Doc Corner: The 25 Best Documentaries of 2021 (and where to see them)

By Glenn Dunks

Dear readers, I watch a lot of movies. Then again, what else was I supposed to do throughout yet another pandemic year with city-wide lockdowns and curfews? Which is why it was no real struggle at all to think of enough titles to make this list of the 25 best documentaries of 2021. Nor why I do not consider it the least bit excessive. Movies are great, so let's celebrate them! Each of the films listed are deserving of your eyes, although often for very different reasons—I hope my pseudo-weekly reviews and below captions help explain why.

It was a strong year for films about artists and art more broadly. Nearly half the films on the list below are related to film, music, painting, dance and/or the people to make them. Queer themed docs were also prevalent. The longest film here is 194 minutes. The shortest is 61. There is almost a 50/50 between male and female directors across 25 films that travel the globe from sex doll factories in China to political campaigns in Zimbabwe, a jail cell in Guantanamo Bay and the streets of Harlem...

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Doc Corner: Fun facts about the Best Documentary finalists

By Glenn Dunks

Elizabeth Chai Vasarheyi & Jimmy Chin won just 4 years ago with "Free Solo". They're back again with "The Rescue"

Cutting a list down from 138 to 15 is always going to be a daunting and even cruel task, but the shortlist is here for Best Documentary Feature so it is the end of the line for 123 of this year’s non-fiction works. I have been churning through a very long list of titles before even contemplating doing my Top 25 Documentaries list, but I can say that my personal list is looking very different.

AMPAS has selected the following titles to battle it out for a nomination and then the Oscar statue...

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Best International Film: Luxembourg, Paraguay, Switzerland

by Cláudio Alves

Instead of thinking about continental closeness, feminine authorship, or similar Oscar records, today's Best international Film submissions are bonded by a thematic link. The pictures selected to represent Luxembourg, Paraguay, and Switzerland all explore matters of displacement, whether through immigration or forced uprooting. They run the gamut, from fiction to documentary, from stories of economic precarity and political oppression to tales of colonial trauma. Though they're championing their countries in the Oscar race, these films consider the nations through complicated lenses and layers of otherness…

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Doc Corner: 138 titles qualify for Best Documentary Feature

By Glenn Dunks

The Academy has released the longlist of titles in competition for the Best Documentary Feature category. The number is 138, a significant reduction from previous years that were well over the 200 mark. According to The Wrap, it is the lowest number since 2015. That certainly makes our job easier as well as that of the Academy’s documentary branch members who now have to get this down to a list 15 before the final five are announced on nomination morning.

Why is the number so much lower? Well, there are three good reasons for that... 

1. There’s still a pandemic happening, so fewer documentaries have been made let alone released.
2. The eligibility year is also shorter given those first few months of 2021 don’t count.
3. A new Emmy rule states that any film on the Academy’s viewing portal cannot then qualify for the television academy’s awards so if producers make this choice now they can't unmake it.

The full list, links to reviews, thoughts and other musings after the jump…

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Doc Corner: Robert Greene's 'Procession'

By Glenn Dunks

It’s become somewhat predictable that a new Robert Greene will challenge an audience as much as it enthrals. He doesn’t exactly pick the most digestible of subject matter, but the way he comes at them is always so interesting and refreshingly unique that it becomes more than just a dour excursion into humanity’s darkest corners. While some may question his tactics, often interpolating traditional non-fiction form with performance and scripted drama, there is nonetheless a quality to his works that poke and prod at the most sensitive parts of a viewer’s brain.

His latest, the Netflix-distributed Catholic Church abuse drama Procession is no different. More so, it’s the best documentary of the year.

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