Movies like Balakirev the Jester (2001)
The best movies like Balakirev the Jester (2001) are Confirmation (2016), Barbarians at the Gate (1993) and Petrov's Flu (2021). If Balakirev the Jester hooked you with its drama and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLife Is Beautiful (1997)8.4/10 from 14,397 votes
- NewestOn Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024)Released 2024
Confirmation (2016)
Judge Clarence Thomas' nomination to the United States' Supreme Court is called into question when former colleague, Anita Hill, testifies that he had sexually harassed her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarbarians at the Gate (1993)
F. Ross Johnson decides to buyout his own tobacco firm RJR Nabisco after the plans of the launch of his new product, a smokeless cigarette Premier, fail on account of market rumours.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPetrov's Flu (2021)
With the city in the throes of a flu epidemic, the Petrov family struggles through yet another day in a country where the past is never past, the present is a booze-fueled, icy fever dream of violence and tenderness, and where – beneath layers of the ordinary – things turn out to be extraordinary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Turner (2014)
Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper bears an unrequited love for him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIntroducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999)
An acclaimed stage performer, Dorothy still struggled with the challenge of her color, in a time that wouldn't let some stars in by the front door. Yet against the odds she beat out many more famous rivals for the role of "Carmen Jones", becoming the first black woman ever nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award. Marriages and affairs would break her heart, but her heart was strong. Seductive and easily seduced, she was born to be a star - with all the glory and all the pain of being loved, abused, cheated, glorified, undermined and undefeated. Here was a woman who wouldn't wait in the wings. Halle Berry stars as Dorothy Dandrige.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Conquest of Siberia (2019)
Ivan Demarin, a young officer of Peter the First’s new guards, follows the Tsar’s order and goes to the frontier town of Tobolsk, deep in the Siberian forest. There Ivan falls in love for the first time and he and his regiment happen to be involved in conspiracy of local princes who hunt for gold in the town of Yarkand. His fort is surrounded by hordes of wild Dzungars and there is no one to call for help…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher (2022)
At the turn of the 19th century, Pugilism was the sport of kings and a gifted young boxer fought his way to becoming champion of England.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisField of Lost Shoes (2015)
A group of teenage cadets sheltered from war at the Virginia Military Institute must confront the horrors of an adult world when they are called upon to defend the Shenandoah Valley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSun Dogs (2017)
A man eager to serve his country but rejected by the Marines pairs up with a young runaway to form an unlikely team on a misguided adventure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIron Jawed Angels (2004)
Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024)
On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Son (2019)
Time passes and tension mounts in a Florida police station as an estranged interracial couple awaits news of their missing teenage son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIndictment: The McMartin Trial (1995)
The McMartin family's lives are turned upside down when they are accused of serious child molestation. The family run a school for infants. An unqualified child cruelty "expert" videotapes the children describing outrageous stories of abuse. One of the most expensive and long running trials in US legal history, exposes the lack of evidence and unprofessional attitudes of the finger pointers which kept one of the accused in jail for over 5 years without bail.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Soup (1992)
An aspiring young filmmaker gets involved with an eccentric gangster for the financing of his first film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House of Tomorrow (2019)
The film tells futurist, architect, and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller's incredible story through two teens hoping to get laid, become punk gods, and survive high school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secrets We Keep (2020)
In post-World War II America, a woman, rebuilding her life in the suburbs with her husband, kidnaps her neighbor and seeks vengeance for the heinous war crimes she believes he committed against her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion - The Play (2002)
The fireworks begin when Madea’s family gathers for her granddaughter’s wedding. As usual, Madea rules the roost, as she and her neighbor, the wacky Mr. Brown, deliver nonstop laughs. Live, love, rejoice...it’s Madea’s Family Reunion!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAaliyah: The Princess of R&B (2014)
The story of R&B singer and actress Aaliyah; namely, the highs and lows of her career, her romantic pursuits, and the events leading up to her death in 2001 at the age of 22.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRay Donovan: The Movie (2022)
A showdown decades in the making brings the Donovan family legacy full circle. As the events that made Ray who he is today finally come to light, the Donovans find themselves drawn back to Boston to face the past. Each of them struggles to overcome their violent upbringing, but destiny dies hard, and only their fierce love for each other keeps them in the fight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGreen Book (2018)
Tony Lip, a bouncer in 1962, is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a tour through the Deep South in the days when African Americans, forced to find alternate accommodations and services due to segregation laws below the Mason-Dixon Line, relied on a guide called The Negro Motorist Green Book.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDeath at a Funeral (2007)
A myriad of outrageous calamities befalls an eccentric English clan with more than a few skeletons in its closets when the family's patriarch dies an unexpected death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLife Is Beautiful (1997)
A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLittle Miss Sunshine (2006)
A family loaded with quirky, colorful characters piles into an old van and road trips to California for little Olive to compete in a beauty pageant.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMother Died, Stop (1974)
An elderly woman pays visit to her mother who resides in nursing home. Few days later she receives a telegram that the mother died, but it turns out that the address it was sent to was wrong. However the guilt of neglect starts to torment the mourning daughter nonetheless.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Will Not Stop There (2008)
Whilst working on the case of a porn smuggling ring, private investigator and war veteran Martin decides to watch some of the films the police had confiscated, partially out of loneleyness and partially out of wanting to find out more information about the people involved in it. However, when he recognizes a familiar face in one of the films, he decides to travel to Belgrade, wanting to apologize to the actress for the trauma he caused her during the Croatian War of Indpendance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Call Me Helen (2015)
Is. This. My. Son? No matter how often Tobias Wilke poses this question, there's always only one answer: Yes! Tobias, can't believe his eyes when he comes to the airport to pick up his 17-year-old son Finn – and learns that Finn is now calling herself Helen and wearing girls' clothes. Finn/Helen reveals that she's always was a girl, and that she used her year abroad in San Francisco to pass the "everyday life" test. This is required by law for everyone preparing for the sex reassignment surgery they will undergo upon reaching majority. Reactions from Helen's friends, acquaintances and schoolmates cover the entire gamut from derision to solidarity. Especially Helen's father, a well-known chef, finds it difficult to accept a situation he cannot understand. But Helen nearly always finds the right words - and humor - to counterbalance the ignorance and jeers of those around her. It is the beginning of a long, winding road towards the sexual identity she is convinced is hers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Get Thee Out (1991)
In Russia at the turn of the century, a wealthy Jewish merchant enjoys the best of relations with his Russian neighbours, while his respected home forms the obvious social centre of the entire community. However, the atmosphere grows more tense as the local authorities come under pressure to fall in line with the officially sanctioned anti-Semitic policies of the Tsarist Government. The village elder is one of our hero's best friends and together they seem to find a way to outwit these evil intentions but unfortunately they fail to understand what forces they are dealing with in a country where anti-Semitism is state policy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
An Average Little Man (1977)
A middle-aged government accountant is determined to secure a stable job for his son before retiring, willing to go to great lengths to achieve his goal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLiving With an Idiot (1993)
The main character is an intellectual from Russia, who sees it as his duty to bring an idiot from an mental institution to his house. He can pick someone out, after bribing the boss of the institution, with two bottles of vodka. He chooses Vova, at first sight a silly man, and takes him home. His wife is at first not very happy with this choice. Vova says and does nothing at all. Then he becomes an aggressive man, who terrorises the house and bashes everything to pieces. After she is raped by Vova, the wife gets sexually dependant on the Idiot. Vova isn't interested anymore, when she gets pregnant and doesn't keep the baby. The idiot goes now to the intellectual for his sexual needs. The wife can't take this anymore and forces her man to take a choice: Vova out, or she will go.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Balakirev the Jester?
The closest matches to Balakirev the Jester are Confirmation (2016), Barbarians at the Gate (1993) and Petrov's Flu (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Balakirev the Jester?
Start with Confirmation (2016), the closest match to Balakirev the Jester.
What is the highest-rated movie like Balakirev the Jester?
Life Is Beautiful (1997), rated 8.4/10 by 14,397 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Balakirev the Jester?
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Balakirev the Jester chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Balakirev the Jester, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.