The Best Documentaries of 2023
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Happy new year, folks. I hope you've been enjoying the holiday season, AKA the catch-up-on-the-dozens-of-hours-of-TV-and-movies-you-missed week of the year. My favorites from this stretch: American Fiction (run to the theater), Poor Things (Willem Dafoe burping!), Fixer Upper: The Hotel (love you, Chip and Joanna),and Home Alone 2. (It's better than the first one—and I'm not accepting rebuttals at this time.)
Because I also co-author Esquire's best TV of the year list, I've been a little... behind in the documentary space. Please forgive me, reader—but rest assured, I've had the chance to catch up on what's been another stellar year in the genre. This includes, but certainly isn't limited to: Apple's beautiful Michael J. Fox documentary, another how-did-he-do-it sports docuseries from Greg Whiteley, and Sam Pollard's transformative film about the Negro leagues.
I won't keep you waiting—these are the best documentaries of 2023. Let's dive in.
American Symphony
Sure, you know Jon Batiste as Stephen Colbert's (former) kickass band leader on The Late Show. Wondering what he's been up to? The man set out to compose his first symphony—no big deal. During the process, his partner, the author Suleika Jaouad, suffered a cancer recurrence. American Symphony captures it all, resulting in one of the most striking documentaries of the year. If you're not convinced, know that documentary mastermind Matthew Heineman (who was behind HBO's Tiger and the bold peak-COVID portrait The First Wave) directed the film.
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Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
Leave it to HBO to earn multiple spots on a best documentaries list. Aside from Telemarketers (more on that series below), Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project is HBO's greatest documentary work of the year. The film profiles the life and art of the legendary poet Nikki Giovanni, from whom we could all stand to learn a thing or two.
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A Still Small Voice
Anyone who is even remotely familiar with palliative care knows that only truly special people are fit for it. There might not be film that better captures that person than A Still Small Voice, which follows a chaplain during her yearlong hospital residency—and the pains and joys of working with patients going through unimaginable challenges.
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In the Rearview
I won't mince words here: In the Rearview will floor you. When Russia invaded Ukraine, director Maciek Hamela bought a van and started evacuating civilians to Poland. Then, Hamela purchased two more vehicles, so he could expand the operation. With the help of a cameraperson, he captured the fear, heartbreak, and uncertainty of those he took out of harm's way. In the Rearview will stand as one of the most important works of journalism to come from the Russo-Ukrainian war.
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Beyond Utopia
While we're on the unfortunate subject of oppressors and those who risk everything to defect from them: Beyond Utopia follows multiple families as they struggle to escape from North Korea. Of course, the danger for both Beyond Utopia's subjects and filmmakers nearly goes without saying—some of the footage was even shot by the families themselves—but the result makes for one of the bravest films of the year, period.
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Telemarketers
Patrick. J. Pespas. Entertainer, telemarketer, man of the people, and by far the greatest documentary character of the year so far. The Safdie brothers-produced docuseries, Telemarketers, is a very DIY takedown of the corrupt telemarketing industry. The story is told through the POV of two former telemarketers, Pespas and Sam Lipman-Stern, who imbue the documentary with an absurdly motivational level of David vs. Goliath energy. But Telemarketers's lasting impact might be Lipman-Stern's portrait of Pespas, a big-hearted man who goes from the throws of drug addiction to lobbying against his former employers in Washington, D.C.
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Wrestlers
Greg Whiteley did it again. The creator of Last Chance U and Cheer dared to leave the backdrop of college athletics, turning his lens to the wide and wonderful world of professional wrestling. In his profile of Ohio Valley Wrestling—the lesser-known competition of WWE and AEW—Whiteley finds some of his greatest characters yet. The result is Whiteley's magnum opus on the power of storytelling—and the forces fighting against it, now more than ever.
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Kokomo City
Shot in stunning black and white, Kokomo City follows four Black trans sex workers in Atlanta and New York City. Directed by the Grammy-winning artist D. Smith, Kokomo City is illuminating, heartbreaking, and funny—showing a perspective rarely seen in the genre.
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King Coal
If deep, meditative stories from central Appalachia are your thing, look no further than King Coal. Yet another documentary that earned some buzz out of Sundance, King Coal sees director Elaine McMillion Sheldon "consider what future stories might look like out of the shadow of coal, now that relationships to coal are changing." The film takes the perspective of a young girl learning the tale of her homeland along with the viewer.
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Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is the kind of documentary that will change lives. Still—which tracks Michael J. Fox's legendary Hollywood career, from Back to the Future to his Parkinson's diagnosis and subsequent advocacy—is a triumphant portrait of the actor. Like King Coal, the film may even have legs all the way until the 2024 Academy Awards, considering that a former Oscar-winner, Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth), directed it.
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Little Richard: I Am Everything
Many people consider Elvis Presley to be the King of Rock. But there would be no Elvis without Little Richard, the queer musician whose music impacted rock and roll for generations. Little Richard: I Am Everything follows the superstar's life and legacy with a mix of archival footage and celebrity interviews. It's 98 minutes of pure magic.
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The Eternal Memory
We've seen gut-wrenching, yet critical works of art about Alzheimer's disease—Julianne Moore's performance in Still Alice comes to mind—but nothing rivals The Eternal Memory. In the film, Chilean director Maite Soto tells the story of an elder couple, Augusto and Paulina. Augusto is stricken by the disease—and Soto captures his fight with a remarkable level of humanity.
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Bill Russell: Legend
Sure, the basketball world had its focus on two GOATS this past February: LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as the former chases the latter's all-time points record. But it also saw a huge moment for another icon: Bill Russell. In Netflix's Bill Russell: Legend, the great Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI), who managed to interview the all-timer just before his death in July 2022. The result is just as triumphant as its subject.
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The League
Did I mention the greatness of Sam Pollard? Because the man is having a phenomenal year. Arguably even more striking than Pollard's profile of Bill Russell is The League—his sprawling, yet tender exploration of the Negro leagues, which existed before Black athletes were welcomed into Major League Baseball. In the film, Pollard even uncovers new interviews with legends Satchel Page and Buck O'Neil—which is no small feat.
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Pamela, A Love Story
The year's first true documentary event—and no, it's not Gunther's Millions, as much as I respect the world's richest dog—was Pamela, a love story. The Netflix documentary, which debuted the same day as Anderson's memoir, Love, Pamela, tells the actress's life story, in her words, right down to the tape. The film is full of the humanity and compassion that was missing from tabloid coverage of the star in the '90s and '00s.
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Stan Lee
May I suggest an antidote to your superhero fatigue? Going back to where it all began. This June, Disney+ and Marvel Studios rolled out Stan Lee, the definitive profile of a comic-book great. Lee, of course, is a Mount Rushmore figure in the genre, widely considered the main architect of Marvel Comics—and the incredibly lucrative cinematic universe it would one day inspire.
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Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence
This wouldn't be a proper documentary list without a cult story, would it now? Let me kick this one to Hulu's description: "A group of bright Sarah Lawrence College students fall under the dark influence of a friend’s father, Larry Ray. With unprecedented access to the survivors who lived with Ray, the film follows the cult from its origins through its still-unfolding aftermath." Reader, I'm tired. But the result—thanks to the diligent hand of director Zachary Heinzerling—is undeniably impressive.
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The Deepest Breath
If you've been craving a Free Solo-esque adventure-sports documentary, I have just the watch for you. The Deepest Breath explores the world of competitive deep-sea diving—and all the risks it entails. Above all, though, The Deepest Breath's beautiful cinematography rivals anything I've seen on screen this year, narrative or otherwise.
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Stephen Curry: Underrated
Talk about a misleading title! I don't think anyone has underrated Steph Curry in a good ten years. In all seriousness: Apple TV+'s Ryan Coogler-produced Curry doc—which promises the story of how he evolved into an all-time talent (and human being, really)—received a standing ovation at both its Sundance debut, and from yours truly. (From, you know, my couch.)
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Emergency NYC
Every day, New York City’s first responders rush to help people across all five boroughs. Emergency NYC is a docuseries that provides a glimpse at medical professionals who spend their days serving others while balancing their own personal lives. It’s a high-stakes—and certainly gripping—reflection of one of the most stressful jobs in America. Emergency NYC belongs right next to The First Wave as one of the greatest medical documentaries in recent memory.
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