At the same time, it was a powerful, often funny and touching, tribute to a once-in-a-generation talent. É de vida que fala este filme de morte” (“Life is fundamental. But “The Devil and Daniel Johnston” makes use of and subverts our expectations of the form to create what’s both a heartwreching exploration of the complex relationship between creativity and mental illness, and a searing interrogation of our responsibility as consumers of art, that’s more skillful and powerful than any work of nonfiction I’ve encountered before or since. This is The Zodiac Speaking. Art aficionados and politics buffs will soak up I Am Sun Mu, a documentary on a former North Korean propaganda artist-turned subversive political art star. "Candide was like an extra-terrestrial," says one... David Rockefeller, the oldest remaining member of the famed oil dynasty, passed away in March of 2017 at the age of 101. It’s a story that will make you cry because the guy sounded so average, he could have been anyone and it’s a shame that the circle of death that swirled around him is what made him famous. He’s talented. The best biographical documentary ever made has to be “Amy,” about the life and death of famed music artist Amy Winehouse. I very much enjoyed “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda,” for example, but it is merely one of many films of the past few years that have moved me, a list that includes Raoul Peck’s 2016 “I Am Not Your Negro,” Liz Garbus’ 2015 “What Happened, Miss Simone?,” Sting Björkman’s 2015 “Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words,” and Sarah Polley’s 2012 portrait of her late mother, “Stories We Tell.” That last film has the advantage of pushing genre boundaries, as well, using actors to recreate past events, and only revealing that device (sorry! Whatever your take on Kanye West, you can't deny his enormous imprint on popular culture. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. There are several ways to be notified about new content on TDF. Asif Kapadia’s “Amy” is a game-changing documentary. The restored and color-corrected footage (shot by Hugo Van Lawick in the ’60s and ’70s) is simply gorgeous, and the Philip Glass score that emotes it is powerful. Both documentaries also, as most of Broomfield’s do, contain an autobiographical element on the part of the filmmaker. "Jiro exists to make sushi. I also highly recommend “The Internet’s Own Boy,” which is impressive for how quickly it was made following subject Aaron Swartz’s death. Biography Sort by: J.P. Morgan: How One Man Financed America. In Restless Creature, viewers are privy to the life of prima ballerina Wendy Whelan as she prepares to depart from the New York City Ballet after decades with the company. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post). Similar to his equally masterful documentary “Senna,” he immortalizes the chanteuse not as a specter in her own story, but as a captivating, fully-realized figure gone too soon. Top Documentary Films. "This is the sort of film that begins modestly-seemingly only a piece of curious history-and grows steadily deeper as it moves to its climax, and that climax is a powerful one," writes Dorothy Rabinowitz in The Wall Street Journal. “João Bénard da Costa: Outros Amarão as Coisas que eu Amei” (translates roughly as “João Bénard da Costa: Others Will Love the Things I Have Loved”) is a Portuguese documentary about a great film critic. You will see fascinating shots from the deep seas and up in the air, capturing great stories and pictures from everything our beautiful and interesting planet has to offer. This film features "her words, her music, her voicemails, her home videos, her friends, her family, her tormentors, and her timeless incandescence," writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. He avoids the trappings of a “Behind The Music” documentary, dodging talking-head fatigue and favoring unconventional storytelling. You can imagine my reaction when “Amy” become of my favorite films of 2015. The final line, a frase used by João Bénard da Cost when writing about Kiarostami’s “Taste of Cherry”, encapsulates the whole spirit of this very delicate film: “Fundamental é a vida.