Best Documentaries 2020 Rotten Tomatoes

Vertov believed the camera – with its varied lenses, shot-counter shot editing, time-lapse, ability to slow motion, stop motion and fast-motion – could render reality more accurately than the human eye, and created a film philosophy from it. Early film (pre-1900) was dominated by the novelty of showing an event. Single-shot moments were captured on film, such as a train entering a station, a boat docking, or factory workers leaving work. These short films were called “actuality” documentary films; the term “documentary” was not coined until 1926. Many of the first films, such as those made by Auguste and Louis Lumière, were a minute or less in length, due to technological limitations.

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This form of documentary release is becoming more popular and accepted as costs and difficulty with finding TV or theatrical release slots increases. It is also commonly used for more “specialist” documentaries, which might not have general interest to a wider TV audience. Examples are military, cultural arts, transport, sports, animals, etc.

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He’s also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot. The documentary drops on Netflix on December 31, with Norman’s Rare Guitars saying it “will be available on other streaming platforms in the coming months”. The trailer reveals just some of the all-star names who will star in the film, with Bonamassa guesting alongside the likes of Boyz II Men’s Shawn Stockman, the late Taylor Hawkins, actors/musicians Kiefer Sutherland, Malcolm McDowell, and former manager Mark Agnesi, who now works at Gibson. An official trailer has been released for the upcoming Norman’s Rare Guitars documentary, which will be streaming on Netflix next week.

Besides the connection to our favorite NFL team, the movie offers other connections to Kansas. Babudar claims to have graduated in 2016 from Kansas State University, although no one in the documentary seems to believe that. Babudar often visits Kansas casinos, making wagers on the Chiefs and, the FBI alleged, laundering the money from his bank robberies. The documentary veers away from a silly sports romp that you might have anticipated when you clicked on something called “Chiefsaholic” with promotional images featuring a football fan costumed as a wolf. Only Babudar’s mother, Carla Baduban, and her other son keep the camera distant — but alluringly so. Through the telephoto lens, Carla seems a tragic and withered woman who lives a nomadic and troubled life.

The first film to take full advantage of this change was Martin Kunert and Eric Manes’ Voices of Iraq, where 150 DV cameras were sent to Iraq during the war and passed out to Iraqis to record themselves. In Britain, a number of different filmmakers came together under John Grierson. Grierson, Alberto Cavalcanti, Harry Watt, Basil Wright, and Humphrey Jennings amongst others succeeded in blending propaganda, information, and education with a more poetic aesthetic approach to documentary.

Nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, the film discusses the economic trap of the prison-industrial complex and illustrates how America’s shameful racial history has by no means ended, but only evolved. Filmed in the late 1980’s Paris is Burning offers us a completely one-of-a-kind glimpse into the world of drag and ballroom culture at a time just before its ‘golden age’ was considered over. Paris is Burning does what all great documentaries of its kind should, which is to teach us about a subculture know little about while also humanizing the people who inhabit it.

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s directorial debut bagged two awards at Sundance earlier this year and has since been dubbed the “best concert film of all time”. It stitches together footage from the forgotten 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, featuring electric performances from Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson and Stevie Wonder. Set against the backdrop of civil unrest in the US, Thompson’s film is a much-needed ode to Black consciousness, artistry and joy in the 1960s. Reflexive documentaries do not see themselves as a transparent window on the world; instead, they draw attention to their own constructedness, and the fact that they are representations. They prompt us to “question the authenticity of documentary in general.” It is the most self-conscious of all the modes, and is highly skeptical of “realism”. It may use Brechtian alienation strategies to jar us, in order to “defamiliarize” what we are seeing and how we are seeing it.

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The Staircase tells a true crime story so gripping the machine had no choice but to make it into a wildly popular drama series of the same name starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette. The 13-part docuseries (yes, 13 episodes. It’s a meaty case!) dives into the mysterious death of Kathleen Peterson and the subsequent murder trial of her husband Michael Peterson. The Emmy and BAFTA-nominated Three Identical Strangers tells of a group of identical triplets who, by chance, discover they are one of three siblings after being separated during childhood. Their stranger-than-fiction story becomes a media sensation, and the brothers make the most of their fortune. But as the truth behind their disparate upbringings comes to light, a wholesome tale of family reunions and happenstance descends into an unsettling account of injustice and exploitation happening behind closed doors.

There’s no reason you can’t queue up a sports doc that’s hilarious or heartbreaking; a historical one that’s inspiring or enraging; or a nature film that might be scary or tenderhearted. When it was announced that Disney+ would be removing some of its output from its streaming service, one of the films people were most incensed about losing was Howard, the story of Howard Ashman, a songwriter responsible for songs in Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. Considered one of the pioneers of the Disney musical renaissance, Ashman lost a battle with AIDs when he was just 40 years old. Disney has since announced that the film will stay on its platform, so go and watch the history of one of the silent figureheads of cinema as we know it.