Movies Similar to The Tower: A Songspiel

Nirvana Police(2014)

A young policeman falls in love with a black panther.

DAM! The Story of Kit the Beaver(2017)

DAM! The Story of Kit the Beaver is an animated film that’s not about your average beaver. It’s the tale of Kit, a very independent (and easily distracted) young beaver who loves to explore the sounds of the forest she lives in. Animated short with original orchestral score performed by The Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Once When I Served My Dear Landlord(2005)

Based on a Belarussian folk song, movie tells a story of a poor peasant who goes to serve the landlord and is not successful in it.

Bonefire(2017)

Somewhere between a music-video, a documentary and a fantasy - created with and around a Toronto-based acting-collective called LUSTR.

Special Kinda Bad Feeling(2024)

Rebekka and Aatos, stuck in the past, meet for the first time since their painful breakup at their treasured poetry slam. It’s easier to sing about longing than to talk about it.

Cremaster 5(1997)

Cremaster 5 is a five-act opera (sung in Hungarian) set in late-ninteenth century Budapest. The last film in the series, Cremaster 5 represents the moment when the testicles are finally released and sexual differentiation is fully attained. The lamenting tone of the opera suggests that Barney invisions this as a moment of tragedy and loss. The primary character is the Queen of Chain (played by Ursula Andress). Barney, himself, plays three characters who appear in the mind of the Queen: her Diva, Magician, and Giant. The Magician is a stand-in for Harry Houdini, who was born in Budapest in 1874 and appears as a recurring character in the Cremaster cycle.

Bosko and Honey(1932)

This is an unreleased cartoon that eventually went on to have most of its animation recycled by Bosko's Dizzy Date. Honey is trying to teach the violin to Wilbur, the one who hates music. Honey calls Bosko over. Bosko and Honey sing, dance, and play music while Wilbur continues to express its disdain.

With Strings and Accordion(2024)

In present-day Monterrey, three downtown musicians confront the urbanization of the city as they perform Fara Fara pieces in search of clients.

A kiss and an ice pick(2022)

A failed singer tries to improve his show with a trick up his sleeve.

Knee Deep In Music(1933)

A canned fish tycoon wants a smash hit song to sell his fish. Ruth Etting is the perfect singer - but can they find a song worthy of her?

Writer's Block(2016)

Past her prime and afflicted with a severe case of writer's block, a veteran songwriter finds new inspiration in a bird that takes up residence outside her home.

Cris Superstar(2020)

The Rise and Fall of Absolutism(2025)

Blending TikTok-style viral dance routines with a virtual tour of sites tied to Thailand's historical and present-day political landscape, from the Democracy Monument through to Wat Phra Kaew and the Equestrian Statue Plaza. Overlaid onto images of these locations are Ramvong folk dancers who perform the graceful movements of the centuries-old traditional dance. The accompanying soundtrack, composed by Tanat, reimagines the five activist songs in his distinctive musical style. Blending together national dance gestures with uprising songs, the work juxtaposes symbols of control and centralised power with examples of resistance against power structures.

Filipinescas - Getanzte Legenden der philippinischen Inselwelt(1961)

TV movie about dance rites in the Philippines

Bulimia: The Musical(2014)

BULIMIA: THE MUSICAL follows a young girl's journey from first vomit to last breath, in fifteen minutes of laugh-out-loud, puke-your-guts-out song and dance, all wrapped up with a positive message.

Liv(2018)

An 85-year old woman suffers from dementia. She dreams.

Hell's Bells(1929)

The demons of hell play music for Satan, whose delight turns to wrath when an insubordinate refuses to become food for Cerberus.

Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man(2000)

A child is born. We see underwater swimmers representing this. He is young, in a jungle setting, with two fanciful "instincts" guiding him as swooping bird-like acrobats initially menace, then delight. As an adolescent, he enters a desert, where a man spins a large cube of metal tubing. He leaves his instinct-guides behind, and enters a garden where two statues dance in a pond. As he watches their sensual acrobatics of love, he becomes a man. He is offered wealth (represented by a golden hat) by a devil figure. In a richly decorated room, a scruffy troupe of a dozen acrobats and a little girl reawaken the old man's youthful nature and love.

How I See Sunsets(2017)

A poetic, semi-autobiographical short film of the sun setting over a village, shot from behind the curtains of a small, dimly lit room.

Blues for Herold(2024)

A struggling young man secretly plays a magical trumpet that transports him from his desolate world into a colorful "bliss." When his younger brother discovers his secret, their relationship is put in jeopardy.