Although docuseries seem to be the new push in the way true stories are told, it’s hard to beat a great documentary. The best documentaries make you wish they were series, but that is part of their magic. They know when to get out so as not to bore you with all their information, a curse that some docuseries have fallen into; not every true story needs eight hours to be told.

Updated December 25th, 2022: To keep this article fresh and relevant by adding more information and entries, this article has been updated at the end of 2022 to ensure that we cover the very best documentaries of the year.

Documentaries have been no exception to the fantastic content coming out this year, with Netflix in particular leading the pack as one of the best streaming services for documentary content, with HBO a very close second. There have been numerous great documentary films released this year (Good Night Oppy, Descendant, Eternal Spring, Dreaming Walls, Free Chol Soo Lee, and Marx Can Wait are all great in particular, but didn’t quite make the cut). You can scroll down or click through the list to see the top documentaries of 2022, in descending order.

  • Elizabeth: A Portrait in Parts
  • Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts
  • Return to Space
  • Jennifer Lopez: Halftime
  • Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known
  • Moonage Daydream
  • The Tinder Swindler
  • Our Father
  • The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes
  • Lynch/Oz
  • Say Hey, Willie Mays!
  • Bitterbrush
  • Downfall: The Case Against Boeing
  • Girl in the Picture
  • Riotsville, USA
  • Three Minutes — A Lengthening
  • Navalny
  • Fire of Love
  • All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
  • The Janes
  • Wildcat
  • All That Breathes

22 Elizabeth: A Portrait in Parts

     Signature Entertainment

Elizabeth: A Portrait in Parts documents the late longest-reigning British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned for 70 years. Director Roger Michell puts together a beautiful display of the Queen’s historical achievements while also giving a rare look into her personal life. The documentary is pieced together with archival footage and scenes from great scripted content like The Crown and Elizabeth. Elizabeth: A Portrait in Parts is now available on Showtime.

21 Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts

     HBO Documentary Films

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts beautifully reunites the cast of the Harry Potter film series, including stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. The documentary marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the first film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001). The cast is wonderful as they reminisce about the 10 years they spent filming plus the impact the franchise has had on fans. Fans of the Harry Potter franchise loved the documentary, which received positive reviews. Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is streaming on HBO Max.

20 Return to Space

     Netflix

The Netflix documentary Return to Space brings us inside the revolutionary SpaceX mission as they send NASA astronauts back to the International Space Station. The documentary follows SpaceX from one of its first vehicles, the Falcon 1, to the 2020 launch of astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on the Crew Dragon Demo-2.

The film, directed by Oscar winners Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhely of Free Solo and The Rescuei, is an interesting look inside Musk’s process of building a re-usable spacecraft. In retrospect, after the disaster that is Musk’s Twitter takeover, the film seems a bit like propaganda, but in The Triumph of the Will kind of way — cinematically great and perfectly executed.

19 Jennifer Lopez: Halftime

The Netflix documentary Jennifer Lopez: Halftime follows the career of Jennifer Lopez with a focus on the year leading up to her 2020 Super Bowl halftime show. The documentary, directed by Amanda Micheli, captures Lopez’s dedication to her craft and documents the hardships she has faced throughout her life and career. Jennifer Lopez: Halftime includes interviews with Lopez and people that know her best, giving a personal look into the superstar.

Back to Top

18 Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known

Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known is an emotional reunion of the original cast and creative team of the Tony-winning Broadway show, Spring Awakening. Director Michael John Warren filmed the original company’s 15-year 2021 reunion concert to benefit The Actor’s Fund and their rehearsals while mixing in interviews from the cast, which includes stars Jonathan Groff and Lea Michelle. The HBO film offers a wonderful look at the groundbreaking play that continues to enthrall fans to this day.

17 Moonage Daydream

     Universal Pictures 

Brett Morgen’s Moonage Daydream shows us David Bowie as we’ve never seen him before. As opposed to a more traditional bio-documentary, Morgen’s work relies less on fact and more on atmosphere to create a hallucinatory, yet deeply authentic portrait of the musical icon. Instead of interviews with those who knew Bowie, Morgen’s documentary relies on a prolific usage of archival footage, as well as newfound usages of Bowie’s music. Morgen clearly didn’t just want us to learn about Bowie, but to feel what it was like to know him.

16 The Tinder Swindler

The Tinder Swindler follows the story of the Israeli conman Simon Leviev and how he used the dating app Tinder to swindle women out of thousands of dollars. Director Felicity Morris interviews the women who Leviev emotionally manipulated to support his lavish lifestyle as they describe his wild tactics and how they got their revenge in the extremely popular Netflix documentary.

15 Our Father

Netflix’s Our Father tells the haunting story of Donald Cline, a former Indianapolis-based fertility doctor who used his own sperm to impregnate his unsuspecting patients. The documentary follows the children of Cline as they discover the truth about what happened to their mothers and unite with each other to take him down. Our Father, directed by Lucie Jourdan, is a compelling and upsetting tale that stays with you long after the film’s close.

14 The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes

The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes follows Anthony Summers, author of Goddess (1985), as he discusses his research on the untimely death of cultural icon Marilyn Monroe. Director Emma Cooper uses archival footage and interviews from people that knew her using the 650 tape-recorded interviews Summers gathered during his three years of research. The Netflix documentary is an interesting look into the star’s “suicide” that has been a source of conspiracy for years. Back to Top

13 Lynch/Oz

     Exhibit A Pictures

A treat for cinephiles, Lynch/Oz goes down the rabbit hole of fandom, theories, and all things David Lynch. It’s a fitting addition to the fascinating oeuvre of Alexandre O. Philippe, whose films obsess over other films and use the medium to explore obsession and art in general (The People Vs. George Lucas, 78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene, Memory: The Origins of Alien, Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist, and more). Featuring analysis and interviews, plus an aesthetic vibe akin to Lynch’s style, Lynch/Oz is a delightful gift to the world of documentaries.

12 Say Hey, Willie Mays!

     HBO Films

Say Hey, Willie Mays! is a must-see for any fan of baseball, new or old. The HBO film follows the legendary lifestyle, both on and off the field, of this Giants giant, whose talent is often compared to that of Babe Ruth. Despite being ninety years of age while filming, viewers are able to hear vivid, articulate stories from Mays himself. The film also captures the unique historical background that Mays was a part of, being both a product of the American Dream and playing during the peak of the Civil Rights movement.

11 Bitterbrush

     Magnolia Pictures

A visually stunning, practically meditative documentary, Bitterbrush is Emelie Mahdavian’s poetic study of two female range riders during a season with their cattle. Bitterbrush not only chronicles the daily and weekly rhythms of two women and the animals, but also the cycles of seasons and the natural order. Without any traditional expositional tools like voiceovers or on-screen text, Bitterbrush gorgeously depicts hard work, friendship, and the absolute majesty of the nature that dwarfs us all.

10 Downfall: The Case Against Boeing

Downfall: The Case Against Boeing is a scathing view of Boeing’s attempt to capitalize on the aircraft market and the manufacturing of their aircraft, specifically the Boeing 737 Max which was involved in the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. The documentary looks at the events leading up to the crashes, which killed a combined 346 people, and Boeing’s greed while disregarding safety.

Director Rory Kennedy uses archival footage and interviews with former employees, victims’ families, and pilots including Captain Sully Sullenberger, creating both an emotional and informative film. Downfall: The Case Against Boeing is available on Netflix.

9 Girl in the Picture

Netflix’s Girl in the Picture tells the sad story of Suzanne Sevakis and the horrors she endured at the hands of her abductor, Franklin Delano Floyd. The documentary, directed by Skye Borgman, follows the two decades Sevakis was held captive by Floyd and her suspicious death in 1990. Girl in the Picture locks you in from the minute it starts with its twisted and tragic tale. Back to Top

8 Riotsville, USA

     Magnolia Pictures 

Sierra Pettengill’s film Riotsville, USA utilizes archival footage exclusively to shine a light on a little-known government project in the United States. The film follows the creation and activities of actual towns that were built in the late ’60s in order to train the police and military on how to respond to protests and civil rights movements. Slyly commenting on modern-day protest movements and police reform, Riotsville, USA takes a powerful look at what that ‘reform’ actually turns out to be most of the time.

7 Three Minutes — A Lengthening

     Super LTD

Bianca Stigter’s film Three Minutes — A Lengthening is a fascinating and heartbreaking testament to the power of photography and film, but also a study in human evil. The magnificently edited film examines the only existing media of a Jewish town in Poland after the Nazis destroyed it, expanding upon the three minutes of archival footage from 1938 and drawing from interviews conducted with seven survivors. It’s truly haunting to see a whole community come back to life through film, while viewers watch on with the knowledge of what will happen next.

6 Navalny

     Warner Bros.

Russian political dissident Alexei Navalny opens the documentary by stating, “I’m making a movie in the case of my death.” Navalny remains that tense throughout as it explores his vocal opposition to Vladimir Putin and the assassination attempt on Navalny’s life. Closer to a classic conspiracy thriller from the ’70s than the usual character study documentary, Navalny is a suspenseful and encouraging watch, inspiring others to be courageous enough to speak truth to power.

5 Fire of Love

     Neon

Fire of Love tells the story of two brave volcano explorers, Katia and Maurice Krafft, who died during the 1991 Mount Unzen eruption. The film was written, directed, and produced by Sara Dosa and is narrated by indie star Miranda July. Distributed by National Geographic, the film was a hit at festivals like Sundance and South by Southwest, with critics praising its incredible artistry as well as astonishing imagery and archival footage. Like its subject matter, the story of the Kraffts is as heartbreaking as it is deeply invigorating. Fire of Love is streaming now on Disney Plus. Back to Top

4 All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Laura Poitras is simply one of the best documentary filmmakers working today; just between Citizenfour, Risk, and My Country, My Country, she has directed some of the best documentaries of the past two decades. Her new film is a bit different, though, but no less magnificent, and might be the most compassionate, emotionally stirring film of hers yet.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, which won the highest prize at the prestigious Venice Film Festival, is about a political figure like some of her other work, but Nan Goldin is nowhere near as recognizable as, say, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. Goldin is a famous photographer and political activist, especially during the AIDS era, but Poitras focuses most on her fight against the Sackler family, the ones behind Purdue Pharma. Goldin narrates the film and Poitras poignantly documents her righteous battle.

3 The Janes

HBO’s film The Janes tells the story of the brave women who built the clandestine network Jane, which helped women find safe and affordable abortions in Chicago through the years 1968-1973. Directors Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes interview the women and men that were involved in the network and follows it through Jane’s inception to the arrest of some of their top members. The stories are harrowing and the women who led the network are absolutely fascinating to listen to. The true stories have been dramatized in the recent film Call Jane, starring Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, Wunmi Mosaku, and Kate Mara.