592 Best Documentary Movies to Watch (Page 35)

They say art imitates life, but nothing gets to the heart of humanity like documentary filmmaking. Whether you want to flex your history knowledge or binge a true crime, here are the best documentaries and docuseries available to stream now.

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511. Kids Are Growing Up: A Story About a Kid Named Laroi, 2024

	
What does a highly successful 20-year-old musician have to say about life and the industry? As we learn from Laroi, a lot apparently. Throughout this film, which documents his rapid rise from hopeful Aussie to international star, Laroi shares observations that are at turns earnest, endearing, and self-aware. Unfortunately, these likable traits aren’t enough to make Kids Are Growing Up staple viewing beyond Laroi’s fanbase. If you’re not part of the club, you might find it hard to grasp the necessity of this production at all. Though pleasantly intimate and amusingly animated, there is nothing innovative nor insightful about it. The Australian leg of his origin story seems to have been largely skipped, as are some parts of his musical process. And though it's the most interesting part about him, the documentary doesn't focus too much on him being a prodigy. Laroi is talented to be sure, but this documentary seems like a premature attempt at capturing him in his presumed prime. As a result, the filmmakers betray a lack of confidence in Laroi's future, even though it's clear it'll burn brighter than ever.Genre: Documentary, Music
Actor: Juice WRLD, Justin Bieber, Katarina Demetriades, Lil Bibby, Omer Fedi, Post Malone, The Kid LAROI
Director: Michael D. Ratner
Rating: R

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512. Jailbreak: Love on the Run, 2024

Jailbreak: Love on the Run could be many things depending on where you stand. You could see it as the tragic story of how an inmate successfully seduced his jailer into letting him escape. Or you could see it as the romantic tale of a woman finding her soulmate after years of denying herself companionship and affection. The commendable thing about this Netflix documentary is that it allows space for both of those perspectives through lengthy interviews with the Whites’ close friends and colleagues. That said, the editing of this Netflix documentary could’ve been tighter. The interviews could’ve been cut short and some phone call excerpts, given their explicit content, could’ve been left out, especially given how this tale ends. Not only would the documentary have been more engaging, it would’ve also been more sensitive to Vicky’s situation. “It’s like a disgusting romance novel,” one co-worker says of Vicky and Casey’s admittedly unethical relationship, but while her comment seems justified at the moment, it turns sour the moment you learn about the couple’s fate.

Genre: Crime, Documentary

Rating: R

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513. Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles, 2023

While this documentary may not provide the level of insight or as cohesive a narrative as other films from recent years about children's entertainment, Hot Potato benefits from the sheer charm and approachability of The Wiggles themselves. It's inspiring to see these men and women be perfectly ordinary people who just patiently put in the work to get to where they are today. The film doesn't necessarily find a central idea or philosophy behind The Wiggles' music, but their creativity and enthusiasm for performing manages to turn the simplest things (like fruit salad) into a celebration of life. The documentary isn't particularly good at balancing its tones, especially when it deals with the struggles that various Wiggles have faced in their personal lives, but it remains likable and wholesome all the same.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Anthony Field, Bindi Irwin, Caterina Mete, Emma Watkins, Evie Ferris, Greg Page, Jeff Fatt, John Travolta, Lachlan Gillespie, Lucia Field, Matthew Broderick, Murray Cook, Paul Field, Paul Paddick, Robert De Niro, Sam Moran, Sarah Jessica Parker, Simon Pryce, Steve Irwin, Terri Irwin, Tsehay Hawkins

Director: Sally Aitken

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514. Hold Your Fire, 2021

The main subject that Hold Your Fire promises to be about—negotiation tactics first used in resolving a New York City standoff at a sporting goods store—is ultimately its most least interesting aspect. These supposed tactics aren't too well, and they end up putting a damper on all the human drama that comes before it, which proves strikingly three-dimensional. As the film revisits the details of the hostage situation from the perspective of those who were actually there, it also complicates the situation by compelling us to think of it in a dense, sociopolitical sense rather than a reductive lens of crime and punishment. It's this build-up to the actual negotiation that may actually hold more insight into these kinds of crises.

Genre: Documentary

Director: Stefan Forbes

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515. Goliath, 2023

Wilt Chamberlain’s story is inherently fascinating. An athletic wonder who rose to fame in the South during the Jim Crow era, Chamberlain had to pave the way for other Black athletes who followed in his footsteps. It wasn’t enough that he was good, or that he had the height to end all heights; Chamberlain had to be remarkable to be recognized by his white peers and the national association. And that’s exactly what he became, “an exceptional athlete who happened to be seven feet tall” as one expert puts it. So it’s rather disappointing that the definitive documentary about him doesn’t match his greatness. It gathers family members, sports experts, and fellow basketball players to share their thoughts on Chamberlain and accompanies their anecdotes with archival footage and photos to make a decently engaging but ultimately formulaic documentary. This will be fun and moving for NBA and basketball fans, but it lacks the magnitude to go beyond its expected audience.

Genre: Documentary, History

Director: Christopher Dillon, Rob Ford

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516. Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara, 2024

	
Though it begins with the catfishing and hacking incident that affected thousands of Tegan and Sara fans, not to mention Tegan herself, Fanatical dips into the more general topic of fandom and explores both the good and bad of it. Tegan and Sara make for an excellent case study for two reasons. One is that they came into the social media world earlier than most pop stars, and two is that their fanbase back then was uniquely comprised of young queer people. They were vulnerable and eager to connect online, which “Fegan” or the Fake Tegan who catfished their fans, exploited to no end. The documentary does well both as an explainer of fandom and as an exploration of this unfortunate event. Where it fails is as a true crime documentary. Director Erin Lee Carr approaches some of the more unwilling interviewees with a strange sort of aggression, making the documentary feel uneven at times, if not outrightly biased.Genre: Documentary
Actor: Sara Quin, Tegan Quin
Director: Erin Lee Carr
Rating: R

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517. Child Star, 2024

	
Child Star feels like it’s two movies clumsily stitched into one. On the one hand, it’s a straightforward documentary about the history of child actors. There are talking heads of experts explaining things like the Coogan Law, also known as the California Child Actor's Bill, as well as interviews with children who dream of being famous one day. These latter interviews are precious and heartbreaking, and they make the documentary’s advocacy feel more urgent and real. On the other hand, it’s a documentary about Demi Lovato and her famous friend's trauma dumping over coffee. I’m not saying these parts are less watchable than the others. In fact, I appreciate the celebrities’ willingness to unpack the traumatic parts of their childhood—Drew Barrymore, in particular, seemed to have it incredibly tough. But there’s just too much ground for a feature-length film to cover. This is all on top of Demi’s own catharthic confrontation with her past, which she hashes out with her friends and family. As a result, it feels like the film is merely scratching the surface of the important issues it brings up.Genre: Documentary
Actor: Alyson Stoner, Ariana Grande, Chris Columbus, Christina Ricci, Dallas Lovato, Daniel Radcliffe, Demi Lovato, Drew Barrymore, Ellen DeGeneres, Emma Watson, Hilary Duff, Jackie Coogan, JoJo Siwa, Kenan Thompson, Macaulay Culkin, Madison De La Garza, Miley Cyrus, Oprah Winfrey, Raven-Symoné, Rupert Grint, Selena Gomez, Shirley Temple, Zendaya
Director: Demi Lovato,  Nicola B. Marsh
Rating: R

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518. Can I Tell You a Secret?, 2024

Can I Tell You a Secret? is a two-hour long documentary that hardly needs to be that long. The stories of the female victims are urgent and important, but the editing doesn’t do them favors. They’re dragged by repetitive music, repeated stock videos, and relentless reenactments, which seem cheesy and unnecessary. The docuseries also buries what I believe should be the main point: misogyny. It’s misogyny that allowed the perpetrator, Matthew Hardy, to harass his female victims for more than 10 years without real consequences; misogyny that blamed the women for sharing revealing photos; misogyny that made the police dismiss their cases as trivial and unimportant. It’s clear that these women need to be taken seriously for anything to get done. Unfortunately, the documentary doesn’t seem all that interested in doing that.

Genre: Documentary

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519. Breaking the Silence: The Maria Soledad Case (2024)

	
It’s heartbreaking that the case of Maria Soledad is as gruesome as it is common. We’ve all heard of or know about a woman who was raped, strangled, and beaten to death for no other reason than her gender. But even though Netflix’s Breaking the Silence tells Soledad’s story well enough, with detailed research and in-depth interviews, it’s ultimately hard to tell it apart from the hundreds of other true crime documentaries the streamer has produced. A cynic would say that Netflix’s interests lie not in advocacy or justice, but in riding the true crime fad. But a more hopeful viewer will want to believe in the film’s truth and stance against femicide. If you’re the former, then Breaking the Silence won’t do much for you. But if you are latter, and I kind of hope you are, then this documentary will be heartbreaking, frustrating, and more importantly, inspiring.Genre: Documentary
Director: Lorena Muñoz
Rating: PG-13

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520. Brats, 2024

	
If you’re coming into this expecting to relive your favorite ‘80s coming-of-age moments from The Breakfast Club to St. Elmo’s Fire, then you’ll get a taste of that, but don’t expect to be fully satisfied. Instead, the reunion that happens in Brats resembles group therapy more than anything. Here, director Andrew McCarthy (Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo’s Fire) seems to be on a journey to heal from his troubled past, which he believes was caused, in part, by a defamatory article that called him and a crop of young actors in the ‘80s “The Brat Pack.” The film follows McCarthy as he travels across the country to discuss the label with fellow Brat Packers, who funnily enough, don’t share his contempt for it. Sure, they’re annoyed, but they’ve moved on for the most part. McCarthy on the other hand doesn’t possess the self-awareness to know this, which is perhaps why he’s fallen trap to the Streisand Effect. “The Brat Pack” isn’t nearly as negative as he thinks it to be, but because he keeps ranting about it, he's unwittingly fueling the accusations against him. He just might be the vain celebrity, the brat, he claims he's not. Still, the documentary has its moments. The way it’s modestly filmed is charming and inventive, the artful blend of old footage and 80s music hits the nostalgic spot, and the conversations can be interesting. Who would’ve thought Demi Moore would be the wisest person in the room?Genre: Documentary
Actor: Ally Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy, Bret Easton Ellis, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez, Eric Stoltz, Howard Deutch, Jacqueline Bisset, James Spader, Joel Schumacher, John Ashton, John Cusack, John Hughes, Jon Cryer, Judd Nelson, Lauren Shuler Donner, Lea Thompson, Liza Minnelli, Malcolm Gladwell, Marci Liroff, Michael Oates Palmer, Molly Ringwald, Phil Donahue, Richard Schickel, Rob Lowe, Sammy Davis Jr., Sean Penn, Timothy Hutton, Tom Cruise, Tom Myers
Director: Andrew McCarthy

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521. Bama Rush, 2023

If you’ve ever been puzzled by “Greek life”, this documentary will go some way to demystifying that somewhat baffling phenomenon of American college culture. Bama Rush follows four hopefuls as they “rush” the University of Alabama’s sororities, a TikTok-viral weeklong recruitment process so cutthroat some candidates spend months preparing for it. The documentary digs deep into why these young women put so much time, energy, and money into joining what the film hints is a largely unforgiving and reductive element of campus life. What it finds is pretty affecting: they’re really just looking for acceptance and belonging.

Threaded throughout are director Rachel Fleit’s reflections on her own history with those motivations, having grown up with alopecia. Though it does illustrate that rushing isn’t so dissimilar from other quests for acceptance, this parallel is sometimes clunkily drawn — and can seem somewhat self-indulgent in places, given the documentary’s comparatively surface-level exploration of more systemic issues. A late development shifts Bama Rush into an even deeper self-reflexive mode, as the film itself becomes a contentious issue in the process it’s documenting. Despite its flaws, turns like this — and its participants’ extraordinary candor — help make Bama Rush an often illuminating look into an opaque world.

Genre: Documentary, Drama

Director: Rachel Fleit

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522. The Darkness within La Luz del Mundo, 2023

As a documentary, The Darkness Within doesn't dig as deep as it probably could have. It doesn't offer a particularly specific account of how La Luz del Mundo has achieved its popularity and what exactly keeps it in power today. However, due to the fact that many church members seem to remain loyal to its corrupt, criminal leaders, a straightforward testimony is also exactly what this film needs to be. In direct, uncompromising detail—but always edited with a solemn respect for the survivors, who get to make their statements without the camera in their face—it lays out the mountain of damning personal experiences that too many La Luz del Mundo have suffered, as the rest of the church has turned a blind eye towards them.

Genre: Crime, Documentary

Director: Carlos Pérez Osorio

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523. Stopping the Steal, 2024

	
I’m just as sick of hearing about the 2020 elections as the next person, especially since we have a new wave of candidates to review and prepare for in the coming months, but Stopping the Steal has one attention-grabbing appeal: it has Republican officials and Trump supporters explain how the former president lost the race. As a result, the documentary feels justified, if not substantive. These are his people objectively and plainly expressing their disappointment over his decisions. But don’t expect a 180-degree shift in principle. They’re still aboard the Trump train for the most part, but they want you to know they can be level-headed if they want to be. The film, helmed by Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed, eventually loses steam midway as it tells the story chronologically and straightforwardly, occasionally rerepeating its points. But it’s still a worthwhile watch if only to definitely prove how baseless the voter fraud accusations are.Genre: Documentary
Actor: Alyssa Farah Griffin, Clint Hickman, Greg Jacob, Marc Short, William Barr
Director: Dan Reed

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524. Stephen Curry: Underrated, 2023

As one of the most recognizable and successful NBA players in the world today, Stephen Curry certainly doesn't need a documentary to persuade anyone else about his talent and the legacy he's already created in basketball. This definitely robs Underrated of some of its urgency, knowing that the Golden State Warrior has the luxury of ruminating on his victories and failures from a place of comfort. Still, the film's decision to focus on a young Curry before reaching the height of his powers allows us to watch these long stretches of game time through a different emotional lens. His is a classic underdog story that's probably far more common among players in the league, but it's still entertaining to be able to track his growth from game to game.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Ayesha Curry, Bob McKillop, Draymond Green, Kevin Durant, Patrick Ewing, Reggie Miller, Sonya Curry, Stephen Curry

Director: Peter Nicks

Rating: PG-13

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525. Six Schizophrenic Brothers, 2024

Even in a bloated genre like true crime, Six Schizophrenic Brothers manages to be shocking because of its horrifying premise. It’s about a family that had to deal not just with the titular illness, but with multiple and chronic cases of abuse, rape, incest, and murder. And perhaps the most amazing part of it all is that director Lee Phillips was able to gather many of the siblings and have them tell the story themselves. So it’s a baffling shame that Phillips also had to lean on cheesy visual and sound effects to sensationalize an already appalling story. Whenever someone reveals a hard truth, glass shatters and fans are flamed. Whenever one of the ill siblings is introduced, they’re accompanied by sinister sounds and backgrounds. Then there are the questions he asks them, which are more exploitative than insightful. It’s true that the documentary, like watching a fire, is an engrossing experience that’s difficult to look away from. But in this case, the terror comes both from the story and the awful editing choices.

Genre: Documentary

Rating: TV-14

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