Movies Like Absolute Beginners (1986)

Absolute Beginners is a 1986 drama, music, romance film from Julien Temple with a MovieMagicScore of 5.4/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Blow-Up and Shutter.

Drama Music Romance

Blow-Up

1966

A successful mod photographer in London whose world is bounded by fashion, pop music, marijuana, and easy sex, feels his life is boring and despairing. But in the course of a single day he unknowingly captures a death on film.

7.3

MagicScore

Shutter

2008

A newly married couple discovers disturbing, ghostly images in photographs they develop after a tragic accident. Fearing the manifestations may be connected, they investigate and learn that some mysteries are better left unsolved.

5.6

MagicScore

Too Beautiful to Die

1988

A group of high fashion models have been invited to an isolated house to attend a party. As the night wears on, one of the models falls victim to a deadly 'accident,' which sets into motion a series of brutal murders, all traced back to a shocking secret...

4.5

MagicScore

Kinky Boots

2005

Charles Price may have grown up with his father in the family shoe business in Northampton, central England, but he never thought that he would take his father's place. Charles has a chance encounter with the flamboyant drag queen cabaret singer Lola and everything changes.

6.7

MagicScore

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog

1927

London. A mysterious serial killer brutally murders young blond women by stalking them in the night fog. One foggy, sinister night, a young man who claims his name is Jonathan Drew arrives at the guest house run by the Bunting family and rents a room.

7.1

MagicScore

13 Going on 30

2004

After total humiliation at her thirteenth birthday party, Jenna Rink wants to just hide until she's thirty. Thanks to some magic wishing dust, Jenna's prayer has been answered. With a knockout body, a fabulous wardrobe, an athlete boyfriend, a dream job, and superstar friends, this can't be a better life. But soon Jenna realizes that adult life isn’t as easy as she hoped for.

6.8

MagicScore

Dead Poets Society

1989

At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.

8.3

MagicScore

Beautiful Thing

1996

Set during a long, hot summer on the Thamesmead Estate in Southeast London, where three teenagers edge towards adulthood.

7.2

MagicScore

The Archies

2023

Set in 1960s India, Archie and the gang navigate romance, friendship and the future of Riverdale as developers threaten to destroy a beloved park.

5.9

MagicScore

#10

The Remains of the Day

1993

A rule-bound head butler's world of manners and decorum in the household he maintains is tested by the arrival of a housekeeper who falls in love with him in post-WWI Britain. The possibility of romance and his master's cultivation of ties with the Nazi cause challenge his carefully maintained veneer of servitude.

7.4

MagicScore

#11

Phantom Thread

2017

In 1950s London, a renowned dressmaker's meticulous lifestyle begins drastically changing as his relationship with his young muse intensifies.

7.3

MagicScore

#12

84 Charing Cross Road

1987

When a humorous script-reader in her New York apartment sees an ad in the Saturday Review of Literature for a bookstore in London that does mail order, she begins a very special correspondence and friendship with Frank Doel, the bookseller who works at Marks & Co., 84 Charing Cross Road.

7.2

MagicScore

#13

Friday the 13th

1980

Camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp that was the site of a child's drowning.

6.4

MagicScore

#14

The Deep Blue Sea

2011

The wife of a British Judge is caught in a self-destructive love affair with a Royal Air Force pilot.

5.9

MagicScore

#15

Funny Face

1957

A shy Greenwich Village book clerk is discovered by a fashion photographer and whisked off to Paris where she becomes a reluctant model.

7.0

MagicScore

#16

A Dandy in Aspic

1968

Double-agent Alexander Eberlin is assigned by the British to hunt out a Russian spy, known to them as Krasnevin. Only Eberlin knows that Krasnevin is none other than himself! Accompanying him on his mission is a ruthless partner, who gradually discovers his secret as Eberlin tries to maneuver himself out of a desperate situation.

6.8

MagicScore

#17

Rags

2012

Rags follows the story of Charlie Prince, an orphan living with his acerbic and unloving stepfather and spoiled, simple-minded stepbrothers. Charlie's dream is to be a singer, and while he is vocally talented and can write music, he can't seem to catch a break. Kadee Worth, on the other hand, is the daughter of music mogul Reginald Worth and is an international pop phenomenon. While the world knows her as a glamorous superstar, she is secretly frustrated with singing other people's songs and wearing clothes other people choose for her. Kadee wants the world to hear and see her true talent. Despite every obstacle that gets thrown in their way, once Charlie and Kadee find one another, they each finally get what they have been looking for – a voice, a stage, an audience and each other.

7.3

MagicScore

#18

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

1964

This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.

7.4

MagicScore

#19

Living

2022

London, 1953. Mr. Williams, a veteran civil servant, is an important cog within the city's bureaucracy as it struggles to rebuild in the aftermath of World War II. Buried under paperwork at the office and lonely at home, his life has long felt empty and meaningless. Then a devastating medical diagnosis forces him to take stock, and to try and grasp some fulfilment before it passes permanently beyond reach.

7.0

MagicScore

#20

Le Bal

1983

In a French nightclub, choreographed song and dance routines are performed, rather than a streamlined narrative. They tell the story of Parisian culture and politics from the 1920s—1980s. A disparate, anachronistic series of characters, including an ordinary waiter, a Nazi collaborator, resistance fighters, and 1960s student protestors gather to celebrate and satirize 20th century France's icons, demons, and social changes.

7.0

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Absolute Beginners?

The top films similar to Absolute Beginners by MovieMagicScore are Blow-Up (7.3), Shutter (5.6), Too Beautiful to Die (4.5). Each shares drama/music/romance themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Absolute Beginners worth watching?

Absolute Beginners holds a MovieMagicScore of 5.4/10 from 66 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Absolute Beginners?

Absolute Beginners (1986) is a drama, music, romance film directed by Julien Temple, starring Eddie O'Connell, Patsy Kensit, James Fox.

Where can I find more recommendations like Absolute Beginners?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more drama recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Blow-Up Movies like Shutter Movies like Too Beautiful to Die Movies like Kinky Boots Movies like The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog Movies like 13 Going on 30

About movies like Absolute Beginners

This ranked list pairs Absolute Beginners (1986), a drama and music and romance film from Julien Temple, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Eddie O'Connell take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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