Best Music Movies of 2016

A blend of interviews, concert footage, and personal moments chronicle the making of the band Arcade Fire's album, Reflektor.

The documentary pulls back the curtain to introduce the woman behind the performer, the costumes, the glitz and the glamour. Off-stage, in the studio, unplugged and at home, audiences get an unguarded glimpse at Gaga through a series of personal highs and lows and the culmination of a year's emotional journey. From struggles with relationships to health issues, from finding solace in her inner circle to conquering her insecurities, Gaga: Five Foot Two navigates the divide between life as a superstar and life as an everyday woman.

Miss Sharon Jones: Dreams never expire but sometimes they are deferred. Miss Sharon Jones follows the talented and gregarious soul singer of the Grammy nominated R&B band "Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings." In the most challenging year of her life, Sharon Jones confronts pancreatic cancer. As she struggles to find her health and voice again, the film intimately uncovers the mind and spirit of a powerful woman determined to regain the explosive singing career that eluded her for 50 years.

After her family attempts to sell her into marriage, a young Afghan refugee in Iran channels her frustrations and seizes her destiny through music. Grabbing the mic, she spits fiery rhymes in the face of oppressive traditions.

From the production team behind the Oscar® winning Searching for Sugar Man comes We Are X, a transcendent rock and roll story about X Japan, the world's biggest and most successful band you've never heard of...yet. Under the enigmatic direction of drummer, pianist, composer, and producer Yoshiki, X Japan has sold over 30 million singles and albums combined--captivating such a wide range of admirers as Sir George Martin, KISS, Stan Lee, and even the Japanese Emperor--and pioneered a spectacle-driven style of visual rock, creating a one-of-a-kind cultural phenomenon. Chronicling the band's exhilarating, tumultuous and unimaginable history over the past three decades--persevering through personal, physical and spiritual heartache--the film culminates with preparations for their breathtaking reunion concert at New York's legendary Madison Square Garden. Directed by acclaimed documentarian Stephen Kijak (Stones in Exile, Scott Walker: 30 Century Man), We Are X is an astonishingly intimate portrait of a deeply haunted-but truly unstoppable-virtuoso and the music that has enthralled legions of the world's most devoted fans.

Drama and reality combine in a fictitious 24 hours in the life of musician and international cultural icon Nick Cave. With startlingly frank insights and an intimate portrayal of the artistic process, the film examines what makes us who we are, and celebrates the transformative power of the creative spirit.

Part-time pianist Monty Fagan begins a May-December romance that upends his home life.

The Fits is a psychological portrait of 11-year-old Toni-a tomboy assimilating to a tight-knit dance team in Cincinnati's West End. Enamored by the power and confidence of this strong community of girls, Toni eagerly absorbs routines, masters drills, and even pierces her own ears to fit in. When a mysterious outbreak of fainting spells plagues the team, Toni's desire for acceptance is twisted.

From techno-pop stardom to Oscar-winning film composer, the evolution of Ryuichi Sakamoto's music has coincided with his life journeys. Following Fukushima, Sakamoto became an iconic figure in Japan's social movement against nuclear power. As Sakamoto returns to music following a cancer diagnosis, his haunting awareness of life crises leads to a resounding new masterpiece. RYUICHI SAKAMOTO: CODA is an intimate portrait of both the artist and the man.

The mid-life crisis of a husband and father who, on his 40th birthday, decides to revisit his punk-rock past by throwing an extravagant party in the presidential suite of the Drake Hotel - where he encounters his beautiful ex-girlfriend and former bandmates who have since moved on to bigger and better things.

Rattling around in his mansion in the Hamptons, faded Sinatraesque crooner and notorious ladies man Paul Lombard stews over the acclaim that eluded him in his career and the trail of romantic wreckage he left in his wake. Matters are complicated when his punk rocker daughter Jude arrives in need of a place to stay and burdened with problems of her own....including a rivalry with her overachieving sister, her own ruinous love life, and above all, a fraught relationship with her famous father.

In '70s London, a 14 year-old boy is introduced to the Clash by his estranged mother. It changes his life forever.

Heaven Adores You is an intimate, meditative inquiry into the life and music of Elliott Smith. By threading the music of Elliott Smith through the dense, yet often isolating landscapes of the three major cities he lived in -- Portland, New York City, Los Angeles -- Heaven Adores You presents a visual journey and an earnest review of the singer's prolific songwriting and the impact it continues to have on fans, friends, and fellow musicians.

BEAUTIFUL NOISE is an in-depth exploration of a music movement in the late twentieth century, a fascinating period when some innovative musicians mixed guitar noise into conventional pop song structures while maintaining a philosophy of letting the music speak for itself. Although many of the people interviewed are notoriously press shy they have opened up about their music and experiences from over 20 years ago, how they defied the rules and became sonic innovators that have inspired so many.

On a snowy night in February 1972, celebrated jazz musician Lee Morgan was shot dead by his common-law wife Helen during a gig at a club in New York City. The murder sent shockwaves through the jazz community, and the memory of the event still haunts those who knew the Morgans. This feature documentary by Swedish filmmaker Kasper Collin is a love letter to two unique personalities and the music that brought them together. A film about love, jazz and America.

In the 1960s, the Beatles exploded onto the public scene seemingly out of nowhere, as the band's formative years of constant performing at home and in Hamburg, and Brian Epstein's grooming, finally paid off beyond their wildest dreams. Accompanying new interviews of the remaining Beatles, their associates and fans as well as archival interviews of the late ones, this film features footage of the heady concert years of 1963 to 1966 when the band became a worldwide cultural phenomena topping them all. It also follows how the Fab Four began to change and grow while the excitement of Beatlemania began to sour their lives into an intolerable slog they needed to escape from to become more than what their fans wanted.

In the 20th Century, Frank Zappa made his mark as a musician unlike any other in America. With a wild eccentric iconoclastic attitude guiding his distinctive music, which it was itself guided by a firm intellectual integrity, Zappa made himself an unforgettable force in popular music. This film covers his life and work through various archival footage through the decades. Whether it was his taboo challenging early creations, his outspoken efforts against the political forces determined to censor him or his constant quest for new artistic challenges, Zappa made a mark no one could ignore.

From 'Lemmy' co-director/producer Wes Orshoski comes the first ever film about the long-ignored pioneers of punk: The Damned, the first of the UK punk bands to release a single, album and the first to tour America. This authorized film includes appearances from Chrissie Hynde, Mick Jones, Lemmy and members of Pink Floyd, Black Flag, Guns N Roses, the Sex Pistols, Blondie, the Buzzcocks, and more. Shot around the world over the past three years, it tells the story of the band's complex history, as it celebrated its 35th anniversary and found its estranged former members striking out on their own anniversary tour, while still others battle cancer. The film gets up close and personal with Damned founders Rat Scabies, Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, and Brian James as it tells the story of one of the most criminally ignored acts in music history. File under: Vampiric, Absurdist, Psychedelic, Gnarled, Authentic, Influential, Energetic, Original, Uncompromising, Defiant, Trailblazing, Snotty, Offensive, Adored and definitely not the Clash or the Sex Pistols.