Music has been and will always be in close-knit with movies; however, some of the most interesting movies that focus on music are not merely about fame or success. Rather, they concentrate on obsession: the excessive desire for perfection, the price of artistic perfection, and the border between discipline and self-destruction. These movies feature musicians who never seem satisfied, tour and train endlessly, and think that one false step would ruin everything.
These tales are familiar not only to jazz drummers pushed to the edge, but to any singer of folk, seeking the truth of the music they create. In no particular order, here are five excellent movies about musicians who commit to perfection, what defines them, and at other times destroys them.
1. Whiplash (2014)
Damien Chazelle
There is hardly a movie that portrays artistic obsession as well as Whiplash. The movie tells the story of a young, talented jazz drummer named Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), who enrols at an elite music conservatory and sets out to become one of the greats. His ambition places him right in the line of Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), a ruthless drumming instructor whose approach to teaching erases the boundary between inspiration and mental maltreatment.
Andrew’s quest for perfection is all-consuming, made all the worse by. Fletcher’s abusive, manipulative behavior. The young prodigy is training until his hands are bleeding, losing relationships, and putting his own life aside to fulfil his quest.
Director Damien Chazelle is a master at crafting stories about sacrifices and dreams, a theme that is ever-present in Whiplash. Through this complex student-teacher relationship, the film asks us if perfection is worth the price, and if achieving perfection is worth alienating yourself from everything and everyone around you. Whiplash has been frowned upon by drummers for its unrealistic depiction of a teacher who’d never exist in real life and also for the drumming itself, which is often inaccurate, but the film’s flaws don’t deter from its true brilliance: a message that rings true to most high achievers out there.
2. Black Swan (2010)
Darren Aronofsky
Even though Black Swan is not technically a film about musicians, as it revolves around a ballet, its artistic perfectionism makes it a great title for this list. Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a talented ballerina who has made ballet the focus of her entire life. One day, the director of the company where she trains (Vincent Cassel’s Thomas Leroy) decides to replace his prima ballerina with someone else for an upcoming production of“Swan Lake”.
Normally, Nina would be his first choice, but “Swan Lake” is a peculiar work: it requires a lot of innocence, but also a certain darkness. And while Nina would be a fantastic White Swan, newcomer Lily (Mila Kunis) would be an even better Black Swan. As the two dancers become rivals and start to compete against each other, Nina’s desire to be perfect drives her to paranoia, and a darkness begins to emerge in her too.
Muscle memory, accuracy and rigorous practice play an important role for both dancers and musicians, and Nina’s obsession reflects the kind of accuracy needed in both professions. In music, this is not only related to movement but may also involve articulation or even the mechanical consistency of an instrument, like having the strings in tune by making sure the guitar tuning machines are well-maintained before each concert. In Black Swan, though it’s not just a matter of being obsessed with perfection, but also with exploring one’s inner darkness – a subject that director Darren Aronofsky excels at tackling. If you’ve never seen Black Swan, you’re in for a treat.
3. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Joel and Ethan Coen
Set in 1960s New York City, Inside Llewyn Davis follows the titular Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac, of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein), a talented musician who’s been struggling to achieve fame in a crowded industry, particularly at a moment in time when folk music was at its peak. We follow as he navigates Greenwich Village and eventually finds himself at a Chicago club where someone might just give him the chance he needs to achieve success.
Inside Llewyn Davis is a much more subdued film than the other titles on this list, and it’s also one of the Coen Brothers’ most introspective movies. Here, the main conflict comes from themes of identity, and of preserving one’s integrity and artistic vision at the expense of money and even feelings.
As for obsession itself, the movie portrays the solitude of aesthetic perfectionism: the feeling that your work has never been right before. With a fantastic performance from Oscar Isaac, gorgeous cinematography, and an irresistible atmosphere that draws you in, Inside Llewyn Davis is another gem from the Coen Brothers.
4. Amadeus (1984)
Milos Forman
Perfection in Amadeus lies in its contrasts. On the one side, there’s Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Huice), whose incredible talent seems to be as effortless as breathing. On the other, there’s Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), a hardworking, pious composer who spent years perfecting his technical skills, but whose still impressive musical prowess can sadly never match Mozart’s innate one.
At the start of the movie, Salieri, the Court Composer for the Emperor of Austria, is actually looking forward to meeting the younger Mozart, and considers him his equal. But when the latter makes an appearance at court, impressing everyone with his charm and musical flourishes, it soon becomes evident that he’s so much better than Salieri. What makes it all so much worse for our miserable protagonist is that, as the religious man that he is, he doesn’t deem Mozart worthy of all this talent. This is what fuels his jealousy and ultimately turns into resentment, obsession, and even self-loathing.
We’ll leave it at that to avoid spoilers, as watching both characters evolve is what makes Amadeus the masterpiece that it is. Director Milos Forman and writers Peter Shaffer and Zdenek Mahler imbue the screenplay with so much irony, and their characters with such personality, that, as an audience, it’s easy to sympathyze with both. Even if Salieri is clearly the villain here, we can’t find ourselves disliking him, and the compassion we feel for both flawed, brilliant men is the same feeling that fuels their mutual understanding, despite their differences. Amadeus is a masterclass in storytelling, and it’s not to be missed.
5. Sound of Metal (2019)
Darius Marder
Sound of Metal offers an emotionally grounded, contemporary approach to musical obsession, and a layered look at human resilience that explores what happens when our life is changed by circumstances beyond our control. Riz Ahmed plays metal drummer Ruben, a recovering heroin addict whose entire life revolves around music. One day, he starts to experience intermittent hearing loss, and he soon discovers that his condition will keep worsening until he’s completely deaf.
At first, our protagonist is in denial, which makes things even worse, setting him off on a downward spiral. Eventually, with no musical career and no drive to keep living, he finds himself at a community that might just teach him to accept himself for who he is, helping him overcome the grief of what he’s lost and build something new.
Ruben is not obsessed with perfection, here, but with the identity he has created for himself as a coping mechanism. Music is his identity, and so, when it’s taken away from him, his entire life crumbles, and he loses his will to live. Sound of Falling beautifully explores a journey that many people have gone through, and director Darius Marder, sound designer Maria Carolina Santana Caraballo-Gramcko and the technical team behind the film use innovative techniques to place us inside Ruben’s head and make us feel what he’s really experiencing.
Fantastic performances from Riz Ahmed and Paul Raci (who plays Ruben’s mentor, Joe) make Sound of Falling even more memorable. Ultimately, the film reminds us that perfection is delicate and that silence is not a bad thing at all.
Movies that feature musicians who are so obsessed with perfection stand out as they have a universal truth of their own: caring about something so much that your entire life is put on hold is often costly. There are good kinds of obsession too, as some of these films teach us, especially when it comes with being prepared before going on stage and being mindful of tempo, note articulation, equipment reliability, and other important technical factors. But when something excellent comes in place of joy, connection, and self-worth, the art starts to lose its shine. These five fantastic watches are sure to give you much to think about, on top of being genuinely great films that you’re bound to enjoy! Happy watching!