The Best Documentaries of 2026 (So Far)
If you've had your fill of binge-watching scripted shows, kick back with a documentary to tell you what's good (or wrong) with the world.
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Many times, the truth is stranger than fiction. And while it's still early in the year, 2026 already has a solid output of documentaries worth checking out. The year started with I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not, released on New Year's Day. Marina Zenovich's latest celebrity portrait reveals the harsh upbringing and even harsher reputation of comedy star Chevy Chase.
Since then, there have been movies about underdogs—like Mr. Nobody Against Putin, about a Russian schoolteacher rebelling against Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, and Queen of Chess and Miracle: The Boys of '80, both on Netflix—to harrowing tales of evil (Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart) and disaster (Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare).
If you've had your fill of binge-watching scripted shows, kick back with a documentary to tell you what's good (or wrong) with the world. These are the best documentaries of 2026 so far.
I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not
One of comedy's most polarizing legends, Chevy Chase, finally tells his side of every unflattering story you've ever heard about him in I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not. Directed by Marina Zenovich, the movie reveals the two sides behind the SNL legend and National Lampoon star: the loving family man who survived an abusive childhood, and the notorious "asshole" of Hollywood.
Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart
Netflix's true-crime documentaries are a genre of their own, and Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart brings the infamous 2002 Utah kidnapping case to streaming. The movie, directed by Benedict Sanderson, catches up with a now-adult Elizabeth Smart—as well as family, friends, investigators, and reporters—who recount her months-long captivity at 14 years old by Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee.
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
In the BAFTA-winning movie Mr. Nobody Against Putin, Pavel "Pasha" Talankin uses his day job as a schoolteacher and videographer in rural Russia to carry out acts of resistance against Putin during the invasion of Ukraine. An unexpectedly funny and sweet study in political rebellion, Mr. Nobody Against Putin shows that heroes don't always wear capes.
In theaters now
Queen of Chess
Call it the real-life The Queen's Gambit. The story of how Judit Polgár became one of chess's greatest female players is chronicled in Queen of Chess, now streaming on Netflix. From her recognition as a five-year-old prodigy to being its youngest grandmaster at age 15, and overcoming the sport's rampant misogyny through it all, Queen of Chess might make you dust off that chess set you bought and told yourself you'd learn after binge-watching Queen's Gambit in 2020.
Matter of Time
Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder committed to curing epidermolysis bullosa (EB) after a friend gave birth to a son with the painful condition. In 2023, the rock star held a series of benefit concerts in Seattle to highlight the work of the EB Research Partnership. The story of those concerts and Vedder's philanthropic efforts is highlighted in Matter of Time. While mostly an advocacy film, the movie still tugs at your heartstrings in the way all good rock ballads do.
Beam Me Up, Sulu
In 1985, some enterprising Star Trek fans convinced George Takei to join them deep inside the California forests to star in their student film. For 40 years, the footage of the no-budget, totally unofficial Star Trek movie was lost—until now. More than just a love letter to Trekkies, Beam Me Up, Sulu reveals the early years of modern fandom long before it became a lucrative commodity and a driving force in mainstream pop culture.
Miracle: The Boys of '80
If you're still buzzing from the Olympics and Heated Rivalry still has you thirsting to go pucks deep, check out Miracle: The Boys of '80. The tale of how amateur nobodies became the era-defining hockey team that gave America Olympic gold during the Cold War is told in this stirring Netflix doc. Sure, it's not the first time you've heard about the "Miracle on Ice." Do You Believe in Miracles? The Story of the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team was released in 2001, and you've seen the Disney film Miracle with Kurt Russell. And you probably know about Of Miracles and Men, the ESPN movie that recounted the events from the Russian players' perspectives. But why not relive golden glory all over again?
Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere
Acclaimed journalist Louis Theroux takes a long, hard, and well-deserved look at the hustlers and hucksters that drive the online manosphere. Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere isn't quite the heated roast that these so-called alpha male influencers deserve (though Theroux does poke at them in delightful ways), but it is an incisive investigation into their enterprise—and what it says about us that legions of young men eagerly follow them.
Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare
Part epic disaster movie and part pressure-cooker thriller, Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare collects stories and memories surrounding those who were tasked with a suicide mission: prevent an even bigger nuclear catastrophe in the immediate aftermath of a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan in 2011. Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare is an alarming reminder of how close we are to an apocalypse.
Man on the Run
Paul McCartney is still processing why the Beatles broke up. so, the 83-year-old musician talked to Won’t You Be My Neighbor? director Morgan Neville about the tumultuous years after the Beatles ended, which is explored in a new documentary titled Man on the Run. Over archival footage and new interviews, McCartney provides insights into why he escaped to Scotland in 1970 to start Wings, making for the perfect spiritual sequel to Peter Jackson’s Get Back. “There’s still this process of Paul reevaluating what he did in that time,” Neville told Esquire. “When you hold up a mirror to people and say, ‘This is what I see,’ then they can see themselves in a different way.”
André Is an Idiot
After calling himself “an idiot” for never going to get a colonoscopy, former ad man André Ricciardi learns that he’s developed a terminal cancer. Filmmaker Tony Benna spends time with André as he processes the end of his life—hearing his eccentric stories and painfully honest thoughts about his mortality. “His dying wish was to roast himself mercilessly and go into that good night as a cautionary tale by way of comic relief,” Anthony Breznican wrote in his review. “Believe it or not, this movie made me laugh more than any film in recent memory.”
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