Since its beginning, HBO has cultivated the production of high-quality documentaries and docu-series, and the quality has only improved with time. From true crime, the pursuit of justice, and exposure to HBO, Max, the top cable channel, has created many of the best relevant nonfiction films of the 21st century. Currently, HBO Max subscribers can access all of them, as well as a variety of documentaries and series produced by HBO Max and WarnerMedia’s various companies (e.g., CNN, TNT), which don’t have the prestige of the HBO Documentary Films brand. Below are the top documentaries that HBO Max has to offer today.
A Dangerous Son (2018)
Liz Garbus is one of the most prolific, efficient, and flexible documentary filmmakers in the world currently and has numerous collaborations with HBO among her credentials, including the true crime film “There’s Something Wrong” With Aunt Diane (2011) and the docu-series I’ll Be Gone In the dark (2020) Also streaming via HBO Max. The significant and worrying film The Dangerous Son, which is hard to sit through at times, addresses the urgent problem of children who suffer from mental and emotional disorders that are severe and also profile three families struggling. Offering a different perspective on the growing problem of violence in schools (contrasting with the more frequent use of docs that focus on gun control) Garbus’s emotional, character-driven film is an alarming exposé and is a further achievement in the field of dramatic nonfiction storytelling for the director.
Allen v. Farrow (2021)
It’s not a surprise that this documentary, which examines the tangle of allegations about sexual abuse made against the director Woody Allen, as well as examines the troubling common themes throughout the filmmaker’s collection of films and was immediately controversial. Reopening the wounds of Allen and Mia Farrow’s marriage, one of the most talked about and complicated Hollywood stories, will not be easy with clear solutions. With interviews with key players like Mia Farrow, her son Ronan Farrow and her daughter Dylan Farrow, who accused Allen of sexually assaulting her when she was a child, The docuseries, which Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering directed, was criticized for omitting specifics to simplify the complex background. It is interesting to hear about the harm caused by Allen both during and after his affair and Mia Farrow on her and Dylan specifically, and the way Allen was able to use his fame and popularity to distract attention from the negative press, resulting in a difficult, frustrating but essential viewing.
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Andre the Giant (2018)
Andre The Giant is an amazing character in so many ways. The massive professional wrestler, as well as the star of the film The Princess Bride and playing Bigfoot in an iconic scene on television, showed The Six Million Dollar Man. They were genuinely loved characters throughout his life. He can maintain his popularity through the HBO Sports documentary, which Bill Simmons produced. The fact is that he’s given an impressive portrait; however, the director Jason Hehir is certainly in awe of his subject. He paints a beautiful portrait with only a few flaws to show. The film is about Andre the legend, Andre the legend, Andre the woman of the house, and yes, Andre the flatulent. The film portrays his skills as a champion and tragic human being. Even even if you’re not a wrestler lover, you’ll appreciate Andre, The Giant.
at the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal(2019)
The tragic, harrowing, and heartbreaking tale of the sexual abuse scandal that affected both the USA Gymnastics national team and Michigan State University lasted so long. It affected millions of people that it’s almost impossible to capture the complete extent of the scandal in the form of a feature-length HBO film. Dr. Larry Nassar is formally accused of assaulting more than 250 victims while working as an athletic trainer for teams for women’s nationals and the University of Michigan. Michigan State, though, likely, the actual number won’t be revealed. Filmmaker Erin Lee Carr finds a diverse array of victims willing to tell their stories on film, which helps expose the depths of Nassar’s machinations and his brazenness. The numerous institutional authorities didn’t protect their children, despite warnings and complaints regarding this highly respected trainer’s actions.
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (2013-2018)
It is hosted with its creator, the legendary late food entertainment expert Anthony Bourdain–who, it must be said, was a top chef at New York’s Les Halles before his breakout 2000 book, Kitchen Confidential, which led him to stardom and Parts Unknown stays true to the showman’s magic which probably helped get it precursor “No Reservations,” approved initially. This is a show that focuses on food in the same as It’s a show about food in the same way that The Shining is an action film about hotel management and management, that is to say, it is not very or not at all. Yes, Bourdain eats, but other shows have better food-related content. The CNN show’s real purpose is to tell stories about methods that communities develop by nurturing, educating, and examining their own. Although Anthony Bourdain may not be around, the show and its 12 outstanding seasons are an integral part of his long-lasting legacy and a tribute to the diverse cultures surrounding food.
Baltimore Rising (2017)
Following the death of Freddie Gray, in 2015, after being arrested, Baltimore erupted with protests against police and the insidious inequality that plagues the majority of the United States. It is an HBO original documentary that explores how this has been that has been repeated in towns and cities all over America when an incident of violence committed by police is made public. The response of the police is not enough or prompt and, as a result, exposes the deeper causes of growing inequality and an uninterested ruling class. Each story is unique in its human component, however, one of the sad aspects in Baltimore Rising is that it could occur anyplace across the United States at any moment.
The Bee Gees: How Can you mend a broken Heart (2020)
Frank Marshall’s fascinating and heart-warming documentary revealed the history and the times that comprise one of the most popular family bands that stomp their toes. The film explores the meteoric growth of Maurice, Robin, and Barry Gibb, as well as the parallel and ultimately tragic story of their younger brother Andy. From chart-topping singles and sold-out venues, The Bee Gees How to Mend the Broken Heart is essential viewing for anyone who has had the pleasure of hitting dancing.
Beware of the Slenderman(2016)
In 2014, two 12-year-old girls were convicted as adults for attempted murder after stabbing a fellow student in what they claimed was an effort to establish that there was a strange creature known as Slender Man. Director Irene Taylor-Brodsky’s compelling documentary describes the incident, now referred to by the name of Slender Man stabbing. This tragic incident nearly claimed the life of an innocent girl. The director expertly blends interviews, interrogation videos, and reenactments to address an important moral issue–should children be responsible for adult-related crimes? Make a cautionary tale about the power of the internet to alter our minds.
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Breslin as well Hamill: Deadline Artists (2018)
Documentaries on journalists can be challenging since it’s difficult to make the raging and powerful words that are written and convey the passion and wit of the author. In many cases, directors are forced to enlist performers to read their famous articles in front of grainy images. Fortunately, Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists, the twin portraits of New York columnists Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill, is packed with interviews and archival footage to address the issue and dive into anecdotes and stories that bring back a lost period of journalism that was ink-stained.
The Friedmans (2003)
A decade ago, before Jarecki changed the direction of a criminal investigation through The Jinx, the year-long Robert Durst docuseries The Jinx director Andrew Jarecki dug into the footage of a different family who was facing life-altering charges. When the patriarch of the Friedman family, Arthur, as well as one of their three sons, Jesse, were accused of abusing the students in their online class, the Friedman family decided to record their experiences in the video to document the incident but never planned to show them to the general public. Jarecki’s access is through another brother, David, who went into becoming a well-known clown at parties and was the basis of the second Jarecki project called “Just a Clown–creates a very intimate portrayal of a family that is shattered and unsure of what is true and losing faith in each other, and facing complete destruction. Even though the two of them, Arthur and Jesse, finally admit to their guilt, the ending of this highly influential HBO film can leave you feeling less certain than ever of the events that occurred.
Class Action Park (2020)
In the late 1970s, new and unassuming attraction hit Vernon Township, New Jersey: Action Park, an amusement park with a water slide that attracted thousands of visitors from across the tri-state region. It attracted attention not just due to its go-carts waves or massive innovative water slides but also because of the numerous accidents, lawsuits and even deaths it caused. This fascinating HBO Max documentary from directors Chris Charles Scott and Seth Porges is a balanced look at the comedy and shocking value of the park, with its teens who behave badly and the risky rides, while exploring the underlying shadiness and the underlying story. It’s not an easy one to navigate however, you’ll leave the film with a better appreciation of this bizarre story of drugs, sex, and go-carts.
Cries from Syria(2017)
The Syrian Civil War has wrought many years of destruction, triggered the world’s refugee crisis, and completely destabilized a country that is home to some of the oldest remains of humanity. Director Evgeny Afineevsky stepped into the ground during the conflict to make this documentary, which features videos taken on smartphones by people caught in the middle of the conflict, and interviews with children and other refugees forced to flee by the fighting. As with all the features of Syria’s recent past, it’s an emotional glimpse into a conflict that defines a generation and speaks to the people most deeply affected by it.
David Bowie: The Last Five Years(2017)
The legend and iconoclast who was instrumental in defining a new generation of postwar music did not tell the world during his last years of life that he was suffering from fatal cancer. However, he displayed a laser-like focus in his eerie last release, “Blackstar and the documentary gives an additional dimension to pop culture’s most famous Chameleon.
David Lynch: The Art Life (2016)
The longtime admirers of Director David Lynch know better than to anticipate explanations from the elusive writer. The Art Life features interviews at Lynch’s house, however, in typical Lynch manner, he talks mostly in anecdotes or oblique phrases, making you feel that you don’t have an idea of what is going on with him. However, as with any usual Lynch film, it’s intriguing. While watching Lynch paint or even describe his childhood in a solitary way grabs your attention in fascinating ways.
Diego Maradona (2019)
Kapadia’s Oscar-winning documentaries tend to concentrate on the tragic genius, a subject which is echoed in his study of possibly the greatest soccer player to ever live. His addiction only matched Diego Maradona’s incredible left foot to alcohol, drinking, and eating. It’s a shame that it did not ruin his career completely but contributed to several prominent failures following his playing time. Contrary to the previous subjects of Kapadia’s film–Formula1 driver Ayrton Senna and singer Amy Winehouse–Maradona’s still active and healthy, which is a large reason why the film’s story is limited to the number 10’s winning trophy time at Napoli and the place where he fell into a world of addiction and criminal activity. This limited scope may be detrimental to the film however, it’s the inclusion of unseen (and in some cases recently discovered) footage that makes Maradona an outstanding achievement in documentary filmmaking that’s perfectly within the direction that Kapadia’s filmmaking has taken.
Elvis Presley: The Searcher (2018)
It’s hard to believe that more than 40 years after his death, there’s still room for another film on Elvis–a two-part, three-and-a-half-hour documentary at that. It’s a great overview of the growth of his musical career. Instead of the traditional talking-head method, this documentary uses voiceovers and plays interviews with the interviewees’ voices over lots of footage from the archives of the King. It lets the King remain in the spotlight. Among those whose recollections and commentary make up the biographical oral history are Priscilla Presley, Bruce Springsteen, and Tom Petty, whose recent passing makes for bittersweet inclusion.–Christopher Campbell
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Eliminate All the Brutes (2021)
The sprawling, four-part docuseries by Raoul Peck ( I am not Your Negro) deprograms the centuries-old whitewashed history lessons in American schools by presenting the honest facts about the brutal greed of white people (typically males) who wiped out Native populations and destroyed resources across the globe in their brutal, inhumane efforts to colonize the continents. Recognizing the title and concept in Swedish writer Sven Lindqvist’s novel that is itself a quote from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, This work is a blend of reenactments, in which Josh Hartnett stands in across every episode in the role of the white specter in history as a reflective, narratives that are philosophical, as well as sometimes infuriating archives of the world of pop art that speaks for itself an enormously significant and well informed reframing the whitewashed narrative of the past.
F = Fake (1973)
Orson Welles entertains viewers with an intriguing tale of fakes, fabrications, and frauds, and it’s like an esoteric magic show. Instead of using sleight of hand, The Citizen Kane Director employs editing sleights of hand and offers an unstructured, ambiguous story that involves the art fraudster Elmyr de Hory, hoax writer Clifford Irving, and Welles, his beautiful assistant who serves to distract and of course,, actress Oja Kodar. Additionally, Welles himself is a self-confessed criminal. Like many films on tricks, this film is begging to be watched multiple times.
537 Votes (2020)
The film was released just before the highly-contested Trump presidential race, the documentary by Billy Corben (Screwball) could not be more relevant. It’s sure to be triggering for those who have been snoring during the 2000 presidential election as well as the tense Florida recount however, the insightful documentary will reveal the factors that drove George W. Bush to be elected the state president with a slim margin the president did. It examines both the Elian Gonzalez issue, the impact it had on the way Miami’s Cuban populace voted, and the clever strategies that the Bush administration used to ensure an election victory in Florida, where the candidate’s brother was governor. The piece paints a complete view of the contest.
To All Mankind (1989)
Brian Eno’s bizarre and eerie music soundtracks Al Reinert’s amazing documentary about 1969’s Apollo 11 moon landing that uses only archive footage and narration to explain the space travel experience and landing on a different planet could be similar. For more facts and information, for all, Mankind is about creating an unimaginable exhilarating, exotic feeling.
Little Girls (1997) Little Girls (1997)
Spike Lee’s heartbreaking documentary is a recollection of the events of the day of September 15th, 1963, when Klansmen set off a bomb at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four girls. The film reveals the brutality of the black Americans in the Civil Rights movement, sympathizing with families who endured the most devastating loss and capturing a poignant interview with George Wallace, the governor who was segregationist in Alabama in the wake of the attack, whose atonement for promoting racist ideologies cannot even penetrate his stout shell. Four little Girls will be a work of art that deserves to be seen and appreciated.
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Gimme Shelter (1970)
Suppose you’re unfamiliar with the music history, those of the Rolling Stones, or pop culture in the 1960s. In that case, you might be able to get into the dark to see the Maysles Brothers movie (co-directed by the late Charlotte Zwerin) that is well-known for its tragic plot twist. The documentary chronicles the conclusion of the Stones’ 1969 US tour in Maysles’s signature observational style. It focuses on the Altamont Free Concert. The events that transpired there were shocking to the audience, performers, and everyone else around the world before being used as the plot twist in the film’s cult.
