As I do every year, I separate documentaries into their own Best of the Year list, not because I feel they should be judged any differently than narrative films, but because I want to call attention to as many great docs as I possibly can. If I tried to incorporate these films into my main Best of the Year, it would become unwieldy (well, more unwieldy than it already is).
I get such a charge from a great documentary, whether it’s on a subject I know a great deal about or if it covers ground I’d never even contemplated in terms of perspective, information, or fuel for outrage or celebration. 2024 felt different for me than other years, because the issue-oriented docs felt harder to find in theaters. But if you knew where to look, they were plentiful.
Part of the thrill of being a living, thinking, evolving human being is absorbing new information and experiences, as well as allowing this newness to inspire fresh ideas and points of view. That’s the standard to which I hold documentaries: don’t just teach me, but move me or alter my DNA in some fundamental way.
Here are 20 titles that did just that in 2024…
1. Daughters (Dirs: Natalie Rae & Angela Patton)
Winner of the Audience Award (U.S. Documentary) at the Sundance Film Festival, Daughters is a devastating profile of four young girls preparing for a special Daddy-Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers as part of a unique fatherhood program in a Washington, D.C., jail. Each reunion is different, but they are all heartbreaking and hopeful in very similar ways. We find out deep into the film that the program generates real results in terms of recidivism rates among the men who participate. This film just got to me by taking what appeared to be a hopeless situation on both sides of the equation and showing the possibilities.
2. No Other Land (Dirs: Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal & Rachel Szor)
3. Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat (Dir: Johan Grimonprez)
4. Ernest Cole: Lost and Found (Dir: Raoul Peck)
5. The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Dir: Benjamin Ree)
6. Porcelain War (Dirs: Slava Leontyev & Brendan Bellomo)
7. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Dirs: Ian Bonhote & Peter Ettedgui)
8. Separated (Dir: Errol Morris)
9. Dahomey (Dir: Mati Diop)
10. Union (Dirs: Stephen Maing & Brett Story)
11. Eno (Dir: Gary Hustwit)
12. Ennio (Dir: Giuseppe Tornatore)
13. War Game (Dirs: Tony Gerber & Jesse Moss)
14. Will & Harper (Dir: Josh Greenbaum)
15. Music by John Williams (Dir: Laurent Bouzereau)
16. Seeking Mavis Beacon (Dir: Jazmin Jones)
17. Girls State (Dirs: Amanda McBaine & Jesse Moss)
18. Jim Henson: Idea Man (Dir: Ron Howard)
19. Skywalkers: A Love Story (Dir: Jeff Zimbalist)
20. ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor! (Dir: Arthur Bradford)
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