17 best movies like The Man Who Loves to Hurt Himself (2017)

Backup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight. Their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music, but we've had no idea who these singers are or what lives they lead, until now.

A visionary, innovator, and originator who defied categorization and embodied the word cool—a foray into the life and career of musical and cultural icon Miles Davis.

A confessional, cautionary, and occasionally humorous tale of Robbie Robertson's young life and the creation of one of the most enduring groups in the history of popular music, The Band.

A documentary film detailing Glen Campbell's final tour and his struggle with Alzheimer's disease.

With the help of more than 10,000 dedicated Zappa fans, this is the long-awaited definitive documentary project of Alex Winter documenting the life and career of enigmatic groundbreaking rock star Frank Zappa. Alex also utilizes in this picture thousands of hours of painstakingly digitized videos, photos, audio, writing, and everything in between from Zappa's private archives. These chronicles have never been brought to a public audience before, until now.

An up-close and personal examination of the life, music and career of the legendary entertainer. Told in his own words from hours of archived interviews, along with commentary from those closest to him, the documentary weaves the music and images from Sinatra’s life together with rarely seen footage of his famous 1971 “Retirement Concert” in Los Angeles. The film’s narrative is shaped by Sinatra’s song choices for that concert, which Gibney interprets as the singer’s personal guide through his own life.

I HOPE YOU DANCE: the power and spirit of song is the first full length documentary film to explore how one extraordinary song has transformed people's lives in profound, meaningful and sometimes startling ways. It is a film about hope, faith, optimism and the power of music to inspire and heal. The film highlights true stories of Love, Inspiration, Second Chances, Forgiveness and Miracles: A father who honors his daughter's memory by saving four lives through organ donation; a homeless shelter that teaches ballroom dancing, literally getting people back on their feet; a woman who miraculously recovers from a devastating spinal cord injury that should have killed her instantly; a couple who overcome the pain of their respective pasts to find love and redemption; two Nashville songwriters whose life experiences combine to create breathtaking piece of music for the ages.

When Nirvana burst onto the scene in 1991, the music they played spoke directly to an angry and disenfranchised generation. As grunge took over MTV and radio, the music industry was transformed overnight. But just three years later, the drug-related deaths of several musicians, capped by the suicide of Kurt Cobain, closed the books on an all too brief era. Hit So Hard follows the rise to fame (and the near-fatal fall from it) of Patty Schemel, drummer for Courtney Love's seminal rock band, Hole. Given a Hi-8 video camera just before Hole's infamous Live Through This world tour, Patty captured stunningly intimate footage of the scene that has never been seen... until now. Not just an all-access backstage pass to the music that shaped a generation, Hit So Hard is a harrowing tale of overnight success, the cost of addiction, and ultimately, recovery and redemption.

Over four decades, Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister has registered an immeasurable impact on music history. Nearly 65, he remains the living embodiment of the rock and roll lifestyle, and this feature-length documentary tells his story, one of a hard-living rock icon who continues to enjoy the life of a man half his age.

Director Martin Scorsese profiles former Beatle George Harrison in this reverent portrait that mixes interviews and archival footage, featuring commentary from the likes of Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono.

Drawn from a never before seen cache of personal footage spanning decades, this is an intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist and musician who continues to shatter conventions.

SEX AND BROADCASTING is a feature length documentary about New Jersey's WFMU, the world's strangest and most unique radio station, and one man's attempt to keep it alive in the face of recession, the persistent threat of commercial media, and the challenges that come with keeping a rebellious group of outsiders together.

The story of Freda Kelly, a shy Liverpudlian teenager asked to work for a young local band hoping to make it big: The Beatles. Their loyal secretary from beginning to end, Freda tells her tales for the first time in 50 years.

A wilfully offensive band, The Mentors gained infamy for performing in black executioner hoods and spewing cartoonishly racist, homophobic and misogynistic lyrics in the 1980s and ‘90s—but was their use of shock meant to propagate hate or confront it?

25 years ago, Louis Sarno, an American, heard a song on the radio and followed its melody into the Central Africa Jungle and stayed. He than recorded over 1000 hours of original BaAka music. Now he is part of the BaAka community and raises his pygmy son, Samedi. Fulfilling an old promise, Louis takes Samedi to America. On this journey Louis realizes he is not part of this globalized world anymore but globalization has also arrived in the rainforest. The BaAka depend on Louis for their survival. Father and son return to the melodies of the jungle but the question remains: How much longer will the songs of the forest be heard?

Boyd Rice may well be the only person alive who's been on a first name basis with both Charles Manson and Marilyn Manson. His career has spanned more than three decades, during which time he has remained at the epicenter of underground culture and controversy.

Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, this film captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the fall of that year.