Best Documentaries 2022

Critics Consensus: Whether as a story of one couple's quixotic quest or simply a stunning collection of nature footage, Fire of Love burns bright.

Synopsis: Fire of Love tells the story of two French lovers, Katia and Maurice Krafft, who died in a volcanic explosion doing the very thing that... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Miranda July

Directed By: Sara Dosa

Critics Consensus: Descendant serves as a fantastically compelling example of how history can be reclaimed -- and a stirring tribute to a resilient community.

Synopsis: Documentary filmmaker Margaret Brown ("The Order of Myths", "The Great Invisible") returns to her hometown of Mobile, Alabama to document the search for and historic... View Full Synopsis

Directed By: Margaret Brown

Critics Consensus: Frighteningly timely and powerfully persuasive, The Janes offers a unique opportunity to look back at a pivotal chapter in American history through the eyes of those who helped define it.

Synopsis: In the spring of 1972, police raided an apartment on the South Side of Chicago. Seven women were arrested and charged. The accused were part... View Full Synopsis

Directed By: Tia Lessin, Emma Pildes

Critics Consensus: A poetic tribute to tenacity, All That Breathes uses two brothers' tireless efforts to make a broader point about finding triumph within tragedy.

Synopsis: In one of the world's most populated cities, cows, rats, monkeys, frogs, and hogs jostle cheek-by-jowl with people. Here, two brothers fall in love with... View Full Synopsis

Directed By: Shaunak Sen

Critics Consensus: Navalny is a documentary that's as gripping as any thriller -- but the real-life fight against authoritarianism that it details is deadly serious.

Synopsis: Shot as the story unfolded, NAVALNY is a fly-on-the-wall documentary thriller about anti-authoritarian Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Recovering in Berlin after nearly being poisoned... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Alexei Navalny

Directed By: Daniel Roher

Critics Consensus: A moving look at Sinéad O'Connor's remarkable life and career, Nothing Compares is enriching viewing whether or not you're a fan of her work.

Synopsis: NOTHING COMPARES is the story of Sinéad O'Connor's phenomenal rise to worldwide fame and how her iconoclastic personality resulted in her exile from the pop... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Sinéad O'Connor

Directed By: Kathryn Ferguson

Critics Consensus: A fitting tribute to a titan of American music, Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues honors its subject by letting him tell his story in his own words.

Synopsis: "Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues" offers an intimate and revealing look at the world-changing musician, presented through a lens of archival footage and never-before-heard home... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Louis Armstrong

Directed By: Sacha Jenkins

Critics Consensus: Inspirational and unabashedly political, Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down pays passionate tribute to its resilient subject.

Synopsis: Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down tells the extraordinary story of former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords: her relentless fight to recover following an assassination attempt in... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Gabby Giffords, Mark Kelly

Directed By: Julie Cohen, Betsy West

Critics Consensus: Free Chol Soo Lee powerfully relates a story of injustice while issuing a searing indictment of the systemic racism that enabled it.

Synopsis: In 1970s San Francisco, 20-year-old Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee is racially profiled and convicted of a Chinatown gang murder. After spending years fighting to... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Sebastian Yoon, K.W. Lee

Directed By: Julie Ha, Eugene Yi

Critics Consensus: Sr. is an illuminating look at a fascinating filmmaker -- and a poignant tribute to a father from his son.

Synopsis: Robert Downey Jr. pays tribute to his late father in this documentary chronicling the life and eclectic career of pioneering filmmaker Robert Downey Sr.

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Alan Arkin, Norman Lear, Sean Hayes

Directed By: Chris Smith