Best Documentary Movies of 2019 (So Far)

1.

Fyre

5.1

7.3/10

He promised supermodels and yachts, but delivered tents and cheese sandwiches. How one man engineered a music festival disaster.

2.

Apollo 11

5.1

8.3/10

A look at the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon led by commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin.

3.

Game of Thrones: The Last Watch

4.5

7.3/10

Post-finale feature-length documentary about the making-of the hit HBO TV show.

4.

Diego Maradona

4.2

7.7/10

Constructed from over 500 hours of never-before-seen footage, this documentary centers on the career of celebrated football player Diego Maradona who played for SSC Napoli in the 1980s.

5.

Minding the Gap

4.2

8.1/10

Three young men bond together to escape volatile families in their Rust Belt hometown. As they face adult responsibilities, unexpected revelations threaten their decade-long friendship.

6.

Amazing Grace

4.0

7.8/10

The late director Sydney Pollack's behind-the-scenes documentary about the recording of Aretha Franklin's best-selling album Amazing Grace finally sees the light of day more than four decades after the original footage was shot.

7.

Aziz Ansari: Right Now

4.0

7.6/10

In a comedy special directed by Spike Jonze, Aziz Ansari shares deep personal insights and hilarious takes on wokeness, family and the social climate.

8.

Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese

4.0

7.9/10

Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, this film captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the fall of that year.

9.

Last Breath

4.0

7.7/10

A commercial diver is stranded on the seabed with only five minutes of oxygen supply, but with no chance of rescue for more than 30 minutes. With access to amazing archive, this is the true story of one man’s impossible fight for survival.

13.

Meeting Gorbachev

3.8

7.2/10

Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, sits down with filmmaker Werner Herzog to discuss his many achievements. Topics include the talks to reduce nuclear weapons, the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of his country.

14.

Devil's Pie: D'Angelo

3.8

8.0/10

D'Angelo had it all: two platinum selling albums, a sold out world tour and a body chiselled to perfection. However, one day at the height of his career in 2000 the soul singer vanished. For 12 years he descended into darkness. Out of nowhere, in December 2014, his third album Black Messiah was suddenly released: soundtrack of the lost years.

15.

The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley

3.8

7.1/10

With a magical new invention that promised to revolutionize blood testing, Elizabeth Holmes became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, heralded as the next Steve Jobs. Then, overnight, her 10-billion-dollar company dissolved. The rise and fall of Theranos is a window into the psychology of fraud.

16.

ReMastered: Devil at the Crossroads

3.7

7.1/10

Robert Johnson was one of the most influential blues guitarists ever. Even before his early death, fans wondered if he'd made a pact with the Devil.

17.

Knock Down the House

3.7

6.9/10

In 2018, a young bartender in the Bronx, a coal miner’s daughter in West Virginia, a grieving mother in Nevada and a registered nurse in Missouri join a movement of insurgent candidates challenging powerful incumbents in Congress. Without political experience or corporate money, these four women are attempting to do what many consider impossible.

18.

The Great Hack

3.7

7.0/10

Data—arguably the world’s most valuable asset—is being weaponized to wage cultural and political wars. The dark world of data exploitation is uncovered through the unpredictable, personal journeys of players on different sides of the explosive Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data story.

19.

Cold Case Hammarskjöld

3.6

8.2/10

Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (currently Zambia), September 18th, 1961. Swedish Dag Hammarskjöld, UN Secretary-General, mysteriously dies in a plane crash. Decades later, Danish journalist and filmmaker Mads Brügger and Swedish researcher Göran Björkdahl investigate the case looking for a definitive closure.