Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 44

Beautiful Darling

2010

Beautiful Darling

2010
5.7
James Rasin's documentary “Beautiful Darling” honors American Transgender actress and best-known Warhol Superstar, Candy Darling, and her all-too-brief life and career, with a combination of current and vintage interview material, rarely seen archival photos and footage, and extracts from Darling's movies.
Bound by Flesh

2012

Bound by Flesh

2012
5.9
Conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton were once the cream of the sideshow crop. Taught to sing and dance at an early age, the winsome duo ascended through the early 20th-century vaudeville circuit as a side attraction (working alongside Bob Hope and Charlie Chaplin as well as a memorable turn in the Tod Browning classic "Freaks") before a cascade of unscrupulous management and harsh mistreatment brought their careers (and lives) tumbling down. This engrossing glimpse into a bygone era is filled with fascinating interviews and rare archival footage.
Burt's Buzz

2014

Burt's Buzz

2014
6.6
BURT'S BUZZ is an in-depth and personal look at the life of Burt Shavitz, known to millions around the world as the "Burt" of the Burt’s Bees natural product brand. The documentary explores what it means to be marketed as an icon, and how that life differs from the one of the man behind the logo.
Web Junkie

2014

Web Junkie

2014
6.6
China is the first country in the world to classify Internet addiction as a clinical disorder. Caught in the Net features a Beijing treatment center where Chinese teenagers are being "deprogrammed," and follows the story of three boys from the day they arrive at the center, to their three-month treatment period, and their long awaited return home. The film provides a microcosm of modern Chinese life and investigates one of the symptoms of the Internet age. It examines inter-generational pressures and the disregard of the human rights of minors who get caught in the net.
The Cockettes

2002

The Cockettes

2002
6.5
Documentary about the gender-bending San Francisco performance group who became a pop culture phenomenon in the early 1970s.
War Comes to America

1945

War Comes to America

1945
7
The seventh and final film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight World War II propaganda film series. This entry attempts to describe the factors leading up to America's entry into the Second World War.
Why We Fight: Divide and Conquer

1943

Why We Fight: Divide and Conquer

1943
6.8
The third film of Frank Capra's 'Why We Fight" propaganda film series, dealing with the Nazi conquest of Western Europe in 1940.
After Tiller

2013

After Tiller

2013
6.5
Since the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas in 2009, only four doctors in the United States continue to perform third-trimester abortions. These physicians, all colleagues of Dr. Tiller, sacrifice their safety and personal lives in the name of their fierce, unwavering conviction to help women.
Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon

2008

Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon

2008
5.3
The outrageous story of 1970s porn icon Jack Wrangler, and how he rose to the top of the gay, and then straight, adult film industry.
Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer

1975

Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer

1975
7.2
Thom Andersen's hour-long documentary adroitly combines biography, history, film theory, and philosophical reflection. Muybridge's photographic studies of animal locomotion in the 1870s were a major forerunner of movies; even more interesting are his subsequent studies of diverse people, photographed against neutral backgrounds.
Primate

1974

Primate

1974
6.8
Primate sees realist documentarian Frederick Wiseman hone his lens on the inmates of the Yerkes Primate Research Centre. A representative scientist explains the aims and outcomes of the organisation, describing the mating habits and relationships of the animals.
Arakimentari

2004

Arakimentari

2004
6
A look at the life and work of Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki and his impact on Japanese culture.
In the Mirror of Maya Deren

2002

In the Mirror of Maya Deren

2002
7.4
Documentary about the life of avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren, who led the independent film movement of the 1940s.
Great Directors

2009

Great Directors

2009
6.1
Features conversations with ten of the world's greatest living directors: Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Agnes Varda, Ken Loach, Todd Haynes, Catherine Breillat, Richard Linklater and John Sayles. The film documents Ismailos' voyage of discovering the creative personalities behind the camera.
Billy Wilder Speaks

2006

Billy Wilder Speaks

2006
6.9
In 1988, German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff sat down with legendary director Billy Wilder (1906-2002) at his office in Beverly Hills, California, and turned on his camera for a series of filmed interviews. (A recut of the 1992 TV miniseries Billy, How Did You Do It?)
Brooklyn Bridge

1981

Brooklyn Bridge

1981
7.6
Today it's a symbol of strength and vitality. 135 years ago, it was a source of controversy. This documentary examines the great problems and ingenious solutions that marked the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. From conception to construction, it traces the bridge's transformation from a spectacular feat of heroic engineering to an honored symbol in American culture.
Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood

2007

Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood

2007
7.4
Consuming Kids throws desperately needed light on the practices of a relentless multi-billion dollar marketing machine that now sells kids and their parents everything from junk food and violent video games to bogus educational products and the family car. Drawing on the insights of health care professionals, children's advocates, and industry insiders, the film focuses on the explosive growth of child marketing in the wake of deregulation, showing how youth marketers have used the latest advances in psychology, anthropology, and neuroscience to transform American children into one of the most powerful and profitable consumer demographics in the world. Consuming Kids pushes back against the wholesale commercialization of childhood, raising urgent questions about the ethics of children's marketing and its impact on the health and well-being of kids.
Prom Night in Mississippi

2009

Prom Night in Mississippi

2009
6.6
A high school in a small-town in Mississippi prepares for its first integrated senior prom.
!W.A.R.: !Women Art Revolution

2010

!W.A.R.: !Women Art Revolution

2010
4.3
Through intimate interviews, provocative art, and rare, historical film and video footage, this feature documentary reveals how art addressing political consequences of discrimination and violence, the Feminist Art Revolution radically transformed the art and culture of our times.
New York Doll

2005

New York Doll

2005
6.8
A recovering alcoholic and recently converted Mormon, Arthur "Killer" Kane, of the rock band The New York Dolls, is given a chance at reuniting with his band after 30 years.