Highest-Rated Movies about 'Performance', Sort by Popularity

Deep Blues (1991), Marat/Sade (1967), Circo (2010), Home of the Brave (1986), This So-Called Disaster (2003), The King of Masks (1996), The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1981), We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (2005) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Performance movies.

#16. The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979)

Storyline: This documentary presents highlights from four 1979 benefit performances given in support of Amnesty International. Spearheaded by Monty Python's John Cleese, they feature an array of primarily English talent ranging from comedian Peter Cook and fellow Python Michael Palin, to the Who's Pete Townshend and new-waver Tom Robinson. The film also features cameos by Scottish comedian Billy Connolly and, in a very early appearance, Rowan Atkinson of "Mr. Bean" fame.

Plot Keywords: comedian, actor, guitarist, band member, hilarious, positive, playful ...

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#17. The Circus (1928)

Storyline: The Tramp finds himself at a circus where he is promptly chased around by the police who think he is a pickpocket. Running into the Bigtop, he is an accidental sensation with his hilarious efforts to elude the police. The circus owner immediately hires him, but discovers that the Tramp cannot be funny on purpose, so he takes advantage of the situation by making the Tramp a janitor who just happens to always be in the Bigtop at showtime. Unaware of this exploitation, the Tramp falls for the owner's lovely acrobatic stepdaughter, who is abused by her father. His chances seem good, until a dashing rival comes in and Charlie feels he has to compete with him.

Plot Keywords: tramp, beautiful woman, ringmaster, acrobat, police officer, magician, playful ...

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#18. The Life of Reilly (2006)

Storyline: If, in 1940, you had a lobotomized aunt, an institutionalized father, a racist mother, and were the only gay kid on the block, what do you think the odds would be that you'd end up a Tony winner, a staple of television, and a generational icon? Enter "The Life Of Reilly". The cliché goes that truth is stranger than fiction. In this case, it is also funnier and more heartbreaking. Charles Nelson Reilly, famous for his game show innuendos and "X Files" guest appearances, takes us through his bizarre, star-studded, tragic, hilarious, and ultimately amazing life with a potent blend of tenderness and quick one-liners. "The Life Of Reilly" is an adaptation of Mr. Reilly's acclaimed one-man show and was photographed for the screen during Mr. Reilly's final two performances of his play in North Hollywood, California.—jlm

Plot Keywords: actor, audience, gay man, uplifting, emotional, engaging, stage ...

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#19. How to Draw a Bunny (2002)

Storyline: The cartoon rabbit that was artist Ray Johnson's signature serves as the inspiration for the title of this documentary that examines the work, life and untimely death of this one-of-a-kind artist. Interviews of fellow contemporary artists like Christo and Billy Name shine a light on the professional work and private life of Johnson, while archival video shows him in his element creating his unique artwork that combined everything from Pop Art images, rubber stamps and collage.

Plot Keywords: artist, quirky, somber, offbeat, united states, new york city, art ...

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#20. Venus Boyz (2002)

Storyline: This intimate look into the real world of drag kings -- women exploring their masculinity -- crosses continents, traveling through drag king nightclubs from New York to London. Through interviews and on-stage performances, every subject reveals a different reason for choosing the gender they have. The film is less a critique than an exploration of a world that is increasingly becoming mainstream, as the featured protagonists question exactly how gender works, and should work, in modern society.

Plot Keywords: performer, transgender woman, friend, inspiring, moving, powerful, nightclub ...

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#22. Opening Night (1977)

Storyline: A young woman gets killed in an accident trying to meet her favorite actress Myrtle Gordon after a play. Then Myrtle Gordon felt responsible for the killing leading her down to an emotional crisis that interferes with her professional work as an actress.—Chemi González <chemi01@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: actress, playwright, director, alcoholic, spiritual leader, girl, chilling ...

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#23. Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959)

Storyline: Set at the Newport jazz festival in 1958, this documentary mixes images of water and the town with performers and audience. The film progresses from day to night and from improvisational music to Gospel. It's a concert film that suggests peace and leisure, jazz at a particular time and place.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: jazz musician, audience, uplifting, creative, playful, newport, r.i., stage ...

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#24. Monterey Pop (1969)

Storyline: Legendary California music festival (pre-Woodstock) that launched the state-side careers of several performers, most notably Jimi Hendrix. Check out Mama Cass being absolutely blown away while watching Joplin sing. Here there be REAL acid rock.—Raymond Clay <banquosa@concentric.net>

Plot Keywords: rock star, jimi hendrix, the who, uplifting, engaging, california, festival ...

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#26. Genghis Blues (1999)

Storyline: The extraordinary odyssey of a U.S. musician of Cape Verdean ancestry to Tannu Tuva, in central Asia, where nomadic people throat sing more than one note simultaneously, using vocal harmonics. A bluesman, Paul Pena, blind and recently widowed, taught himself throat singing and was by chance invited to the 1995 throat-singing symposium in Kyzyl. Helped by the "Friends of Tuva," Pena makes the arduous journey. Singing in the deep, rumbling kargyraa style, Pena gives inspired performances at the festival, composes songs in Tuvan, washes his face in sacred rivers, expresses the disorientation of blindness in foreign surroundings, and makes a human connection with everyone he meets.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: bluesman, guitarist, blind person, b.b. king, musician, fascinating, emotional ...

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#27. Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer (2007)

Storyline: A documentary look at the improvised life of Anita O'Day (1919-2006), singer and stylist whose timing, phrasing, interpretations, and unique sound put her among the finest vocalists of jazz. Interviews with her late in life are interspersed with archival footage of performances and old interviews as well as with comments by friends, arrangers, critics, and other musicians. She talks about singing without a uvula (sing eighth notes), of jail time for a marijuana arrest, of taking and kicking heroin, of finally making money after appearing at the Newport Jazz Festival, of loss, of a broken arm that almost cost her life, and of living in 4/4 time, one day at a time, smiling.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: jazz singer, friend, critic, musician, inspiring, engaging, chicago ...

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#28. Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present (2012)

Storyline: This feature-length documentary film follows the artist as she prepares for what may be the most important moment of her life: a major retrospective of her work at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. To be given a retrospective at one of the world's premiere museums is, for any living artist, the most exhilarating sort of milestone. For Marina, it is far more - it is the chance to finally silence the question she has been hearing over and over again for four decades: 'But why is this art?'—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: artist, stranger, calm, creative, emotional, engaging, fascinating ...

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#29. Quai des Orfevres (1947)

Storyline: Jenny Lamour wants to succeed in music hall. Her husband and accompanist is Maurice Martineau, a nice but jealous man. When he knew Jenny is making eyes at Brignon, an old businessman, in order to get some engagements, he looses his temper and threatens Brignon with death. But Jenny went anyway to a rendez-vous at the old man's, who is murdered the same evening. The criminal investigations are lead by Inspector Antoine...—Yepok

Plot Keywords: singer, pianist, businessman, inspector, femme fatale, dark, cheeky ...

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