The Best Documentaries of 2025 (So Far)

There's a reason why film critic Max Cea listed Life After in his running Best Movies of the Year list for Esquire. In the film, documentarian Reid Davenport revisits the complicated and influential case of Elizabeth Bouvia, who was massively influential in the right-to-die movement. "Now, 40-plus years after Bouvia's case, care for people like Bouvia has barely improved," Cea writes, "and Davenport makes a strong case that the right to die is being used to encourage society's most expensive citizens to end things."

There's no other way to put it: Billy Joel: And So It Goes is the ultimate portrait of the Piano Man. In the two-part docuseries, codirectors Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin track the Grammy-winning artist from childhood to early fame and the struggles that followed. It'll take you about five hours to complete—and that's a good thing. It's well worth your time.

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Pavements also received the documentary treatment this year? You might've missed it somewhere between the Led Zeppelin and Sly Stone docs, but yes—and it's just as essential. Taking on the '90s indie rockers, filmmaker Alex Ross Perry uses just about every tool at his disposal, and it gets weird. As in: faux-biopic weird. But we have a feeling that the band wouldn't have it any other way.

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At least once (or, let's be honest, several) times per year, HBO drops a documentary that pierces you right in the heart. And, yes ... Pee-Wee as Himself did absolutely that. A few years ago, Paul Reubens—the comedian/actor behind the legendary children's program Pee-Wee's Playhouse—was finally ready to open about his long, impactful, and sometimes controversial career. For Pee-Wee as Himself, filmmaker Matt Wolf spent over 40 hours with Reubens, who died in July 2023. The result is a master class in maintaining both empathy and journalistic integrity in documentary filmmaking.

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Season 2 of Netflix's America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders has made just about every best-of list at Esquire that it qualifies for. It's for good reason—sports documentarian Greg Whiteley (Last Chance U, Cheer) continues to tell America's most important sports stories. This time? He shows how some of our most important female athletes are still underpaid. Thankfully, Whiteley's work—as well as that of the entire Cowboys cheerleading squad—paid off.

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One to One: John & Yoko focuses primarily on John Lennon's life from 1971 to 1973, when he and Yoko Ono moved to New York City. Lennon performed his only solo show during this time, which was fraught with radical politics and one of his strangest records, Some Time in New York City. As Alan Light wrote in Esquire's review, the documentary is "a chance to reassess, yet again, one of the most consequential and confounding artists, in any medium, of the 20th century."

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Following his Best Documentary Oscar win in 2022, the Summer of Soul director and Roots drummer returns with a deep look into Sly and the Family Stone. Sly Lives! examines an artist who sought to bridge the divide with a mix of Black and white musicians with hits such as "Everyday People" and "Dance to the Music." The documentary also features testimonials from André 3000, Clive Davis, Nile Rodgers, Chaka Khan, and more.

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Netflix releases a mountain of documentaries every year, but there's only so much true crime I can handle. Don't Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever is another story entirely. The film follows multimillionaire Bryan Johnson, who has spent the past few years attempting to reverse aging. While Fyre director Chris Smith likely saw another controversial grifter in Johnson, Don't Die is also a fascinating portrait of someone who truly believes that they can use their wealth to achieve immortality.

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Speaking of Netflix documentaries, I can't recommended Pangolin any more highly. Directed by the team behind My Octopus Teacher, Pangolin follows one of the most endangered mammals on the planet as they're rescued by a kindhearted stranger and reared to rehabilitate safely in the wild.

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While Saturday Night sought to dramatize the story of the show's first night on air, SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night features the behind-the-scenes stories told by the comedians themselves. Among all of SNL's concerts and live celebrations, the documentary was easy to miss. Luckily, the four-part series dives deeper into some of the late-night variety show's best sketches.

Watch on Peacock

In Brittany Shyne's directorial debut, Seeds and its look into the lives of Black farmers in the South won the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. The film highlights the struggle of Black farmers as they fight for better working conditions, especially as the government continues to neglect the workers who produce America's crops. Seeds is a meditative and wholesome film. It's also the strongest contender yet in the way-too-early Oscar race.

The wonderfully bizarre comedy of Andy Kaufman is explored in Thank You Very Much, a new documentary produced by the Safdie brothers. The comedian is often viewed as one of the creators of cringe comedy, and his life is celebrated with testimonials from Steve Martin, Lorne Michaels, the late Robin Williams, and more.

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Produced in cooperation with the band itself, Becoming Led Zeppelin follows the creation of one of the most celebrated rock outfits in history. It's the first time ever that surviving members Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Robert Plant agreed to feature themselves in a documentary including testimonials, archived audio interviews, and full performances from some of their earliest shows.

Watch on Apple TV+