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Movies that feel liketick, tick... BOOM! (2021)

On the brink of turning 30, a promising theater composer navigates love, friendship and the pressure to create something great before time runs out.

If you loved tick, tick... BOOM!, the closest films we have are Rocketman (2019), La Vie en Rose (2007) and Sound of Metal (2020). All three share tick, tick... BOOM!'s contemplative and stylish feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988).

πŸ… 87% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.5 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Lin-Manuel Mirandacontemplativestylish
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix Β· Amazon Prime Video Β· Hulu

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If tick, tick... BOOM! hit the spot, these will too

Rocketman poster
Rocketman
2019 Β· dir. Dexter Fletcher
β˜… 7.3music Β· dramaParamount+

The same two preoccupations: musical, and a true story

The story of Elton John's life, from his years as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music through his influential and enduring musical partnership with Bernie Taupin.

La Vie en Rose poster
La Vie en Rose
2007 Β· dir. Olivier Dahan
πŸ… 50%β˜… 7.5music Β· drama

One thread runs through both: musical

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

From the mean streets of the Belleville district of Paris to the dazzling limelight of New York's most famous concert halls, Edith Piaf's life was a constant battle to sing and survive, to live and love. Raised in her grandmother's brothel, Piaf was discovered in 1935 by nightclub owner Louis Leplee, who persuaded her to sing despite her extreme nervousness. Piaf became one of France's immortal icons, her voice one of the indelible signatures of the 20th century.

Sound of Metal poster
Sound of Metal
2020 Β· dir. Darius Marder
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.7drama Β· musicPrime Video

Contemplative where it counts, stylish underneath

Metal drummer Ruben begins to lose his hearing. When a doctor tells him his condition will worsen, he thinks his career and life is over. His girlfriend Lou checks the former addict into a rehab for the deaf hoping it will prevent a relapse and help him adapt to his new life. After being welcomed and accepted just as he is, Ruben must choose between his new normal and the life he once knew.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan poster
Bajrangi Bhaijaan
2015 Β· dir. Kabir Khan
πŸ… 91%β˜… 8.1music Β· dramaNetflix

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

A young mute girl from Pakistan loses herself in India with no way to head back. A devoted man with a magnanimous spirit undertakes the task to get her back to her motherland and unite her with her family.

We Are the Best! poster
We Are the Best!
2013 Β· dir. Lukas Moodysson
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.1drama Β· musicPrime Video

Music with a pulse of style, in both cases

Three girls in 1980s Stockholm decide to form a punk bandβ€”despite not having any instruments, and being told by everyone that punk is dead.

Searching for Sugar Man poster
Searching for Sugar Man
2012 Β· dir. Malik Bendjelloul
πŸ… 95%β˜… 8.2music Β· documentaryHulu

The same preoccupation in both: a true story

The difference: Leans harder into documentary than tick, tick... BOOM! does

Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock 'n' roller, Rodriguez.

20 Feet from Stardom poster
20 Feet from Stardom
2013 Β· dir. Morgan Neville
πŸ… 99%β˜… 7.4documentary Β· music

Music built on stillness, twice over

Backup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight. Their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music, but we've had no idea who these singers are or what lives they lead, until now.

The Legend of 1900 poster
The Legend of 1900
1998 Β· dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
πŸ… 58%β˜… 8drama Β· music

Stylish drama in both cases

The difference: 23 years apart, and the 1990s show

Musician Max Tooney goes to sell his prized Conn trumpet to a music shop, where he plays the instrument one last time. The shopkeeper recognises the song as one on a record matrix he found and asks who the piece is by. Tooney tells the story of an infant found abandoned in the first class dining room of the four-stacker ocean-liner SS Virginian on 1 January 1900. Danny Boodman, a coal-man from the boiler room, names the boy Danny Boodman T. D. Lemon 1900, after himself, the fruit crate the boy was found in, and the year, and raises him as his own.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston poster
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
2006 Β· dir. Jeff Feuerzeig
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.9documentary Β· music

Cut from the same music cloth

This 2005 documentary film chronicles the life of Daniel Johnston, a manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist, from childhood up to the present, with an emphasis on his mental illness and how it manifested itself in demonic self-obsession.

Distant Voices, Still Lives poster
Distant Voices, Still Lives
1988 Β· dir. Terence Davies
πŸ… 80%β˜… 7.4drama Β· music

Both are drama through and through

Siblings Maisie and Tony, along with their mother, gather for their sister Eileen's wedding. It is a joyous occasion, but through flashbacks, it becomes clear that the family was not always happy. Their father was physically abusive to his wife and left the children emotionally traumatized. As a result, the children have grown into unhappy adults, looking for love they didn't receive when they were young.

Leto poster
Leto
2018 Β· dir. Kirill Serebrennikov
πŸ… 78%β˜… 7.3music Β· drama

Both know what they want from drama

Leningrad, one summer in the early eighties. Smuggling LPs by Lou Reed and David Bowie, the underground rock scene is boiling ahead of the Perestroika. Mike and his beautiful wife Natasha meet with young Viktor Tsoi. Together with friends, they will change the destiny of rock’n’roll in the Soviet Union.

Bohemian Rhapsody poster
Bohemian Rhapsody
2018 Β· dir. Bryan Singer
πŸ… 60%β˜… 7.9music Β· drama

Both working the same music territory

Singer Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and bass guitarist John Deacon take the music world by storm when they form the rock 'n' roll band Queen in 1970. Hit songs become instant classics. When Mercury's increasingly wild lifestyle starts to spiral out of control, Queen soon faces its greatest challenge yet – finding a way to keep the band together amid the success and excess.

In the mood for more contemplative?

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The best-reviewed films that share tick, tick... BOOM!’s defining feeling.