Items18The creator’s order
  1. 1The Lure (2015)The Lure (2015) 6.2/10 on IMDbReleased 25 Dec 2015Agnieszka Smoczyńska turns two mermaids' nightclub act into a musical about appetite, performance and the cost of changing yourself for someone else. Its Polish cabaret world is a genuinely different discovery from the usual English-language cult staples. Explicit sexuality and graphic violence…0
  2. 2The Happiness of the Katakuris (2002)The Happiness of the Katakuris (2002) 6.9/10 on IMDbReleased 23 Feb 2002Takashi Miike gives a failing guesthouse's escalating disasters the form of an unruly family musical. The sudden songs, clay animation and cheerfully unstable tone are the point. Worth seeking beyond his better-known violent thrillers, provided you can enjoy comic corpses and deliberate bad taste.0
  3. 3The Saddest Music in the World (2003)The Saddest Music in the World (2003) 7.0/10 on IMDbReleased 17 Sept 2003Guy Maddin makes a Depression-era music contest into a blurred, artificial silent-cinema fever dream. Isabella Rossellini's beer magnate gives the absurd premise an unforgettable centre. Its place here is for the musical imagination inside a director more often discussed as an experimental stylist;…0
  4. 4The American Astronaut (2001)The American Astronaut (2001) 6.9/10 on IMDbReleased 21 Sept 2001Cory McAbee's black-and-white space western finds room for musical exchanges in the most awkward working situations. The bare sets and physical performances make its low-budget world feel oddly complete. A true cult detour for viewers who want a musical's rhythm without familiar Broadway polish.0
  5. 5Zero Patience (1993)Zero Patience (1993) 6.1/10 on IMDbReleased 10 Sept 1993John Greyson uses deliberately artificial song and fantasy to attack the story that one man could be blamed for an epidemic. The queer musical form is part of its political argument, not decoration. It remains a valuable alternative to solemn historical drama, with explicit adult material and…0
  6. 6Dames (1934)Dames (1934) 7.0/10 on IMDbReleased 1 Sept 1934Busby Berkeley's camera turns a chorus into patterns no seated theatre audience could see. The modest backstage plot mainly supplies the launchpad. This 1934 feature deserves a return beyond the handful of musical titles usually attached to his name, for the sheer inventiveness of the visual…0
  7. 7It's Always Fair Weather (1955)It's Always Fair Weather (1955) 7.0/10 on IMDbReleased 30 Aug 1955Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen let a reunion expose how little three former soldiers have in common with their younger selves. The dancing has bite because the optimism is under pressure. Its more sour view of friendship and television helps explain why it feels like a useful rediscovery beside their…0
  8. 8The Pirate (1948)The Pirate (1948) 6.8/10 on IMDbReleased 11 Jun 1948Judy Garland's appetite for romantic fantasy and Gene Kelly's theatrical self-display turn a mistaken identity into a contest of imaginative power. Vincente Minnelli gives the colour and staging a deliberately overheated form. A rewarding detour beyond the stars' best-known hits, especially if you…0
  9. 9London Road (2015)London Road (2015) 5.2/10 on IMDbReleased 12 Jun 2015Rufus Norris makes the rhythms of recorded local speech into music as residents respond to the Ipswich murders. The effect is unsettling precisely because ordinary phrases become collective performance. This is an important smaller British musical to recover, not comforting true-crime…0
  10. 10God Help the Girl (2014)God Help the Girl (2014) 6.4/10 on IMDbReleased 22 Aug 2014Stuart Murdoch gives three young Glasgow musicians songs that can feel like private experiments in becoming somebody else. The handmade charm is the attraction, although the whimsical style will not suit everyone. Its musical imagination deserves consideration beyond the director's existing…0