Top 10 Film Documentaries/Docuseries of 2020
Because of F'n COVID-19, there is no chance I could have produced a credible Top 10 films list in 2020. I just didn't see enough. Moviegoing in 2020 was both a problem of quantity (because theaters were shut down, studios pushed most of their slates into 2021 or later) and access (a lot of 2020's quality films were limited to film journos and industry folks).
Fortunately, there was no shortage of excellent film documentaries and docuseries released on the various streaming platforms this year. And I watched a ton of them. So in lieu of my annual Top 10 films list, I'm going to offer up my Top 10 film documentaries/docuseries of 2020.
Bastards’ Road
Bastards’ Road was very eye-opening to just how bad
the epidemic of PTSD and suicide is among combat veterans, especially those who
have fought in recent wars. The film portrays a sense of hope in veterans
creating their own network, breaking down the stigma of struggling with PTSD
and reaching out to one another. - Ali Shimkus (Slug
Mag)
Class Action Park
The movie's just pure fun; a cock-eyed Valentine to a place
so outrageous that death or dismemberment was an actual acceptable risk — but
so was the chance to live, as one former security guard fondly recalls, in “an
‘80s movie that was real life. And it will never happen again.” - Leah
Greenblatt (EW)
Disclosure
Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children
What the series does brilliantly is showing various vantage points—giving the viewer enough information to decide what side they're on. There are graphic photos of murdered Black children, so that is something to watch out for if death or crime scenes make you uneasy. There is no salaciousness, or lopsided storytelling as what we see speaks for itself. The inefficiency of the judicial system is on display to such an embarrassing degree that it's no wonder people were and still are angry with the slow and lazy response from the law. – Valerie Complex (Collider)
Bedlam
Eloquently combining intimate personal viewpoints, including the filmmaker's own, with an incisive historical perspective, Kenneth Paul Rosenberg's Bedlam is a haunting and trenchant look at failed public policy. The potent film traces what one expert calls a "150-year-old disaster": how little true progress American society has made when it comes to treating people with severe mental illness. Once warehoused in nightmarish institutions, over the past decades they've been relegated instead to hospital emergency rooms, prisons and the streets. - Sheri Linden (Hollywood Reporter)
All In: The Fight for Democracy
…offers an accessible primer on the history of voter
suppression in the United States. Anyone with a passing knowledge of voting
rights won’t find much new information in the film, but it’s a rousing and well-crafted
piece of educational media that takes aim at what research has found to be its
most crucial audience: Young voters. – Jude Dry (IndieWire)
The Social Dilemma
The first film you’ll watch and immediately want to toss
your smartphone into the garbage can. And then toss the garbage can through the
window of a Facebook executive. It’s an eye-opening look into the way social
media is designed to create addiction and manipulate our behavior, told by some
of the very people who supervised the systems at places like Facebook, Google
and Twitter. – Mark Kennedy (AP)
Trial by Media
…constitutes good, solid recappery in the realm of true
crime and 50 shades of quality in the world of press coverage of high-profile
legal sweepstakes. The series title suggests a hit job on the media, which it
isn’t. Nor is it in the bag for the media, despite the ardent First Amendment
cred of executive producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov (“Good Night and
Good Luck”). It’s rightly troubled by just about everything: the press, the
judicial and legal system, trash TV, laws that would outlaw trash TV, all of
it. – Michael Phillips (Chicago
Tribune)
Mae West: Dirty Blonde
This is a fascinating character study of a strong, powerful woman with singular attitudes. (Little wonder that brash Bette Midler, one of contemporary society's most outspoken superstars, is an executive producer.) Though now mostly an object of camp and drag parody among those who still remember her, West gets the last bawdy laugh in this admiring special. - Matt Roush (TV Insider)
Welcome to Chechnya
Advocacy meets suspense in “Welcome to Chechnya,” a chilling
examination of both the brutality that the Chechen LGBT community is forced to
face on a daily basis and the difficulty of leaving the country for peace and
safety. - Alonso Duralde (The
Wrap)
Leftover Women
In China, the term "leftover women" is like
"old maid," only more insulting, and definitely full of blame. The
harsh title of this documentary says a lot about the issue it tackles: the
governmental, social and internal pressure to marry that is put on young women
in China today, where any unmarried woman 27 or older might be labeled
"leftover." – Caryn James (Hollywood
Reporter)
Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado
Documentarians Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch let
Mercado tell his own story through extensive interviews conducted in his own
home, as well as discussions with people who loved him (including performers
like Eugenio Derbez and Lin-Manuel Miranda). The film is a fond farewell to
Mercado and a celebration of his life, and enlightening both for Mercado
newbies and those who grew up at his proverbial knee. – Alissa Wilkinson (Vox)
McMillion$
Very well known: The McDonald’s Monopoly game. Less well
known: The fact that there were almost no legitimate major prize winners during
the game’s run in the 1990s. In their fascinating six-part HBO documentary
series McMillions (styled McMillion$), writers and directors James Lee
Hernandez and Brian Lazarte present a $24 million dollar crime that
tangentially affected every one of us who purchased a cup or fry box with a
Monopoly playing piece on it from 1989-2001. What starts as an anonymous tip to
the sleepy Jacksonville FBI office turns into a twisty tale of greed and fraud
that ultimately includes an undercover operation in Vegas. The best part of
that last bit, in fact, is a shot of a white board in the reenactment that
reads: “Vegas!! RUSE.” – Allison Keene (Paste)
===================================
Top 10 Documentaries/Docuseries of 2020
Honorable mentions:
Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado
Mae West: Dirty Blonde
Leftover Women
10. Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children
9. Trial by Media
8. Bastards’ Road
7. All In: The Fight for Democracy
6. Class Action Park
5. McMillion$
4. The Social Dilemma
3. Disclosure
2. Bedlam
1. Welcome to Chechnya
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