In the 14 years I’ve been producing this blog I’ve never made a Top 10 documentary list. In the past I’ve either felt under-qualified or under-prepared, I never saw enough docs to feel comfortable sharing my opinions. I still wouldn’t call myself anything like an authority, but this year was a little different. At Carbon Arc Cinema we’ve programmed a lot of terrific docs, and I was also on the jury of the Lunenburg Doc Fest — many thanks to those kind folks who run that event for the opportunity to be part of it.
Here’s 10 documentaries that really stood out in 2024, listed alphabetically — I include a link to the original review where they exist on FITI, and also where you can watch it online (when available).
Black Box Diaries The story of Japan’s own #MeToo moment, directed by journalist and sexual assault survivor Shiori Itô as she brings her experience forward — she was assaulted by a man well-established in the Japanese government. With her courage and skill as a filmmaker, she may have changed the culture of her country forever. (coming soon to VOD)
Brats The celebrity documentary doesn’t usually get my vote, but there were a few notable ones this year — this spot was almost taken by the wonderful Will & Harper on Netflix. There’s something about the lasting impact, both negative and positive, of the Brat Pack pop culture phenomenon on the people featured here that speaks to something vulnerable in the gut of everyone who grew up loving those late-’80s pictures (many of which were directed by John Hughes) and the ubiquitous, young stars who populated them. (See also Chasing Chasing Amy for a similar sense of disquiet, a young filmmaker celebrating a now-problematic moment of pop culture history.) (Disney+)
Copa 71 A thrilling piece of sports and feminist history returned to the public consciousness, telling the story of the first World Cup of Soccer, which took place in Mexico City in 1971. It’s one more brick in a tower of evidence that women’s sports are every bit as thrilling as men’s, told by the people who were there. Copa 71 also offers plenty of evidence that men can be threatened by this kind of success and will actively work against it. (not yet available to rent)
Flipside A film that lays out the soul of Generation X. I’ll speak as someone born in the ’70s who lived in the shadow of Boomer myth, we came of age during a recession where our art and music never seemed to quite measure up to what came before. Documentarian Chris Wilcha struggled in the trenches of American culture through the years — he met and collaborated with a lot of talent — but never found a platform for a lot of his work, which remained incomplete, until now. The doc is charming, funny, and elevating. It also shows how critical we often are of ourselves and our own creative voice, maybe more so than we deserve. (VOD)
Four Daughters An Oscar-nominated feature doc that examines the very form of non-fiction storytelling in the story of a Tunisian family where actors are present to perform with members of the family, reenacting moments from their lives — but the elements of reenactment wind up being a lot less important than what is shared between the family and the actors, like a theatre workshop where everyone is open to locating the truth between them. Powerful stuff. (Crave, VOD)
Occupied City Steve McQueen directed two films released this year, this one and the wartime drama, Blitz. They’re both quality pictures, though the documentary delivers on a scale the likes of which I’ve rarely seen. At more than four hours its both a shocking and meditative look back at the legacy of war. The filmmakers only use present-day footage in Amsterdam, no archival imagery at all. It illustrates how progress can hide the past, but the stories are still there in the remaining buildings, the streets, and parks, and in the lives of those who came after. (VOD)
Scala!!! From the late 1970s through to the early 1990s the Scala Cinema in the King’s Cross area of London offered a space for the kind of cultural changes seen elsewhere in the city, in its art, music, fashion, and politics. We meet programmers and audience members, some of whom went on to change Britain in the years following with their own work. A wonderfully specific history that should resonate with any fan of cinema. (on Blu-Ray)
Sugarcane Simply put, this may be the clearest and most powerful telling of the generational trauma residential schools placed on families of indigenous people in Canada and the United States. Devastating and essential. (coming soon to VOD)
To Kill A Tiger A brilliant, harrowing film, produced by The National Film Board of Canada, about a woman in a rural part of India whose father advocated for her when she was assaulted by a group of men in their village. This and Black Box Diaries would make a grim but telling double feature about how right Margaret Atwood was when she wrote The Handmaid’s Tale, the idea that none of what’s depicted in the book is fiction. It all has happened, and sometimes continues to happen, somewhere in the world. (For free on the NFB site.)
Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary So many quality music documentaries this year — I also enjoyed Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All, The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal, and The Greatest Night In Pop — but for sheer perverse pleasure this one took the cake. This is about a wildly popular, wildly uncool music genre identified and mocked 25 years after its heyday, one that even some of its most well-known purveyors are offended by the suggestion they might be part of the scene. A delight. (Crave)
