The Best Documentaries of 2025 (So Far)
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Is this the year of the music documentary? Well, we're officially over halfway through 2025—and the answer already looks like a resounding yes.
Early on, we saw a surprisingly revelatory John Lennon documentary, One to One: John & Yoko, which dives into a rarely explored period in the life of the Beatles legend. Then, we saw Questlove follow up his Oscar-winning Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) with Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius), a much-needed send-up of the funk pioneer Sly Stone. And aside from new portraits of Pavement and Led Zeppelin, the documentary of the moment is HBO's Billy Joel: And So It Goes, which is a must-watch for any die-hard fan of the musician.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#_R_513ckr8lb2mav5ubsddbH1_ iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#_R_913ckr8lb2mav5ubsddbH1_ iframeOf course, we've enjoyed quite a few more docs this year, running the gamut from NFL cheerleading to a Safdie Brothers-produced Andy Kaufman film. Here are the best thirteen efforts in the genre in 2025 so far.
Billy Joel: And So It Goes
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Life After
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Pavements
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Pee-Wee as Himself
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AdvertisementAdvertisement#_R_56bckr8lb2mav5ubsddbH1_ iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#_R_96bckr8lb2mav5ubsddbH1_ iframeAmerica's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
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One to One: John & Yoko
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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Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)
Following his Best Documentary Oscars 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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Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever
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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Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey
Speaking of Netflix documentaries, I can’t recommended Pangolin any higher. 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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SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night
While Saturday Night sought to dramatize the story of its 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.
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Seeds
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.
Sundance Film FestivalThank You Very Much
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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Becoming Led Zeppelin
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.
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