The Thin Blue Line might be one of the best and most important documentaries of all time! Also Black Panthers, The Janes, Gay USA, Hearts & Minds, Woodstock, Free Chol Soo Lee and pretty much everything by Werner Herzog.
For docs about people, I’d recommend Moonage Daydream, Jane Fonda in Five Acts and Cobain: Montage of Heck.
May 14, 2024
Related Recs
đź“ş
here are some favorites off the top of my head..
Zabardast: i'm partial to climbing/expedition docs, but this one is especially good. a travel diary of a group of voyagers exploring the remote lands of Pakistan to freeride ski down its mountains.
Night Fog: very heartbreaking look at WWII concentration camps
Dark Days: documents the lives of the homeless people living in the tunnels underneath New York City, without being intrusive or voyeuristic
Don't Look Back: self-explanatory (Minnesota's sweetheart)
Dec 13, 2024
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Maybe some unorthodox choices but I’ve always been into non-narrative, experimental documentaries. Some of the best I know are “As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty”, “Koyaanisqatsi”, “Sans Soleil”. These were some of the purest, most powerful cinematic experiences I’ve had in my life, so I’d suggest you peep them.
On a (slightly) more conventional note, literally any documentary made by Herzog
Feb 6, 2025
Incredibly insightful and intimate, if you watch anything on this list it should be this one!
But if you have time for more..
Paris Is Burning (1990)
El ruiseñor y la noche: Chavela Vargas canta a Lorca (2015)
Sun Ra: a joyful noise (1980)
Amy (2015)
Black Wax (1983)
McQueen (2018)
Feb 6, 2025
Top Recs from @zyppy
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it’s really not as bad as you might think. it’s quite great, actually. you should try it.
Apr 25, 2024
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whether films, books, vinyls or cds - physical media is great and important. nothing more satisfying than seeing your collection grow and being able to watch/listen to anything you want, no matter if it’s on a streaming service or not
Apr 26, 2024
đź“˝
go watch some, I wish every film was one
Apr 22, 2024