10 FEEL GOOD DOCUMENTARIES FOR EVERY PERSON IN YOUR LIFE

Your aunt, your neighbor, your boyfriend - they all need a good documentary once in awhile!

Documentaries can transport us and teach us, make us laugh and make us cry. For your quarantine pleasure, here are some of my favorite docs (in no particular order). Sometimes you just need some non fiction.

1. BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY (NETFLIX, 2018)

FOR THE FRIEND WHO DRAGS YOU TO THE ROSE BOWL FLEA TO FIND AN OBSCURE ADDITION TO THEIR WEIRD COLLECTION.

Bathtubs Over Broadway is easily the strangest pick on this list. It follows Steve Young, a TV writer for David Letterman, and his obsession with unearthing the underground world of industrial musicals. What are industrial musicals, you ask? Watch the doc. By the end, I found myself bawling, which isn’t saying much these days, but Steve’s earnestness and the connections he makes are shockingly poignant. If you read my February 2020 newsletter, you know I love an obsessed fan.

2. SOMM (HULU, 2013)

FOR YOUR COUSIN WHO WON'T SHUT UP ABOUT THAT WINE TASTING THEY WENT TO LAST YEAR.

A classic. Not only will this satisfy your craving for competitive entertainment, but you will learn something you didn’t know before with the added bonus of following the most deliciously nerdy men through the hardest test of their lives. It’s wonderful, especially if you like wine.

3. ALL THIS PANIC (AMAZON, 2016)

FOR THE MOTHER OF THAT PRETEEN YOU USED TO BABYSIT.

I found All This Panic completely by chance when I went to a one-off screening of it at a tiny cinema near my house. Jenny Gage’s doc plays like a diary for the group of Brooklyn girls it follows over the course of three years. Don’t let the disquieting title scare you - it’s a beautiful movie as dreamy and meandering as a teenage girl’s imagination. 

4. BEST WORST THING THAT EVER COULD HAVE HAPPENED (NETFLIX, 2016)

FOR YOUR MUSICAL THEATRE FRIEND (I realize there are subgenres of this friend, but this doc will work for all of them, trust me)

Pretty much a standard for musical theater dorks like myself, Best Worst Thing tells the tragic-turned-magic trajectory of the Sondheim/Prince musical Merrily We Roll Along. Lonny Price, an original cast member, relives the experience by traveling back through rehearsal footage and interviews with his fellow castmates, including Jason Alexander and Jim Walton. 

5. MCMILLIONS (HBO, 2020)

FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR WHO IS REALLY INTO COLLECTING THOSE MONOPOLY GAME PIECES FROM VONS.

This is a docu-series that is as riveting and revealing as the other films on this list. McMillions twists and turns through the FBI’s investigation of fraud within the McDonalds Monopoly game in the 90s. The cast of characters and the surprising loops make for a truly compelling experience.

6. MINDING THE GAP (HULU, 2018)

FOR ANYONE WHO LOVES A RICHARD LINKLATER MOMENT.

Minding the Gap is filmmaker Bing Liu’s extremely personal (and Academy Award nominated) feature debut about the lives of him and his skater friends growing up in the Rust Belt. Sometimes frustrating, often heartbreaking, the doc explores how abuse reverberates from generation to generation across lines of class, race and fragile masculinity. Even with the heavy subject matter though, Liu (who edited, directed, produced and shot the film) is able to bring a levity and intimacy that makes you feel hopeful. 

7. SIX BY SONDHEIM (HBO, 2013)

FOR YOUR BOYFRIEND WHO HATES HIS MOM.

Six By Sondheim explores the origins of six of Stephen Sondheim’s major masterpieces while delving into his personal life and writing process. The only doc about a famous person on the list, this perhaps may not be for everyone, but if you love music, great teachers, funny stories, cheesy/amazing footage of people singing, and cocky geniuses - check it out. 

8. SHIRKERS (NETFLIX, 2018)

FOR THAT COOL GIRL YOU MET AT THAT SCREENWRITING SEMINAR.

I don't mean to sound dramatic, but I sort of feel like Shirkers created a hole in my brain while simultaneously filling it. It took me by complete surprise. A stunning film about a young filmmaker from Singapore whose work is held hostage for 20 years by her odd and elusive American teacher. Is there a way we can change "I Stan!" to "I Sandi Tan!"

9. CHEER (NETFLIX, 2020)

FOR YOUR FRIEND WHO SPENT TIME WITH THEIR TEACHER OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL.

I’m a die hard Cheer fan. I Stan, hard. I’ve written about it before, but I’m telling you to watch it again because it’s that transcendent. Join the Navarro College Cheer Squad as they practice to compete in the college national championships in Daytona, Florida.

10. THE FIRST MONDAY IN MAY (HULU, 2016)

FOR YOUR FRIEND WHO IS STILL MOURNING THE POSTPONEMENT OF THE MET GALA AND/OR WORKS IN THE NON PROFIT SECTOR.

Try to imagine the cerulean scene from The Devil Wears Prada made into a documentary and that’s sort of what we got here. The doc follows Andrew Bolton of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute along with Anna Wintour and her Vogue brigade as they work meticulously to bring the Institute’s China: Through The Looking Glass exhibition to life. I worried about how the film (and the exhibition, frankly) would handle such a delicate theme, but the complexity of the subject matter is controlled with care and makes you feel so humbled by the pure artistry of it all. It’s also just so meme-able!