Most of you know how much I like a good documentary. In fact, I would say it is my favorite type of movie. I appreciate learning about others, I enjoy “connecting” with real people, and I prefer watching movies that educate me about human beings and their experiences. I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this way, so I decided to share some of my favorite documentaries with you.
Interestingly, three days after deciding to write this post, I discovered through my husband that a John Candy documentary is in the works. You may read more about it here. I absolutely can not wait for that to come out.
Here are some of my favorite documentaries so far.
*in no particular order
Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
I’m adding a few that I forgot about after publishing. Menopausal brain fog is real, my friends. Thank you to everyone who reminded me.
The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari
Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story
I would love to hear your favorites in the comments.
I’m with you and love a good documentary film as well. I’ve seen quite a few on your list.
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❤️
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I can’t say I watch many documentaries, probably for the same reason I don’t watch movies. It’s a long time for me to sit. But I did watch the Mr. Rogers one in your list and it was wonderful. I believe I’ve watched a few on cults, like Scientology, Jim Jones, and Waco. I also love reading books on cults. They fascinate me. I’m currently reading Bad Mormon, and though I thought I knew everything about the LDS Church, I was not aware of the full extent of the bizarre rituals performed inside the temples.
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Cults are fascinating to me too. Are you reading Heather Gay’s book??
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Yes, I am. I’m almost finished. Parts of it make no sense to me. It’s like she omitted things. She goes from being head over heels in love with her fiancé to not getting along with him on the honeymoon (not explained) and then having 3 kids and staying married for 10 years. She complained about him always stopping over to see the kids after they separated, but then acts as though he had no interest in the kids. She mentions one short conversation with her brother about her divorce but never mentions any other family member’s reaction, after being so fearful of a Mormon divorce. It’s like that through the entire book.
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This is why Real Housewives shouldn’t “write” books. 😒
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I haven’t watched a single one of those, and I am hard-pressed to think of a documentary that I’ve even watched. I mean, I’m sure I’ve watched some, but I cannot think of a single one. If I do, I’ll let you know!
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That is so funny! 🤣
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I don’t watch many documentaries, though as you know, I also don’t watch much TV in general. The last good (to me) documentary I watched was Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.
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I’ve seen that on Netflix. I will definitely add that to my list!
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One of my favourites is “Killing Us Softly,” and the follow-up, “Still Killing Us Softly.” It’s about eating disorders, women, advertising, and modern life. They’re very good. I also adore “Manufacturing Consent” by Noam Chomsky. Recently, I watched “The Volcano: Rescue From Whakaari” on Netflix. It’s about the 2019 volcanic eruption in NZ. I strongly recommend it.
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And “Tig” was so good.
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SO good.
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Those will definitely be added to my list. Thank you!
We recently saw The Volcano and loved it. I wrote this post in November and never edited it to include my most recent watches. So, after publishing, I’ll add that to the list. SO MANY EXCELLENT DOCUMENTARIES.
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I loved a lot of yours!! I would suggest McMillions and The Last Dance 🙂
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I loved The Last Dance and can’t believe I didn’t include it on this list! I’ll include it because we enjoyed it as well. I will add McMillions to my watch list. Thank you! 😘
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Kari, this is yet another thing you and I have in common. We share the passion for documentaries!!!! Documentaries are truly my favorite film gene. I watch them a lot!
And would believe that I’ve seen several on your list (Allen v. Farrow, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and Robin’s Wish)
Okay, here are the last five I’ve watched and really enjoyed:
*Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story (about the amazing makeup artist, Kevyn Aucoin)
*Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words (about actress, Ingrid Bergman)
*Halston 2019 (about designer, Halston)
*Olympia (about actress, Olympia Dukakis)
*The Staircase (about the murder trial of Michael Peterson) *I also watched the biopic of this story with Colin Firth as Michael with the same title. EXCELLENT!
LOVED this post, my friend! Looking forward to watching more on your list. Thanks!
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I’m so glad we have this in common!
All of these will be added to my list!
OMG, we watched The Staircase, and I can’t believe I forgot to include it. It was AMAZING. I hate to say that about a murder, but it kept us engrossed and we looked forward to watching it every night. So I’m editing my post because I would also highly recommend that one. We completely forgot about the movie! So now we have something else to watch!
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Oh, and I also watched, Heal. Loved it!
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So good!
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I so love a good documentary. I’m excited to check out the ones on your list. Of the ones you’ve shared here, I think I’ve seen Blackfish, Social Dilema, Blockbuster, and Minimalism. The kids were like WHAT’S BLOCKBUSTER. I was like: SIT DOWN AND WATCH THIS. HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW? It was fun. We ended up sharing lots of stories about how we used to switch off on Saturday nights: you run to Blockbuster, I’ll start baths.
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I really miss video stores. I also remember having to rent the VCR at one point!! Things have changed so much.
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Man those were the days
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💕
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Oooh!! A few of our faves overlap and a few I haven’t heard of before! I can’t wait to look up Allen v Farrow. I liked Inside the Mind of a Cat, Bikram, 13th (this was AMAZING). I also second The Last Dance
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Bikram is on my list! I’ll include the others. I can’t wait to watch more these documentaries!
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I really enjoyed Won’t You Be My Neighbor and The Social Dilemma. We used to watch a lot of documentaries while homeschooling and my boys favorites were nature documentaries. I can tell you a LOT of useless nature facts about obscure animals most people don’t even know exist.
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When I was homeschooling Ella, we also watched a lot of documentaries.
Me too. 🤣
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American Movie
The Celluloid Closet
Crumb
Fast Cheap & Out of Control
Gimmee Shelter
The Heart of Darkness
Imagine: John Lennon
Let it be
Mondo New York
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hill
The Punk Singer: The Kathleen Hanna Story
Scared Straight
The Up Series
Young@Heart
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Omg, this is a great list. Thank you!
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Any time 😁
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I only saw 5 in the theater
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I just thought about a documentary I really liked/found useful about ADHD. So many misconceptions – it’s called Disruptors. Also, sports fans might like the Michael Jordan one – The Last Dance.
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The Last Dance was just added because I forgot I watched it and loved it. 🤣
I am definitely adding Disruptors to my must-see list.
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Persepolis The Animated Documentary based on the graphic novel by Marjane Sartrapi was really good too
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Thanks for this list. I’m bookmarking this page for future reference. I rarely see documentaries so this is wonderful. The last one I watched was
The Queen of Versailles (2012).
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I watched that TWICE! It was both fantastic and exasperating. 😂
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I agree. So much wealth, so little sense. And that house!!
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I KNOW.
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The Octopus Teacher was excellent. I saw quite a few that you mentioned here. Allen v. Farrow, The Staircase. All good. Going to check out some you have that look interesting to me.
One that I can think of that I watched but you didn’t list was on HBO: Phoenix Rising. It’s Evan Rachel Woods’s account of her abuse by Marilyn Manson. IT’s crazy what she went through with that asshat.
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I watched The Octopus Teacher because you mentioned it!
Oh, another one I’ll have to watch!
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A good documentary is the *best*. I recently watched Won’t You Be My Neighbor – bawled my eyes out and just generally felt all the feelings!
As for suggestions… Have you seen Buck (2011) about horse trainer Buck Brannaman? It has been several years since I saw it but I think (hope?) it will have aged well. It is about horses and a horse trainer so…. *heart eyes* ponieeesss!!!!
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I cried my eyes out too! A lot of documentaries make me do that. Maybe that’s why I like them so much: they’re very therapeutic.
I haven’t seen that one! I’ll definitely add it to my list of must-see documentaries. Anything related to horses is high on our list. ❤️
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I love docs. I saw House Made of Splinters last week. Sad but good.
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OMG, I just watched the trailer. 💕
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It’s a solid doc.
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Added to the list. 👍
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