NoBadPicks

Movies Like Cabaret

If you loved Cabaret's Music and Drama storytelling, these films deliver a similar experience — carefully selected for tone, themes, and emotional depth. Each pick includes where to watch it right now.

Top Picks

Bent
6.8

Bent

1997

Max is a handsome young man who, after a fateful tryst with a German soldier, is forced to run for his life. Eventually Max is placed in a concentration camp where he pretends to be Jewish because in the eyes of the Nazis, gays are the lowest form of human being. But it takes a relationship with an openly gay prisoner to teach Max that without the love of another, life is not worth living.

Christopher and His Kind
6.3

Christopher and His Kind

2011

In 1931, budding author Christopher Isherwood goes to Berlin at the invitation of his friend W. H. Auden for the gay sex that abounds in the city. He falls for street sweeper Heinz, paying medical bills for the boy's sickly mother, to the disapproval of her other son, Nazi Gerhardt.

TÁR
7.1

TÁR

2022

As celebrated conductor Lydia Tár starts rehearsals for a career-defining symphony, the consequences of her past choices begin to echo in the present.

Trick
6.9

Trick

1999

Gabriel is a young, aspiring musical composer whose life seems stuck in the First Act. When his new musical number gets a critical reception, a theatre colleague, Perry, tells Gabriel that he needs to get a life before he can write about one – so he heads straight for his local gay bar.

Kiss of the Spider Woman
5.9

Kiss of the Spider Woman

2025

Valentín, a political prisoner, shares a cell with Molina, a window dresser convicted of public indecency. The two form an unlikely bond as Molina recounts the plot of a Hollywood musical starring his favorite silver screen diva, Ingrid Luna.

Torch Song Trilogy
7.3

Torch Song Trilogy

1988

Arnold Beckoff is looking for love and acceptance, but as a gay man working as a female impersonator in 1970s New York City, neither come easily. After a series of heartaches, Arnold believes he has found the love of his life in Alan, and the couple make plans to adopt. But when tragedy strikes, Arnold's life is shaken to its very core, leading to a confrontation with his overbearing mother, who has never approved of her son's lifestyle.

West Side Story
6.9

West Side Story

2021

Two youngsters from rival New York City gangs fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends build toward tragedy.

Appropriate Behavior
6.2

Appropriate Behavior

2015

Shirin is struggling to become an ideal Persian daughter, politically correct bisexual and hip young Brooklynite but fails miserably in her attempt at all identities.

More Movies Like Cabaret

Kiss Me Kate
6.5

Kiss Me Kate

1953

A pair of divorced actors are brought together to participate in a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew. Of course, the couple seem to act a great deal like the characters they play, and they must work together when mistaken identities get them mixed up with the mafia.

Romeo + Juliet
6.8

Romeo + Juliet

1996

In director Baz Luhrmann's contemporary take on William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, the Montagues and Capulets have moved their ongoing feud to the sweltering suburb of Verona Beach, where Romeo and Juliet fall in love and secretly wed. Though the film is visually modern, the bard's dialogue remains.

The Boys in the Band
7.0

The Boys in the Band

1970

A witty, perceptive and devastating look at the personal agendas and suppressed revelations swirling among a group of gay men in Manhattan. Harold is celebrating a birthday, and his friend Michael has drafted some other friends to help commemorate the event. As the evening progresses, the alcohol flows, the knives come out, and Michael's demand that the group participate in a devious telephone game, unleashing dormant and unspoken emotions.

Lady Chatterley's Lover
6.7

Lady Chatterley's Lover

2022

After a crippling injury leaves her husband impotent, Lady Chatterly is torn between her love for her husband and her physical desires. With her husband's consent, she seeks out other means of fulfilling her needs.

West Side Story
7.2

West Side Story

1961

In Manhattan’s Upper West Side, rival gangs of Polish-Americans and newly arrived Puerto Ricans clash for control of the neighborhood, even as two young members from opposite sides fall dangerously in love.

(Untitled)
6.4

(Untitled)

2009

A fashionable contemporary art gallerist in Chelsea, New York falls for a brooding new music composer in this comic satire of the state of contemporary art.

Sweet and Lowdown
6.8

Sweet and Lowdown

1999

In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.

Total Eclipse
6.4

Total Eclipse

1995

Young, wild poet Arthur Rimbaud and his mentor Paul Verlaine engage in a fierce, forbidden romance while feeling the effects of a hellish artistic lifestyle.

The Prom
6.1

The Prom

2020

After the PTA of a conservative high school in Indiana bans same-sex couples from attending the annual prom, a gang of flamboyant Broadway stars try to boost their image by showing up to support two lesbian students.

Victor/Victoria
7.3

Victor/Victoria

1982

A struggling female soprano finds work playing a male female impersonator, but it complicates her personal life.

Conspiracy
7.2

Conspiracy

2001

At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.

Author! Author!
5.9

Author! Author!

1982

A broadway playwright is burning the candle at both ends. He is dealing with pressure from a production nearing premiere, a wife who is leaving him, and 5 children 4 of which belong to her.

Why These Movies Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with Cabaret (1972): Music and Drama themes, similar narrative structure, and comparable emotional depth. NoBadPicks uses a combination of TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface films most likely to resonate with fans of Cabaret.

See full details for Cabaret (1972)

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