4/10 from 407 votes
- NewestBoy George & Culture Club (2026)Released 2026
The Last Waltz (1978)
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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSearching for Sugar Man (2012)
Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock 'n' roller, Rodriguez.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisEarth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That's the Weight of the World) (2026)
Examines the legacy, cultural impact, and body of work of American R&B/funk/jazz/soul/disco band Earth, Wind & Fire, and will feature exclusive access to the band’s archives of visual, audio, and written material, as well as the support of the estate of Maurice White and the band.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
One to One: John & Yoko (2025)
An exploration of the seminal and transformative 18 months that one of music’s most famous couples — John Lennon and Yoko Ono — spent living in Greenwich Village, New York City, in the early 1970s.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
The Sparks Brothers (2021)
Take a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers Ron & Russell Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of Sparks: your favorite band’s favorite band.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBoy George & Culture Club (2026)
Set against the backdrop of 1980s Britain, four young men – Boy George, Roy Hay, Mikey Craig, and Jon Moss – formed a multi-racial, ethnically diverse, and sexually liberated band with a style and sound that challenged the status quo during the era of New Romantics and Margaret Thatcher’s Britain.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Can't Stand Losing You: Surviving The Police (2012)
Based on the acclaimed memoir by renowned guitarist Andy Summers, Can’t Stand Losing You: Surviving The Police follows Summers’ journey from his early days in the psychedelic ‘60s music scene, when he played with The Animals, to chance encounters with drummer Stewart Copeland and bassist Sting, which led to the formation of a new wave trio, The Police. The band’s phenomenal rise and its highly publicized dissolution at the height of their fame in the early ’80s captured by Summers’ camera. Utilizing rare archival footage, Summers’ photos, and insights from the guitarist’s side of the stage, Can’t Stand Losing You brings together past and present as the band members prepare to reunite for the first time in two decades later for a global reunion tour in 2007.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Queen: Days of Our Lives (2011)
In 1971, four college students got together to form a rock band. Since then, that certain band called Queen have released 26 albums and sold over 300 million records worldwide. The popularity of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon is stronger than ever 40 years on. But it was no bed of roses. No pleasure cruise. Queen had their share of kicks in the face, but they came through and this is how they did it, set against the backdrop of brilliant music and stunning live performances from every corner of the globe. In this film, for the first time, it is the band that tells their story. Featuring brand new interviews with the band and unseen archive footage (including their recently unearthed, first ever TV performance), it is a compelling story told with intelligence, wit, plenty of humor and painful honesty.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisJimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President (2020)
This rockumentary-style presidential portrait shows how Jimmy Carter reinvigorated a post-Watergate America—with the music of the counterculture, including the Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Jimmy Buffett.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
David Bowie: Five Years (2013)
Featuring a wealth of previously unseen archive, this film looks at how Bowie continually evolved: from Ziggy Stardust to the Soul Star of Young Americans, to the ‘Thin White Duke’. It explores his regeneration in Berlin with the critically acclaimed album Heroes, his triumph with Scary Monsters and his global success with Let’s Dance. With interviews with all his closest collaborators, David Bowie - Five Years presents a unique account of why Bowie has become an ‘icon of our times’.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWHAM! (2023)
Through archival interviews and footage, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley relive the arc of their Wham! career, from 70s best buds to 80s pop icons.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhat Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)
The film chronicles Nina Simone's journey from child piano prodigy to iconic musician and passionate activist, told in her own words.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmy (2015)
A documentary on the life of Amy Winehouse, the immensely talented yet doomed songstress. We see her from her teen years, where she already showed her singing abilities, to her finding success and then her downward spiral into alcoholism and drugs.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNico, 1988 (2017)
Approaching age 50, singer/songwriter Nico leads a solitary existence, far from her days as a Warhol superstar and celebrated vocalist for the Velvet Underground in the 1960s. Her life and career on the fringes, Nico's new manager convinces her to hit the road again and tour in Europe to promote her latest album. She longs to rebuild a relationship with her son, whose custody she lost long ago.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFreddie Mercury: The Final Act (2022)
The story of the extraordinary final chapter of Freddie Mercury’s life and how, after his death from AIDS, Queen staged one of the biggest concerts in history, the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium, to celebrate his life and challenge the prejudices around HIV/AIDS. For the first time, Freddie's story is told alongside the experiences of those who tested positive for HIV and lost loved ones during the same period. Medical practitioners, survivors, and human rights campaigners recount the intensity of living through the AIDS pandemic and the moral panic it brought about.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (2020)
The story of the triumphs and hurdles of brothers Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb, otherwise known as the Bee Gees. The iconic trio, who found early fame in the 1960s, went on to write over 1,000 songs and have 20 No. 1 hits throughout their career, transcending more than five decades of changing tastes and styles.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wrecking Crew (2008)
A celebration of the musical work of a group of session musicians known as "The Wrecking Crew." a band that provided back-up instrumentals to such legendary recording artists as Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, and Bing Crosby.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmazing Grace (2018)
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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStop Making Sense (1984)
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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisShine a Light (2008)
Martin Scorsese’s electrifying concert documentary captures The Rolling Stones live at New York’s Beacon Theatre during their A Bigger Bang tour. Filmed over two nights in 2006 with an all-star team of cinematographers, the film combines dynamic performances with archival footage and rare glimpses behind the scenes, offering a vibrant portrait of the band’s enduring energy and legacy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMystify: Michael Hutchence (2019)
Michael Hutchence was flying high as the lead singer of the legendary rock band INXS until his untimely death in 1997. Richard Lowenstein’s documentary examines Hutchence’s deeply felt life through his many loves and demons.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTINA (2021)
Tina Turner overcame impossible odds to become one of the first female Black artists to reach a mainstream international audience. Her road to superstardom is an undeniable story of triumph over adversity. It’s the ultimate story of survival – and an inspirational story of our times.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJimi Hendrix: Hear My Train a Comin' (2013)
An account of the short life of genius musician Jimi Hendrix (1942-70), probably the most talented and influential guitarist of the twentieth century: his humble beginnings in Seattle, his time in New York, his rise to fame in swinging London… Live fast, love hard, die young.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Dig! (2004)
A documentary on the once promising American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. The friendship between respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor, escalated into bitter rivalry as the Dandy Warhols garnered major international success while the Brian Jonestown Massacre imploded in a haze of drugs.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisImagine: John Lennon (1988)
The biography of former Beatle, John Lennon—narrated by Lennon himself—with extensive material from Yoko Ono's personal collection, previously unseen footage from Lennon's private archives, and interviews with David Bowie, his first wife Cynthia, second wife Yoko Ono and sons Julian and Sean.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDavid Bowie: Finding Fame (2019)
Coming 50 years after the release of Space Oddity, the 90-minute film explores the Bowie before Ziggy Stardust, following the period from 1966 when he changed his name from David Jones to Bowie. It includes footage from the BBC Archives including footage of a BBC audition in 1965 of David Bowie and the Lower Third, which included a performance of Chim-Chim-Cheree and Baby That's A Promise.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
The Velvet Underground (2021)
Experience the iconic rock band's legacy in the first major documentary to tell their story. Directed with the era’s avant-garde spirit by Todd Haynes, this kaleidoscopic oral history combines exclusive interviews with dazzling archival footage.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGood Ol' Freda (2013)
The story of Freda Kelly, a shy Liverpudlian teenager asked to work for a young local band hoping to make it big: The Beatles. Their loyal secretary from beginning to end, Freda tells her tales for the first time in 50 years.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove to Love You, Donna Summer (2023)
The extraordinary story of disco queen Donna Summer through a rich archive of unpublished film excerpts, home video, photographs, artwork, writings, personal audio and other recordings that span the life of one of the most iconic performers ever to shake a room to its timbers. From her early career with Giorgio Moroder in Germany, to later years more focused on spirituality and family life as a shelter from troubles associated with both notoriety and intimate wounds, her story is all the more special for being told in the first person – both singular and plural.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Pavarotti (2019)
Featuring never-before-seen footage, concert performances and intimate interviews, filmmaker Ron Howard examines the life and career of famed opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like David Bowie: The Last Five Years?
The closest matches to David Bowie: The Last Five Years are The Last Waltz (1978), Searching for Sugar Man (2012) and Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That's the Weight of the World) (2026). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after David Bowie: The Last Five Years?
People who watched David Bowie: The Last Five Years most often go on to The Last Waltz (1978), Searching for Sugar Man (2012) and Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That's the Weight of the World) (2026).
What is the highest-rated movie like David Bowie: The Last Five Years?
Stop Making Sense (1984), rated 8.4/10 by 407 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like David Bowie: The Last Five Years?
Boy George & Culture Club (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like David Bowie: The Last Five Years?
Yes: The Last Waltz (1978), Searching for Sugar Man (2012) and Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That's the Weight of the World) (2026).
How are movies similar to David Bowie: The Last Five Years chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside David Bowie: The Last Five Years, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.