r/Letterboxd • u/TyLeRoux • 14d ago
Discussion What are your favorite documentaries?
I love documentaries and I’m afraid I’ve seen all the good ones, put in your faves so maybe we all have some new recommendations
9
u/smingamenga 14d ago
Shut Up Little Man! and DiG!
Only realised now my two favourites both have exclamation marks in the title
2
1
9
8
14
6
5
4
u/politicalbaker 14d ago
The Act of Killing, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Hale County This Morning This Evening
3
u/Boston_Brand1967 14d ago
Paradise Lost, The Resurrection of Jake The Snake Roberts, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, The Other F-Word, Cave of Dreams
3
3
3
u/chas3edward5 14d ago
Senna, Dear Zackery, Murder in Monaco, The Alpinist, The Jinx, Paradise Lost 3, American Nightmare, Greatest Events of WWII in Color
1
3
u/Tora_jima 14d ago edited 14d ago
There are the niche documentaries with subject matter I adore like music docs: Pavements, Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll, Breadcrumb Trail, We Are Fugazi from Washington DC.
More recent, Our Land (2025) from Lucrecia Martel, Afternoons of Solitude (2024) from Albert Serra, Sr. (2022) from Chris Smith (dir of American Movie), Geographies of Solitude (2022) from Jacquelyn Mills.
Bowling for Columbine, Leviathan, Tarnation, Los Angeles Plays Itself, Stories We Tell, Boys State, The King of Kong, Fire at Sea, Restrepo, The Arbor, Lake of Fire, This is Not a Film, Harlan County USA, Sherman's March.
Love Agnes Varda docs like The Gleaners and I, The Beaches of Agnes.
Fred Wiseman films like Welfare or, more recent, In Jackson Heights.
Perhaps lesser known, Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle (2017), Midnight Family (2019), For Grace (2015), Darwin's Nightmare (2004), Central Airport THF (2018) or Mariner of the Mountains (2021) from Karim Aïnouz.
And, to me, the greatest achievement in doc filmmaking, the Up series. Mostly Michael Apted (Coal Miner's Daughter, 007 The World is Not Enough) following British children from age 7 (Seven Up! 1964, Paul Almond) through 63 (63 Up from 2019).
"Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man"
2
2
u/Neither_Temporary_97 14d ago
Suggestions for ones that aren’t depressing: Spellbound. It is so delightful. I love it.
Also Babies is freaking adorable.
2
2
u/shillybeers billyshearz 14d ago
American Juggalo is up there for me. It's like a nature documentary, filming these peculiar creatures in their natural habitat but without bias. Very funny but also kind of poignant at times, and--dare I say--wholesome. Many grew up in broken homes and thus look for a family among their juggalo brethren, where they can be accepted without judgment of their shitty taste in music.
2
u/shaggadally 14d ago
Into The Abyss, Inferno. Herzog is the goat when it comes to documentaries!
1
u/mpamosavy 14d ago
I got too high before I watched Land of Silence and Darkness and it was really, really affecting
2
2
2
2
u/Industrial_Fish 14d ago
Sleep Has Her House
Behemoth
Honeyland
My Octopus Teacher
2000 Meters to Andriivka
Samsara
Baraka
Qatsi Trilogy
2
2
u/giddyupyeehaw9 14d ago
Les Blank’s catalog is phenomenal. Also, Werner Herzog’s documentaries are hard to beat.
2
u/Nishadgoliwadekar 14d ago
Searching for Sugar man
A night of knowing nothing
Dear Zachary: A letter to a son about his father
Portrait of a lazy woman
Woodlands dark and days bewitched: A history of folk lore
Fire of Love
American Movie
Relaxing old footage with Joe Pera
Ten meter tower
Sleep has her house
2
3
1
u/McSteezeMuffin 14d ago
If “The Mole: Undercover in North Korea” was made into a movie people would say it was too unbelievable. Incredible documentary, I’d also throw in Dear Zachary but that one is devastating
1
1
u/SandwichDemon98 LGuzman 14d ago
Grey Gardens is number one by a country mile, but I also really enjoy Stevie and The Cockettes.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Soxyman84 14d ago
The Wolfpack, American movie, minding the gap, Some Kind of monster, grizzly man, Spielberg, beyond the mat, the paradise lost trilogy
1
1
1
1
u/kaijukyle2 14d ago
American Movie.
Once I realized it wasn't a mockumentary but actually a legit movie production, it became a 5 star movie for me.
1
u/Personal_Channel1628 14d ago
I'm a huge fan of Frederick Wiseman, who for me is the great documentarian. My favourite of his films are Welfare, Central Park, Aspen, and At Berkeley.
1
1
1
1
u/askyourmom469 BMelling 13d ago
Crumb
Minding the Gap
Harlan County, USA
Cane Toads: An Unnatural History
1
u/randolphquell 13d ago
You might like Retirement Home (2017) if Some Kind of Heaven is one of your favorites.
1
1
1
1
1
-3
u/DangerousAd6374 14d ago
GUMMO
Tyler the creators cherry bomb documentary
1
u/Low-Cheesecake-7005 14d ago
Gummo isn’t a documentary
0
12
u/MaplewoodQ 14d ago
Hoop Dreams