Buena Vista Social Club

Buena Vista Social Club

In Havana, music isn't a pastime, it's a way of life.

1999•1h 45m•7.5/10

DocumentaryMusic

Ratings

🎬TMDb

7.5/10(366)

In this fascinating Oscar-nominated documentary, American guitarist Ry Cooder brings together a group of legendary Cuban folk musicians (some in their 90s) to record a Grammy-winning CD in their native city of Havana. The result is a spectacular compilation of concert footage from the group's gigs in Amsterdam and New York City's famed Carnegie Hall, with director Wim Wenders capturing not only the music -- but also the musicians' life stories.

Open in PickFlick

Production

Kintop Pictures, Road Movies

Language

EN

Status

Released

Release Date

Trailers & Videos

Cast

Compay Segundo

Compay Segundo

Self

Eliades Ochoa

Eliades Ochoa

Self

Ry Cooder

Ry Cooder

Self

Joachim Cooder

Joachim Cooder

Self

Ibrahim Ferrer

Ibrahim Ferrer

Self

Omara Portuondo

Omara Portuondo

Self

Rubén González

Self

Orlando 'Cachaíto' López

Self

Amadito Valdés

Self

Manuel 'Guajiro' Mirabal

Self

Barbarito Torres

Self

Pío Leyva

Self

Manuel 'Puntillita' Licea

Self

Juan de Marcos González

Juan de Marcos González

Self

Lázaro Villa

Self

Octavio Calderon

Self

Angel Terry Domech

Self

Ibrahim Ferrer Jr.

Self

Manuel Galbán

Self

Hugo Garzón

Self

Recommended

Pina

Pina

Pina is a feature-length dance film in 3D with the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, featuring the unique and inspiring art of the great German choreographer, who died in the summer of 2009.

Pina

2011

7.4

The Lovers of Montparnasse

The Lovers of Montparnasse

Biographic film chronicling the last year of the life of the Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani, 1919, who falls in love with a girl from a wealthy family. Her parents are against this relationship and stop financial help. Modigliani worked and died in abject poverty in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris, France.

The Lovers of Montparnasse

1958

6.8

Amy Winehouse: I Told You I Was Trouble - Live In London

Amy Winehouse: I Told You I Was Trouble - Live In London

Filmed at Sheperd's Bush Empire, the soulful singer from Camden and her band perform songs from both her debut album "Frank" and the international breakthrough "Back to Black". Over the sixty-minute running time, Winehouse also covers classics such as Zuton's "Valerie" and "Monkey Man" by the Maytals. Also included is 'I Told You I Was Trouble', a 50-minute documentary charting Amy's rapid rise to fame.

Amy Winehouse: I Told You I Was Trouble - Live In London

2007

7.7

The Soul of a Man

The Soul of a Man

In "The Soul of A Man," director Wim Wenders looks at the dramatic tension in the blues between the sacred and the profane by exploring the music and lives of three of his favorite blues artists: Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson and J. B. Lenoir. Part history, part personal pilgrimage, the film tells the story of these lives in music through an extended fictional film sequence (recreations of '20s and '30s events - shot in silent-film, hand-crank style), rare archival footage, present-day documentary scenes and covers of their songs by contemporary musicians such as Shemekia Copeland, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Garland Jeffreys, Chris Thomas King, Cassandra Wilson, Nick Cave, Los Lobos, Eagle Eye Cherry, Vernon Reid, James "Blood" Ulmer, Lou Reed, Bonnie Raitt, Marc Ribot, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Lucinda Williams and T-Bone Burnett.

The Soul of a Man

2003

6.5

Killer Ending

Killer Ending

Agatha Sayers best-selling novel becomes her worst nightmare when her daughter is abducted in a copycat scenario tangled with an obsessive assistant intent on stealing her identity.

Killer Ending

2018

4.0

Hammett

Hammett

Chinatown, San Francisco, 1928. Former private detective Dashiell Hammett, a compulsive drinker with tuberculosis who writes pulp fiction for a living, receives an unexpected visit from an old friend asking for help.

Hammett

1982

6.2

My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days

My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days

Lucas has invented a new computer language but at the same time he has been informed about his strange terminal illness during which he has been gradually losing his memory. Shortly after that he meets Blanche who acts as a medium in a bizarre traveling show. Dying Lucas follows her to the sea resort where they spend together several days and nights.

My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days

1989

6.0

Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things

Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things

Six actors go to a graveyard on a remote island to act out a necromantic ritual. The ritual works, and soon the dead are walking about and chowing down on human flesh.

Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things

1972

5.3

Palermo Shooting

Palermo Shooting

After the wild lifestyle of a famous young German photographer almost gets him killed, he goes to Palermo, Sicily to take a break. Can the beautiful city and a beautiful local woman calm him down?

Palermo Shooting

2008

6.2

When We Were Kings

When We Were Kings

It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.

When We Were Kings

1996

7.5

The Million Dollar Hotel

The Million Dollar Hotel

A federal agent searches for a potential killer among the bizarre residents of a dilapidated Los Angeles hotel.

The Million Dollar Hotel

2000

5.9

Beyond the Clouds

Beyond the Clouds

Four tales, each centered on a woman, journey inward to explore the enigmatic reality of their lives, connecting through a single narrative thread.

Beyond the Clouds

1995

6.1

Similar Movies

School of Rock

School of Rock

Fired from his band and hard up for cash, guitarist and vocalist Dewey Finn finagles his way into a job as a fifth-grade substitute teacher at a private school, where he secretly begins teaching his students the finer points of rock 'n' roll. The school's hard-nosed principal is rightly suspicious of Finn's activities. But Finn's roommate remains in the dark about what he's doing.

School of Rock

2003

7.1

The Doors

The Doors

The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison.

The Doors

1991

7.1

Cuba and the Cameraman

Cuba and the Cameraman

This revealing portrait of Cuba follows the lives of Fidel Castro and three Cuban families affected by his policies over the last four decades.

Cuba and the Cameraman

2017

7.5

The Blues Brothers

The Blues Brothers

Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts his old band back together to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.

The Blues Brothers

1980

7.7

Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls

A trio of female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.

Dreamgirls

2006

6.7

Seguridad

Seguridad

In her feature documentary Seguridad, Newfoundland-based filmmaker Tamara Segura—once named “Cuba’s youngest soldier” in a militia publicity stunt—portrays her troubled relationship with her father in the context of the Cuban Revolution. When Segura accepts a scholarship to study film in Canada, the move offers crucial distance from her alcoholic father. After four years, she returns to Cuba hoping to make amends. But her father’s sudden death just days after her arrival forces Segura to explore his troubled past and the role Cuba’s highly militarized system played in his downfall. Through a series of deeply personal on-camera interviews with her immediate family, Segura unearths long-held secrets that ultimately tell a story of resilience and profound love between family members. Seguridad artfully weaves a lifetime’s worth of still photographs into its intimate narrative, which offers a rare glimpse into the inner lives of Cubans in the post-revolutionary era.

Seguridad

2024

10.0

a-ha: The Movie

a-ha: The Movie

When "Take On Me" reached nr 1 on Billboard in the US in 1985, the dream came true. Or did it? The band was not prepared for what the success could bring, including tension between the three band members.

a-ha: The Movie

2021

6.8

That Thing You Do!

That Thing You Do!

A Pennsylvania band scores a hit in 1964 and rides the star-making machinery as long as it can, with lots of help from its manager. But behind the scenes, the group’s sudden fame tests their strength, their maturity and responsibility, and their ability to resist the temptations that money and notoriety always make possible.

That Thing You Do!

1996

6.9

Wasted Youth

Wasted Youth

The year is 1981, the German New Wave is at the peak. Harry, otherwise Sparkasse trainee, wants to make it big as a manager of the band of his friends, Apollo Schwabing. He has booked the band as the opening act for a concert where the group DAF are the headliners.

Wasted Youth

2003

6.4

This Is Spinal Tap

This Is Spinal Tap

"This Is Spinal Tap" shines a light on the self-contained universe of a metal band struggling to get back on the charts, including everything from its complicated history of ups and downs, gold albums, name changes and undersold concert dates, along with the full host of requisite groupies, promoters, hangers-on and historians, sessions, release events and those special behind-the-scenes moments that keep it all real.

This Is Spinal Tap

1984

7.4

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

Four talented alien musicians are kidnapped by a record producer who disguises them as humans. Shep, a space pilot in love with bass player Stella, follows them to Earth. Reprogrammed to forget their real identities and renamed The Crescendolls, the group quickly becomes a huge success playing soulless corporate pop. At a concert, Shep manages to free all the musicians except Stella, and the band sets out to rediscover who they really are — and to rescue Stella.

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

2003

7.8

Leningrad Cowboys Go America

Leningrad Cowboys Go America

The Leningrad Cowboys, a group of Siberian musicians, and their manager, travel to America seeking fame and fortune. As they cross the country, trying to get to a wedding in Mexico, they are followed by the village idiot, who wishes to join the band.

Leningrad Cowboys Go America

1989

6.9