Doc Corner: The Best Documentaries of 2020
Sunday, February 7, 2021 at 12:42PM By Glenn Dunks
Before this column takes a few weeks break, it’s that time of the year to make lists! I have spent the last few weeks churning through screeners trying to ensure I saw enough of 2020’s documentary output to justify a list of the year’s best, although I do not have the time nor the inclination to watch 238 of the damn things! Nevertheless, below are 30 non-fiction titles (or non-fiction adjacent, but we’ll get to that later) that I believe are among the year’s best movies. I stuck to the 2020 calendar as much as possible because, like Nathaniel, I want to keep some order to it all.
If you were to sit down and watch every film below, you would be taken from rural towns in the heart of the Florida peninsula to rural towns in the heart of the Ukraine via the protests of Hong Kong and a nursing home in Chile. There are serious themes, important subjects, powerful ideas... and hand sanitizer.
There’s also a stripper named Nomi. Something for everything, I reckon...
TOP 5 UNRELEASED DOCUMENTARIES
These five are titles that I saw at virtual festivals in 2020. Maybe they came out internationally or played even earlier than last year, but they remain unreleased (or, I imagine, even acquired by a distributor) so maybe shining a little spotlight on them will mean they emerge somehow, some way…
05 Don’t Worry, The Doors Will Open (Oksana Karpovych, Ukraine) Like Albert Maysles et al.’s In Transit, this doc observes people on trains. Nothing more, nothing less. Also like In Transit, it’s fascinating.
04 Dark City Beneath the Beat (TT The Artist, USA) The actual best musical of the year! CAPSULE REVIEW
03 Wojnarowicz: Fuck You Faggot Fucker (Chris McKim, USA) Artist documentaries are rarely as in sync with their subject as this inventive, invigorating portrait of the controversial artist who died on AIDS.
02 You Think the Earth is a Dead Thing (Florence Lazar, France) An ecological disaster from the past, a remnant of French colonization, continues to haunt the indigenous population of Martinique in this lush doc from photographer Florence Lazar. CAPSULE REVIEW
01 State Funeral (Sergei Loznitsa; Netherlands, Lithuania)
One of my favourite filmmakers yet again raids the soviet archives and this one may be even better than The Event (one of the ten best of the last decade). Observing the USSR’s ritualistic remembrance of Stalin following his death in 1953, it’s a stunning feat of editing and sheer filmmaking confidence. REVIEW
THE 25 BEST DOCUMENTARIES OF 2020
In my haste, I included Rachel Mason's Circus of Books as a 2019 title so it does not feature here. It would, however, rank very high if I had waited. Carry on...
25 Feels Good Man (Arthur Jones, USA) A moment-by-moment distillation of the birth of a right-wing meme and the personal toll it takes on its creator. Finds fun use for animation amid the anguish.
24 Coded Bias (Shalina Kantayya, USA) The fallibility of artificial intelligence. Strikes at the very inherent truths of how technology has weaponised race for its creators gain while working to enlighten a future, more inclusive generation.
23 American Utopia (Spike Lee, USA) One of the very first films I was able to go to a cinema and see following my city’s COVID lockdown, and it was such a joyous, spiritual experience. Is it better than Stop Making Sense? No, but then Spike Lee is probably aware that it is a hard task and prefers to let David Byrne tell the story through his face, his words, and his movement.
22 The Mole Agent (Maite Alberdi, Chile) Alongside The Father, Relic and Two of Us, The Mole Agent was another 2020 films that really wanted to strike at the sad horrors of old age. It’s played far pluckier than any of those, but that early lightness gives way to shameful realities about the way senior citizens are often left abandoned and alone in a time of emotional turmoil.
21 In My Blood it Runs (Maya Newell, Australia) You know that meme that goes around every so often along the lines of ‘what’s something that is okay when you’re rich, but trashy if you’re poor’? Yeah, it's a bit like that, the life of a young Aboriginal boy in Alice Springs who is fluent in his indigenous language and knows more about the land than most, but who struggles in white education. REVIEW
20 Class Action Park (Seth Porges, Chris Charles Scott III; USA) I’m not going to lie. I laughed a whole lot throughout this fun (if very traditionally assembled) doc about America’s deadliest theme park. Sometimes it’s wise to know when your story is entertaining enough and this one, filled with wonderful archive video and hilarious bone-breaking anecdotes does just that.
19 Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado (Cristina Costantini, Kareem Tabsch; USA) A case of the right subject at the right time. A flamboyantly ridiculous entry to the world of a beloved part of latinx culture that I was glad to experience. I mean, the capes alone… REVIEW
18 The Painter and the Thief (Benjamin Ree, Norway) Finds curious rhythms in the ups and downs of a painter and the man who stole her work from a gallery. A work of extreme empathy, letting scenes of intense emotions play out in often confronting closeness.
17 The Earth is Blue as an Orange (Iryna Tsilyk, Ukraine) Amid the rubble of shelling attacks in the city of Donbass, one family’s love of cinema allows for moments of levity and stark reality.
16 The History of the Seattle Mariners: Supercut (Jon Bois, USA) The greatest compliment one can give this DIY web-doc is that after three-and-a-half hours, I agree that the Seattle Mariners are one of the most interesting sporting franchises of our time. A gleeful movie that will, despite just being two guys talking over questionable computer graphics, surely spark joy in even obsessive movie-lovers who are often consumed by lists, stats and convoluted theories. Toxic stan-dom be gone!
15 You Don’t Nomi (Jeffrey McHale, USA) “Different places!” More than just a shallow making of, but a paean to queer cult devotion and an intricate assessment of its merits as art. A lovingly personal ode to camp trash-classic Showgirls that shifts to being something genuinely profound and sweet. I actually teared up throughout! That moment where it cuts from Nomi shouting, “you don’t know shit!” to a montage of Verhoeven characters laughing? Beautiful! REVIEW
14 Notturno (Gianfranco Rosi, Italy) As somebody who was relatively cool on Rosi’s Oscar-nominee Fire at Sea, I was very surprised to find this quiet and impeccably well shot affecting me to much. Evocative and full of painterly compositions. Every time I thought "that'd be a perfect ending", Rosi went and surpassed it with another beauty.
13 Crip Camp (James Lebrecht, Nicole Newnham; USA) Manipulative? Maybe. But it was a much-needed emotional purge in 2020 while spotlighting a civil rights injustice that unfortunately gets shunted aside or forgotten about all too often. REVIEW
12 Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin (Werner Herzog, UK) As in his best bio-docs, Herzog finds a kindred spirit and ultimately tells a story about both when making a film about the other. Like Fireball, also a 2020 film, Herzog is maybe set in his structural/aesthetic ways, but only he could find such unexpected crevices in his subject’s life and ruminate on them in such delicate ways. REVIEW
11 Cockroach (Ai Weiwei, China) Ai Weiwei was prolific in 2020, directing not just the Wuhan-set COVID-19 doc CoroNation, but also this significantly better (that’s not a diss) on-the-ground collage from within the protest movement in Hong Kong. Shocking image after shocking image, lightly peppered with just the right amount of talking heads to make sense of what’s happening. One of the most horrifying opening shots of the year, too.
10 Time (Garrett Bradley, USA) Some may accuse Time of selective bias in the way it tells its story, focusing instead on the people rather than their crimes. But to that I suggest that more people in positions of power should probably do the same. INTERVIEW
09 Rewind (Sasha Neulinger, USA) The earliest release on the list, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing to see people not even knowing it exists when it comes to doing end-of-the-year lists. I was punched in the gut by this one, an examination of familial sexual abuse that does intricate things with its editing. REVIEW
08 Pahokee (Patrick Bresnan, Ivete Lucas; USA) More emotionally invested than similar observational documentaries, although less interested in ephemeral artiness like the films of RaMell Ross or Klalik Allah. A portrayal of American teenagerhood that shows its predominantly black and latinx students doing the best they can within the rituals of the high school experience in a Florida town of 6,000 people. Their lives placed against those who work in the fields and in the fast-food restaurants that they want to leave behind. A genuine rare glimpse of hope in the year 2020.
07 Welcome to Chechnya (David France, USA) A modern-day underground system of activists squirrel LGBTIQ people out of Chechnya under a queer genocide. Genuinely brave filmmaking. The best use of visual effects in 2020? REVIEW
06 A Thousand Cuts (Ramona S. Diaz, Philippines) Anybody will surely feel the anguish felt as this doc’s subjects fight for their journalistic rights to be granted. As somebody who lives in a country overrun by the Murdochracy, it’s vital necessity only comes across louder and clearer. REVIEW
05 City Hall (Frederick Wiseman, USA) I was not at all surprised to learn that the predominant subject of Wiseman’s over-four-hour field trip around Boston’s government processes—that would be Mayor Martin Walsh—has since gone on to be selected by President Biden to be a part of his team. It’s everything you want and expect from Wiseman, but that is never a bad thing. Despite being over 90 years old, City Hall shows the honorary Oscar recipient is as spry and inquisitive as ever. REVIEW
04 Dick Johnson is Dead (Kirsten Johnson, USA) We’ve spoken plenty about Johnson’s sublime follow-up to Cameraperson, so all I will add is this: I haven’t laughed in a documentary quite so much as I did during Dick’s funeral. Make of that as you will. REVIEW | NATHANIEL’S BEST OF 2020
03 Free Time (Manfred Kirchheimer, USA) As he did with Dreams of a City a few years ago, the legendary Kirchheimer revisits his incredible, previously unused black-and-white street footage from the 1950s and ‘60s and out of it emerges this sweetly constructed ode to, well, free time. There's the boys playing stickball and the seniors who sit in lawn chairs on their stoop. As is Kirchheimer’s want, an utterly bewitching spell of a film.
02 Collective (Alexander Naunu, Romania) It’s not just that the events of this journalistic crusade were relevant in 2020, although they clearly were (I feel confident in stating that hand sanitizer has never played such a major role in a film — and it wasn't even about the pandemic!). Rather, like A Thousand Cuts, this provocative dive into a fractured Romania feels uniquely singular as a work of film. Sure, it evokes films like Spotlight as its subjects seek answers to tragic questions, but Collective is much more than just another point-and-shoot documentary about an unravelling news story. It is its own feat of filmmaking. REVIEW
01 Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Bill Ross, Turner Ross; USA) I have struggled with the question of whether the Ross brothers’ film is documentary or not. Yes, it is concocted. The Roaring 20s bar off the Las Vegas strip doesn’t exist. But why isn’t documentary allowed to evolve into new, interesting forms. The documentary that we know today is not what it was in the 1920s, which was itself built on artifice (hello Nanook!). And as artifice bleeds into real life, maybe it can do so in non-fiction cinema, too. Who can really say? But what I know is, is that whatever it is these filmmakers captured with Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, it tells us more about our fragile place in the universe than anything else I’ve seen in years. REVIEW
What were your favourites documentaries of 2020?
Reader Comments (17)
I've ordered a copy of "David Byrne's American Utopia" in bluray because HBO - for whatever reason - hasn't released it in Spain... in some weeks it'll arrive to me, I am so eager to see it (plus I'm certain I will watch it plenty of times... Byrne/Talking Heads/Spike Lee? I mean... come on!
An added reason to love Spike Lee, by the way.
by the way, "Collective" is so good that could take Picture, Director, Screenplay, Film Editing, Documentary and International film Oscars and I wouldn't protest in the slightest.
Crip Crap on the other hand... it derailed an awesome documentary by going full steam into the most cliched and overused storytelling... the "triumph at the stairs" felt embarrassing to me... I was loving the first third, and then...
I haven’t seen many this year, but I did quite enjoy THE DONUT KING which I saw at SDAFF, and I believe got a limited release last Fall. Keep meaning to see TIME and REWIND but I’ve got so much on my queue ahead of them.
Time is one of the most beautiful films I saw in 2020 and I'd be thrilled if it manages a nomination. Best Editing would be deserving as well, they really made a poem out of this story.
Crip Camp is ranked far too low. The absence of The Truffle Hunters is also cause for dismay.
I've only seen 12 of your TOP25 and I wasn't a fan of your nr.1, as I guess you were not the fan of my nr.1 - The Dissident :) My second faorite doc - The painter and the thief is on your list, but third favourite The boys state is also missing. TOP4 - Welcome to Chechnya is on the list and fifth favourite "The circle" is a foriegn doc not yet released in US. It's about a bunch of 30 something families who decide to establish a commune and live together with all of their kids etc. Really emotional as the love relations get mixed up between different pairs. Some of my other favorite docs were not yet released in US either - "The petite fille/Little girl", french doc about a little 8 year old girl, who was born as a boy - the family accepts and fights for it, but the community and her school makes it so hard - very thoughts provoking, especially because of the age and the accusation by the community of parents accepting it and not trying to influence the little kid (as if others outside the family even knew the whole picture). And I really liked a doc called Mole: Undercover in North Korea, which was filmed over a longer period, when one guy infiltrated into North Korean top level relations. I guess I'm into everything about North Korea and that's why the film was also so exciting for me. But Collective, Dick Johnson is dead, Thousand cuts, Time, Mole agent - are some of the ones on your list, that I also enjoyed. City hall was way too long for me and not all of it was interesting (but I did watch it to the end). Although I get it, that the whole appeal is mainly because it hold so much of one day in a hectic job like that and it had to be that long.
I haven't stopped thinking about Collective since watching it in December. I agree with Jesus above. I'd vote for it in every one of those categories. This has been such an exceptional year for documentaries.
James, THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS has a confirmed 2021 release so it will have to wait a year (or not since I like the movie, but probably not enough for it to remain on a list. Beautiful to look at, that's for sure.
Jesus, AMERICAN UTOPIA was released theatrically in Australia by Universal as HBO don't have a local arm.
George, THE DONUT KING was one I unfortunately did not have time to watch, but it's still there in my screener playlist!
The best editing category could always use for serious consideration of documentaries, but BLOODY NOSE, TIME and COLLECTIVE really should be a factor this year. Oh well.
I haven't seen that many this year, a situation I'm hoping to remedy. I just was The Mole Agent, which was delightful and depressing in equal measure. My favorite doc that I saw was American Murder: The Family Next Door. What a creepfest!
I love reading your posts. Enjoy your holidays and mucho, mucho amor!!!
Glenn, THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS has been playing festivals since January 2020. I think you work here is important. You bring films to the forefront that might well be dismissed. While I admire your integrity to stick to your guns on release dates, I remain dismayed that a fine piece of cinema is ignored due to a technicality - not as serious as the obscure AMPAS rule that disqualified Liv Ullmann's brilliant performance in SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE as a Best Actress candidate but still.
James, I was only able to see if in December. If SPC wanted it considered for 2020 awards then they shouldn't punted it to March 12.
Collective is made with great artistry, and has startling and deep parallels to the USA for sure.
I am also a big fan of The Truffle Hunters...filmmakers who show and don't tell, and they make you as a viewer put together a dying way of life and see tribute to the intimacy between man and dog. and wow, those painterly vistas...when's the last doc we've seen with images that look like a Vermeer?
Huh, as a baseball fan I was a big fan of the Dorktown History of the Seattle Mariners. It was unexpected but I was glad to see it on the list!
Gunda was pretty great, too.
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of some documentaries I might otherwise have missed. I’ll try and get around to them all but your description of Class Action Park made it sound irresistible so I had to watch it straightaway! As you say, it’s very conventionally told but what a tale to tell! Ridiculously entertaining - my jaw was on the floor! Oh the 80s...
ajnrules, i binged all 220 minutes and couldn't take my eyes off it. What a journey!
Sally, Thank you for the feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed CLASS ACTION PARK and any others you get to watch.
Ishmael, I had my issues with GUNDA but if anybody suspects it may be up their alley then i'd definitely recommend it.