Top 100 Netflix Documentaries to Watch Right Now (#65 to #61)

We’re firmly in the 90s on RT now, and honestly every documentary from here to #1 could be someone’s favorite film. The storytelling, the access, the emotional weight — it’s all elite. Here are the next five. Tell me if I’m missing any so far? Or which ones are your favorites. TRUST ME, I WILL DELETE THIS LIST IF YOU GUYS DON’T ENGAGE! cough. Sorry. <adjusts glasses> That was over the top. My apologies. I mean, if you want comment on your favorites… it’d be totally cool. But you yeah, you don’t have to. Definitely not. Take it or leave it.

Netflix Documentary #65 — Fyre

2019 | Film | Directed by Chris Smith

91% on RT. The Fyre Festival disaster — a luxury music festival that turned into a Lord of the Flies nightmare — is one of the greatest case studies in fraud ever filmed. Billy McFarland is a fascinating con artist, and watching the whole thing collapse in real time is equal parts horrifying and hilarious. The cheese sandwich shot alone is iconic. Chris Smith (who directed multiple docs on this list) nails it.

Netflix Documentary #64 — Icarus

2017 | Film | Directed by Bryan Fogel

91% from critics. This doc started as one thing — a filmmaker trying to dope himself to win an amateur cycling race — and became something ENTIRELY different when he accidentally stumbled into the Russian state-sponsored doping scandal. The real-life thriller that unfolds is better than any spy movie. Won the Oscar for Best Documentary, and it earned every bit of it. This is a mindjob wrapped in the skin of a documentary. One of the best docs in this list of 100.

Netflix Documentary #63 — Miss Americana

2020 | Film | Directed by Lana Wilson

91% across the board from both critics and audiences. Whether you’re a Swiftie or not, Miss Americana reveals a Taylor Swift most people hadn’t seen — struggling with an eating disorder, wrestling with whether to speak out politically, and confronting the music industry machine. It humanizes someone the world treats as a brand, and there are moments of genuine vulnerability that surprised me.

Netflix Documentary #62 — My Octopus Teacher

2020 | Film | Directed by Pippa Ehrlich & James Reed

91% from critics and 90% from audiences. A filmmaker forms an unlikely friendship with an octopus in a South African kelp forest, visiting her every day for a year. I know that sounds weird. It IS weird. But it’s also profoundly moving in ways you won’t expect. Won the Oscar for Best Documentary. The underwater cinematography is stunning, and by the end, you will care about that octopus more than most people in your life.

Netflix Documentary #61 — All the Empty Rooms

2025 | Film | Directed by Joshua Seftel

92% on Rotten Tomatoes. This one is hard. Really hard. A documentary about gun violence and the empty spaces left behind — literal rooms that children will never return to. It’s devastating and necessary. I flagged this as a Taylor Pick because I think it’s one of those docs that contributes to the conversation in a way that actually matters. Not an easy watch, but an important one.

The Complete Top 100 Netflix Documentary Countdown

Every time I think I’ve peaked with this list, the next batch reminds me why I started it. Comments. Now. Tell me your favorites. Or ELSE. hahahah.

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