Popular Documentary Movies on Free Services - Page 39

Bad Axe

2022

Bad Axe

2022
6.2
A real-time portrait of 2020 unfolds as an Asian-American family in Trump’s rural America fights to keep their restaurant and American dream alive in the face of a pandemic, Neo-Nazis, and generational scars from the Cambodian Killing Fields.
Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis

1990

Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis

1990
8
"Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis" is a visually striking film portrait shot on location in Japan with the participation of the major Butoh choreographers and their companies. Although Butoh is often viewed as Japan's equivalent of modern dance, in actuality it has little to do with the rational principles of modernism. Butoh is a theater of improvisation which places the personal experiences of the dancer on center-stage. By reestablishing the ancient Japanese connection of dance, music, and masks, and by recalling the Buddhist death dances of rural Japan, Butoh incorporates much traditional theater. At the same time, it is a movement of resistance against the abandonment of traditional culture to a highly organized consumer-oriented society.
Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys

2024

Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys

2024
3.7
The untold story of the man and the musician who made an immense cultural impact across just a few short years. Having gained exclusive rights to a never-before-seen personal archive shot by his wife alongside access to his closest friends and family, the doc is described by the filmmakers as a culture-defining special that humanizes ODB as a man, a father and a husband like never before. It explores how Russell Tyrone Jones created Ol' Dirty Bastard, a Hip Hop alter ego superhero that would ultimately consume him.
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff

2010

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff

2010
6.6
In 2001 Jack Cardiff (1914-2009) became the first director of photography in the history of the Academy Awards to win an Honorary Oscar. But the first time he clasped the famous statuette in his hand was a half-century earlier when his Technicolor camerawork was awarded for Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus. Beyond John Huston's The African Queen and King Vidor's War and Peace, the films of the British-Hungarian creative duo (The Red Shoes and A Matter of Life and Death too) guaranteed immortality for the renowned cameraman whose career spanned seventy years.
Dolphins

2013

Dolphins

2013
Marine biologists and activists follow the fascinating social and intellectual lives of the ocean's most human-like creatures: dolphins.
The Truth Is in the Stars

2017

The Truth Is in the Stars

2017
7.1
William Shatner sits down with scientists, innovators and celebrities to discuss how the optimism of 'Star Trek' influenced multiple generations.
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus

2023

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus

2023
7.9
"Ars longa, vita brevis" – art is long, life is short. This is one of Japanese music icon Ryuichi Sakamoto's favorite quotes, and the message that he leaves for viewers at the end of his final concert film, shot before he succumbed to cancer in March 2023. Consisting of only Sakamoto and his piano, Opus features the final live performances of 20 songs that Sakamoto meticulously curated to encapsulate his distinguished 40-year career.
CoroNation

2020

CoroNation

2020
6.6
As the first city hit in the global pandemic, Wuhan, with a population of 11 million, was placed under an unprecedented lockdown. The film showcases the incredible speed and power of China’s state machinery in its fight against the virus. On the other side of the scale is the crushing bureaucracy of that same machine.
Prince - The Glory Years

2008

Prince - The Glory Years

2008
8.5
A documentary film that reviews and recaptures this golden decade and, with the aid of his friends, colleagues, fellow musicians and other notable contributors, helps discover why Prince Rogers Nelson simply stole the 80s as far as music was concerned. Includes classic Prince performances reassessed by a team of esteemed experts, with live and studio footage, brand new interviews with Prince's closest confidantes, and rare photographs.
Fame High

2012

Fame High

2012
6.6
Everyone dreams of fame. From the nail-biting freshman auditions to the spectacular year-end performances, Fame High captures the in-class and at-home drama, competition, heartbreak, and triumph during one school year at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, also known as Fame High.
Chasing Perfect

2019

Chasing Perfect

2019
7
One of the most inventive minds in auto design is explored in this documentary about Frank Stephenson, a legend in the high-performance car world.
The Found Footage Phenomenon

2021

The Found Footage Phenomenon

2021
5.8
The documentary tracks the origins of the found footage technique and how it transformed with technological changes throughout the last few decades.
The Stones and Brian Jones

2024

The Stones and Brian Jones

2024
7.1
A look at the relationships and rivalries within The Rolling Stones in their formative years, as well as the creative musical genius of Brian Jones, key to the success of the band.
Frida Kahlo

1982

Frida Kahlo

1982
1
Frida Kahlo: declared a symbol of Mexican national heritage, made into a cult figure by the women's movement, praised by the likes of Picasso and Breton, this film uses images and music to reveal the soul of an icon.
With God On Our Side

2010

With God On Our Side

2010
7.7
With God On Our Side takes a look at the theology of Christian Zionism, which teaches that because the Jews are God's chosen people, they have a divine right to the land of Israel. Aspects of this belief system lead some Christians in the West to give uncritical support to Israeli government policies, even those that privilege Jews at the expense of Palestinians, leading to great suffering among Muslim and Christian Palestinians alike and threatening Israel's security as a whole. This film demonstrates that there is a biblical alternative for Christians who want to love and support the people of Israel, a theology that doesn't favor one people group over another but instead promotes peace and reconciliation for both Jews and Palestinians.
Keep On Keepin' On

2014

Keep On Keepin' On

2014
7.1
Eighty-nine year old trumpeting legend Clark Terry has mentored jazz wonders like Miles Davis and Quincy Jones, but Terry’s most unlikely friendship is with Justin Kauflin, a 23-year-old blind piano player with uncanny talent, but debilitating nerves. As Justin prepares for the most pivotal moment in his budding career, Terry’s ailing health threatens to end his own.
Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles

1999

Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles

1999
1
One of the most enigmatic artists of the 20th century, writer, composer and wanderer Paul Bowles (1910-1999) is profiled by a filmmaker who has been obsessed with his genius since age nineteen. Set against the dramatic landscape of North Africa, the mystery of Bowles (famed author of The Sheltering Sky) begins to unravel in Jennifer Baichwal's poetic and moving Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles. Rare, candid interviews with the reclusive Bowles--at home in Tangier, as well as in New York during an extraordinary final reunion with Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs--are intercut with conflicting views of his supporters and detractors. At the time in his mid-eighties, Bowles speaks with unprecedented candor about his work, his controversial private life and his relationships with Gertrude Stein, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, the Beats, and his wife and fellow author Jane Bowles.
The Thousand Year Journey

2015

The Thousand Year Journey

2015
Routine is the enemy of time. Jedidiah Jenkins rides his bicycle from Oregon to Patagonia, the southern tip of South America, while expounding upon ideas that made him leave a job he loved for the open road.
Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton

2017

Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton

2017
6.4
This is the remarkable story of an American icon who changed the sport of big wave surfing forever. Transcending the surf genre, this in-depth portrait of a hard-charging athlete explores the fear, courage and ambition that push a man to greatness—and the cost that comes with it.
The Conquest of the Air

1931

The Conquest of the Air

1931
4.2
This early docudrama uses dramatic reenactment, working models of early flying machines, and archival footage to trace man's attempts to fly from ancient times through the 1930s.