10 Movies Like La La Land For A Cry Session With A Good Background Score

If you are not up for another full-blown musical and are inclined towards the romantic aspect of La La Land, then Purple Hearts should be on your watchlist. There's Sophia Carson in it, so you are not shying away from the music either. Cassie in Purple Hearts and Mia in La La Land may have bonded over their ambitions and how they affected their personal relationships. Cassie, who wants to make it as a singer-songwriter, enters into a marriage of convenience with a Marine personnel, and things get difficult when the lines between a facade and reality start to blur. 

IMDb rating: 6.7/10

Cast: Sofia Carson, Nicholas Galitzine, Chosen Jacobs

Release year: 2022

Duration: 2 hours, 2 minutes

Streaming platform: Netflix

La La Land and tick, tick...BOOM! feel like personal love letters to the essence of being an artist and the city that nurtures them. The latter is, however, a semi-autobiographical rendition of Jonathan Larson's life and the sacrifices he made to become a composer and create his own musical. Set in New York, it uses Larson's original songs to convey the anxieties and struggles of wanting to make it in life, while living with a ticking clock. 

IMDb rating: 7.5/10

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jesus

Release year: 2021

Duration: 1 hour, 55 minutes

Streaming platform: Netflix

Whiplash and La La Land are Damien Chazelle's most loved works. The latter is a heartbreaking musical that has you grabbing for the tissues, while the former is a critical examination of the ends one can go to achieve artistic perfection, through the story of Andrew Neiman, an aspiring jazz drummer, and his tyrannical instructor, Terence Fletcher. While jazz may be a common string between the two, both of them also ask the same old question of what the price of individual success is, and if the sacrifices are worth it? 

IMDb rating: 8.6/10

Cast: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist

Release year: 2014

Duration: 1 hour, 46 minutes

Streaming platform: Prime Video

If La La Land really got you into that musical mood, then you must watch Grease. They are both iconic musicals of their eras, while differing in tone and genre. Grease, a 1978 musical, is set in high school and is an energetic musical that follows the summer romance of good girl Sandy and bad boy Danny. You will be treated to two hours of catchy, rock-and-roll-infused songs, iconic dance numbers, and renditions of teenage life that make you chuckle and reminisce/relate. While La La Land has a brutal ending, Grease is a feel-good movie with a happy ending, so you will only be weeping at its perfection!

IMDb rating: 7.2/10

Cast: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing

Release year: 1978

Duration: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Streaming platform: Prime Video

This is not a musical, but if you are itching for a romantic story that makes you pause, reflect, and evolve, then add the 'Before' trilogy by Richard Linklater to your watchlist. While La La Land talks about Mia and Sebastian's whirlwind romance with a twinge of sadness towards the end, Before Sunrise talks about Jesse and Celine. The couple meet on a train and have time till before sunrise to see if they have something to build between them. It has an ambiguous ending that keeps you hoping for a happy one, exploring the fragility of having a person you just met become an integral part of your life. 

IMDb rating: 8.1/10

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Andrea Eckert

Release year: 1995

Duration: 1 hour, 41 minutes

Streaming platform: Prime Video

Damien Chazelle, the director of La La Land, has openly acknowledged that Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg has been his inspiration for the Mia-Sebastian musical, so we had to add it to the list. To put it bluntly, songs are an extension of each of the characters' emotions in this movie. It is beautifully sung, from greetings to declaration, and has very scarce dialogue, so musical lovers, you should eat this up! The movie follows the passionate love between Geneviève and Guy, which is tragically disrupted by the Algerian War. Towards the end, they rummage on the 'what if' of their relationship, a cross that La La Land also bears. 

IMDb rating: 7.8/10

Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon

Release year: 1964

Duration: 1 hour, 31 minutes

Singin' In The Rain was another inspiration for Damien as he made La La Land. The musical is a subtle nod to the advancement of Hollywood, from silent films to musicals driven by songs, rather than dialogue. In this, Don and Kathy are navigating the murky bylanes of Hollywood stardom, mirroring Mia and Sebastian's struggles while tugging their relationship close. Singin' in the Rain, if you already didn't know, is famous for its tap dances and Gene Kelly's iconic "Singin' in the Rain" sequence. If you are longing for a La La Land-like musical, this is as good as it gets! 

IMDb rating: 8.3/10

Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds

Release year: 1952

Duration: 1 hour, 43 minutes

Bittersweet romance that subverts the good ol' 'happily ever after' trope? Check. 500 Days Of Summer and La La Land validate the eventual epiphany that most people make: that we fall in love for a moment, and that we may or may not end up together. The movie follows Tom and Summer's romance and the efforts Tom makes to sustain the relationship. It is a non-linear movie that follows 500 days of the relationship, putting a spotlight on the lessons you learn when a relationship does not work out. This is the anti-romantic comedy that you never knew you needed. 

IMDb rating: 7.6/10

Cast: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Geoffrey Arend

Release year: 2009

Duration: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Streaming platform: Prime Video

Emotionally charged musicals that celebrate the art of heartbreak? Yes. Both La La Land and Moulin Rouge! practice storytelling through song. However, the latter is set in the underworld of 1899 Paris. It conveys the love story of a poet and a courtesan through a jukebox of classic and contemporary pop songs, spotlighting theatrical grandeur and heightened emotions, like La La Land does.   

IMDb rating: 7.6/10

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo

Release year: 2001

Duration: 2 hours, 7 minutes

Released a decade apart, both West Side Story and La La Land strike common themes of romance and ambition against the backdrop of urban life. Both the 1961 original and Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake of West Side Story deal with a tragic romantic drama set in 1990s New York. Often renowned as an adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story traces the love story of Tony and Maria, caught between rival street gangs (the Jets and the Sharks). Tony and Maria dream of having a life beyond gang rivalries, conveying their poignant joy and heartbreak through choreographed numbers and songs. 

IMDb rating: 7.1/10

Cast: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose

Release year: 2021

Duration: 2 hours, 36 minutes