Documentaries are a good deal more cinematic than some people give them credit for. Because sure, some can be a little dry, presenting interviews, stock footage, narration, and all of it edited together in a distinctively “documentary-like” way. But then there are others that break the mold a little more, so to speak, and end up providing just as much visual spectacle as non-documentary feature films do.
The following documentary movies will hopefully demonstrate this particularly well, as they’re all technically impressive, in one way or another. Whether it’s through groundbreaking cinematography, elaborate special effects, or the use of striking animation, all these documentaries are visually dazzling and worth watching for anyone who might otherwise feel a little burnt out by more standard non-fictional fare.
10
‘Tokyo Olympiad’ (1965)
Directed by Kon Ichikawa
On the surface, Tokyo Olympiad might look like any other sports-centered documentary, and it does pretty much set out to do what you’d expect, based on its title and the year it was released. The 1964 Olympic Games were held in Tokyo, and so this film, released in 1965, aims to document the event, showcasing a wide variety of sports while highlighting the immense scale of the Olympics itself.
But Tokyo Olympiad soars not because of what it depicts, but because of how it depicts it. All these sports people are likely familiar with are captured in interesting, poetic, and almost heightened ways. It’s sport made to look as cinematic and dynamic as possible, and the resulting film is oddly hypnotic and engrossing to watch, entirely regardless of how interesting you might usually find the idea of watching sporting events on screen.
Tokyo Olympiad
- Run Time
-
169 minutes
- Director
-
Kon Ichikawa
- Release Date
-
March 20, 1965
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9
‘Fire of Love’ (2022)
Directed by Sara Dosa
Fire of Love does indeed deal with fire and love, centering on the relationship between Katia and Maurice Krafft, both of whom had their lives revolve around each other and volcanoes. All the archival footage used throughout shows the extreme lengths they went to in exploring and understanding various volcanoes around the world, not to mention all the danger that their passion put them in.
At its core, Fire of Love is equal parts romantic and tragic, and a lot of the impact comes from how effectively put together all the footage is. It helps, too, that the footage itself is already gorgeous, awe-inspiring, and even haunting to look at. Anyone who liked Fire of Love but wanted to see a slightly less sentimental and overall more eerie take on the same story should also check out a compelling Werner Herzog-directed film, which was given the much more mournful title of: The Fire Within: Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft.
Fire of Love
- Release Date
-
January 20, 2022
- Director
-
Sara Dosa
- Runtime
-
93 Minutes
8
‘Flee’ (2021)
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
As a way to mask the identity of its central subject, Flee plays out using animation, telling the dramatic life story of a man named Amin. It’s principally about his experiences fleeing from Afghanistan to Denmark as a young man, all the while coming to terms with his sexuality, at a time and in a place where being openly gay came with a great risk.
It manages to be a realistic look at being a refugee, with the animation doing nothing to blunt the impact of the story, nor overshadow the emotions inherent within it. It’s also quite simple-looking, as far as the animation goes/moves, but it’s striking enough and a relatively distinctive way to present a real-life story; one that potentially couldn’t be told any other way, owing to the subject wanting to keep their full identity hidden.
Flee
- Release Date
-
December 3, 2021
- Director
-
Jonas Poher Rasmussen
- Cast
-
Belal Faiz
, Sadia Faiz
, Milad Eskandari
, Zahra Mehrwarz
, Fardin Mijdzadeh
, Elaha Faiz
, Daniel Karimyar - Runtime
-
90 minutes
7
‘Stop Making Sense’ (1984)
Directed by Jonathan Demme
If you want to get technical, Stop Making Sense is perhaps more of a concert film than it is a documentary, but it does document the band Talking Heads playing live, and at the height of their powers, too. As such, there’s little story here, but there is a sense of progression that’s exciting to see play out, especially early on, as the number of people/props on stage increases, and, with them, the overall scale of the concert itself.
Of course, all the music heard throughout is amazing, and you might not even have to be a particularly huge fan of Talking Heads to get some enjoyment out of the experience. Stop Making Sense is deservedly regarded as one of the most dynamic and cinematic concert films of all time, and it really doesn’t feel like it’s aged all that much, considering it came out over four decades ago.
Stop Making Sense
- Release Date
-
November 16, 1984
- Director
-
Jonathan Demme
- Cast
-
Chris Frantz
, David Byrne
, Jerry Harrison
, Tina Weymouth
, Ednah Holt
, Lynn Mabry
, Steven Scales
, Alex Weir
, Bernie Worrell - Runtime
-
88 minutes
6
‘The Great White Silence’ (1924)
Directed by Herbert G. Ponting
Not to be mixed up with the exceptional (and exceptionally devastating) 1960s Western, The Great Silence, The Great White Silence is instead one of the most mind-blowing documentaries of the silent era. It’s either this or Man with a Movie Camera, which deserves at least an honorable mention for present purposes, as that film does so much of its dazzling with its revolutionary editing style.
But, to stick with The Great White Silence, this one delivers because of the awe-inspiring visuals featured throughout, with the film mostly serving as a document of a group of people traveling to Antarctica. The journey there is depicted, as are the strange and almost alien sights found at the South Pole, with so much of this documentary still retaining a level of power more than 100 years on from release.
The Great White Silence
- Director
-
Herbert G. Ponting
- Cast
-
Robert Falcon Scott
, Herbert G. Ponting
, Henry R. Bowers
, Edgar Evans
, Lawrence E.G. Oates
, Edward Adrian Wilson - Runtime
-
108 minutes
5
‘Moonage Daydream’ (2022)
Directed by Brett Morgen
If any singer deserves an out-there, strange, bold, and entirely unique documentary made about their life, it’s David Bowie. He got just that with Moonage Daydream, which quite blatantly does little to try and unpack just who Bowie was, and how he might’ve been behind all the personas he had over his long career as an artist. It’s a film that seems to admit doing so would be a futile gesture.
As such, Moonage Daydream does something much artsier and overall bolder by celebrating Bowie, what he did, and being a visual representation of how unlike anyone else he really was. Moonage Daydream is, therefore, overwhelming, dizzying, sometimes even contradictory, and something that concludes without easy answers being given, but that’s all by design, and it’s those things that make it oddly mesmerizing.
Moonage Daydream
- Release Date
-
September 16, 2022
- Rating
-
PG-13
- Runtime
-
2 hr 10 min
4
‘Tower’ (2016)
Directed by Keith Maitland
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Tower finds a novel way to depict and explore a horrific event from U.S. history, documenting a mass shooting that occurred back in 1966 at the University of Texas. It’s principally a film that uses rotoscopic animation to dramatize the events of that day, and though this style of animation can take a little time to get used to, it eventually proves engrossing.
What’s being said through interviews in Tower comes straight from people who were there on the day, so it’s entirely authentic and grounded, even if you’re not necessarily looking at real footage. It works a good deal more than dramatizing it in live-action might well have looked, and the animation is also eye-catching in a way that makes Tower even more interesting. Visually striking, and also packed with emotion, it’s a genuinely great documentary; perhaps even one of the most underrated to come out in (relatively) recent memory.
Tower
- Release Date
-
March 13, 2016
- Director
-
Keith Maitland
- Cast
-
Chris Doubek
, Violett Beane
, Blair Jackson
, Louie Arnette
, Josephine McAdam
, Aldo Ordoñez
, Seamus Bolivar-Ochoa
, Monty Muir
, Cole Bee Wilson
, Vicky Illk
, Anthony Martinez
, Rebecca Beegle
, Ron Pippin
, Timothy Lucas
, Karen Davidson
, Jeremy Brown
, Cole Bresnehen
, Tyler Mager
, John Fitch
, Steve Eckelman
, Patrick Floyd
, Kevin Lindsay
, Theo Earl Maitland - Runtime
-
83 minutes
3
‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ (2018)
Directed by Peter Jackson
“Visually spectacular” probably isn’t a term that comes to mind when thinking about ordinary World War I footage. As a conflict that occurred well over 100 years ago now, much of the footage that exists is silent, damaged, and in black and white. Also, due to technical limitations, World War I wasn’t captured as much as future conflicts that played out when filming gear was more accessible (see World War II, and especially The Vietnam War).
But then there’s They Shall Not Grow Old, which shows that Peter Jackson is just as willing to push technological boundaries within the documentary format as he is with his other feature films. This documentary colorizes and upgrades footage from the First World War, all the while also adding sound effects and voices, making the conflict come alive and successfully showing it in a way that makes it feel hauntingly immediate and real. The effects are truly impressive, and the film itself tremendously moving.
- Release Date
-
December 17, 2018
- Runtime
-
99 Minutes
2
‘Waltz with Bashir’ (2008)
Directed by Ari Folman
Standing as one of the greatest documentaries of the last 25 years, and perhaps even one of the best war documentaries of all time, Waltz with Bashir is difficult, bleak, harrowing, and utterly absorbing. It takes a look at a conflict, admittedly, from one side, but does ultimately have an anti-war message, all the while serving as a look at PTSD and the lingering effects of participating in a conflict.
Those who want more facts about the war covered – principally, it’s centered around the 1982 invasion of Lebanon – might be frustrated, but Waltz with Bashir sticks to a personal story and uses the war as a way to explore trauma, memory, and psychology. It’s also almost entirely animated in a way that has to be seen to appreciate; words can’t really do justice to the look, feel, and overall impact of a unique documentary like this.
Waltz with Bashir
- Release Date
-
June 12, 2008
- Director
-
Ari Folman
- Cast
-
Ron Ben-Yishai
, Ronny Dayag
, Ari Folman
, Dror Harazi
, Yehezkel Lazarov
, Mickey Leon - Runtime
-
90 Minutes
1
‘Koyaanisqatsi’ (1982)
Directed by Godfrey Reggio
To call Koyaanisqatsi a documentary and then leave it at that would be doing it a disservice. Sure, it aims to document life on Earth during the latter part of the 20th century, and it’s quite easy to see the entire film as one with a strong environmental message at its core, but it does all that in a dizzying way, all the while not relying on documentary staples like voiceover narration or interviews.
There’s no dialogue at all in Koyaanisqatsi, with it instead relying on jaw-dropping visuals, dynamic editing, and an incredible Philip Glass score to put across its message and simply awe viewers. Because of the experience it offers, Koyaanisqatsi might well be the most technically impressive and mind-expanding documentary film ever made, and everyone owes it to themselves to check it out at least once in their lives.
- Director
-
Godfrey Reggio
- Runtime
-
86 Minutes
- Main Genre
-
Documentary
