Behind the year’s most captivating true stories, filmmakers turned cameras toward private obsessions, hidden scandals, and the fragile moments that define fame. From raw portraits of celebrity intimacy to gritty tales of survival, these ten documentaries on HBO Max redefined how truth can feel on screen.
Between social media and gossip sites, it certainly feels like we know everything we need to know about the rich and famous. And yet in 2022’s crop of outstanding documentaries, one dominant theme was celebrity intimacy. People who spend a lot of time in the public eye often lose control of their own story, as the press and the public push them into soap opera narratives filled with romances, betrayals, heroism, and villainy. In film after film in 2022, the celebs pushed back, taking us deep inside their mental-health issues and family traumas, and explaining how hard it is to make fans and critics happy all the time.
It’s possible to make a “10 best 2022 documentaries” list just from those movies: Jennifer Lopez: Halftime (about the stress of putting together a Super Bowl show), Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues (which tells a jazz hero’s story via his private archives), Lucy and Desi (a look back at one of TV’s most volatile couples), Nothing Compares (tracking the rise and fall of Sinéad O’Connor), The Return of Tanya Tucker (about a country-music legend reluctantly getting back to basics), Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me (a harrowing glimpse at a superstar’s performance anxieties), Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known (in which the now-famous stars of a Broadway smash reflect on their youth), Stutz (in which Jonah Hill celebrates both his therapist and his own therapy), Sr. (Robert Downey Jr.’s simultaneous salute to his filmmaker father and lament for the drug-fueled lifestyle they once both led), and Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off (a study of athletic obsession).
As it happens, those all fell just short of the final cut on our list. But their spirit is represented by some of the list-makers below. More importantly, all these films (including the ones above) show how great documentary storytellers find original and illuminating angles on material we think we already know. Whether it’s celebrities, gun violence, systemic racism, addiction, or love, these movies made common problems feel new.
10. The Princess
Archival footage and candid interviews shape a raw portrait of Princess Diana in The Princess. Told entirely through news clips, the film captures the public’s fascination and the relentless scrutiny surrounding her from engagement to tragedy. Without narration, it lets viewers feel the tension between her private self and the image constructed by media obsession, creating an unsettling mirror of fame and empathy.
The British royal family was in the news a lot in 2022, perhaps as much as they’ve been since the very public rise and fall of the romance between the current King Charles III and his late ex-wife, Diana Spencer. Ed Perkins’ surprisingly intense The Princess tells Diana’s story from her first introduction to the public as a bride-to-be to her later embrace of philanthropy and social activism – and then her eventual death while trying to flee relentless paparazzi. Using only news clips and home-movie footage, Perkins emphasizes the pressures of fame, evident in the constant questions and camera-clicks Diana faced. It’s a cautionary tale about what happens when the press and the public turn a real person into a fantasy character.
The Princess is streaming on HBO Max.
9. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Laura Poitras’s film traces the life and activism of photographer Nan Goldin, whose fight against the Sackler family exposed the dark legacy behind their links to the opioid crisis. Blending intimate moments with striking archival footage, the documentary moves between Goldin’s art and her public protests, connecting her personal struggles with broader social and political issues. It’s both a portrait of an artist’s resilience and a searing critique of how art institutions handle accountability.
Photographer Nan Goldin rose to prominence in the New York art world by documenting the communities she lived in throughout the ’70s and ’80s: the queer folks, the punks, the sex workers, and the political radicals. Laura Poitras’ documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is partly about how Goldin’s creative journey was shaped by living among misfits, artists who built their own scenes, then kept them going through the ravages of AIDS and drug addiction. But the movie is also about the stir the artist has caused as an activist by demanding that museums cut ties with the Sacklers, a well-heeled art patron family that made a lot of its fortune thanks to the opioid epidemic. Poitras insightfully connects these pieces of Goldin’s life, showing how grassroots organizing and radical honesty drive her.
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is currently playing in limited theatrical release.
8. Is That Black Enough for You?!?
Elvis Mitchell’s Is That Black Enough for You?!? is a sharp, entertaining exploration of Black cinema from the 1970s and its lasting influence on American culture. Through clips, interviews, and personal insight, Mitchell examines how Black filmmakers redefined representation, power, and creativity on screen. The documentary balances film history with a deeply personal reflection on identity and visibility, creating one of the year’s most insightful looks at both art and race.
This thrilling fusion of cultural history and impassioned personal essay is the work of Elvis Mitchell, a veteran film critic who uses the heyday of 1970s blaxploitation movies like Super Fly and Foxy Brown as a way to dig deeply into the complicated history of Black representation in American cinema. Throughout Is That Black Enough for You?!?, clips from smash-hit action pictures like Shaft alternate with scenes from long-forgotten oddities, all interspersed with commentary by Black showbiz legends like Whoopi Goldberg and Samuel L. Jackson. But the main voice and perspective here belongs to Mitchell, whose vast cinema knowledge and experience allows him to find the larger meaning in even the smallest moments.
Is That Black Enough for You?!? is streaming on Netflix.
7. The Janes
“The Janes” revisits the courage of a secret network of women in 1970s Chicago who provided safe, illegal abortions before Roe v. Wade. Through gripping interviews and archival footage, the film reveals the risks they took, the lives they saved, and the quiet power of collective defiance. It’s a deeply human story that connects past struggles to ongoing debates about reproductive rights, told with striking clarity and compassion.
The most obvious selling point for Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes’ thoughtful look back at abortion-rights history is that it’s suddenly relevant, given the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn its previous Roe v. Wade decision. But treating the film like homework would do a disservice to The Janes, which is less about abortion per se than it is about how feminism blossomed in the 1960s, thanks to underground networks that tried to elevate the secrets ladies whispered to each other and make them common knowledge. The surviving members of the clandestine Chicago health care organization JANE tell stories not just about connecting desperate women with helpful doctors, but about how they let those sisters know they weren’t alone.
The Janes is streaming on HBO Max.
6. 2nd Chance
“2nd Chance” examines the life of Richard Davis, the eccentric inventor of the bulletproof vest, whose story blends heroism, obsession, and self-mythmaking. Through archival footage and candid interviews, the film exposes how Davis’s daring stunts and larger-than-life persona masked deeper questions about ego, violence, and redemption. It’s a gripping portrait of an American entrepreneur grappling with his own legend.
Too many true-crime docs lately just play up the sordid details of sex, violence, and chicanery. And too many are split up into multiple parts in order to fill up programming hours on cable and streaming services. Ramin Bahrani’s strange, surprising 2nd Chance runs a refreshingly zippy 89 minutes, and though its story is full of death and conspiracies, it’s more of a pointed character sketch about a colorful bulletproof vest magnate who sold himself as a friend to law enforcement and the military while his company was putting lives at stake by cutting corners. Though often funny and gripping, this film is really about how we define “criminal,” and about the people we as a society – rightly or wrongly – consider worth saving.
2nd Chance is currently playing in limited theatrical release; it will be streaming in 2023 (date TBA) on Showtime Anytime.
5. Fire of Love
French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft devoted their lives to chasing volcanoes, capturing breathtaking footage of eruptions with both awe and fearlessness. Fire of Love assembles their archive into a poetic tribute to science and passion, portraying two people whose bond burned as fiercely as the molten worlds they studied. Through their lens, nature’s beauty and danger merge into something both inspiring and tragic.
When French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft died on the job in 1991, they left behind a voluminous archive of notes, tapes, and photographs, which collectively offered insight into the decades they spent risking their lives to understand one of nature’s most dangerous phenomenons. But the Kraffts’ real legacy was their film and video footage, which captures eye-popping images of smoke and lava, dwarfing their fragile human figures. Sara Dosa’s Fire of Love sets those pictures – full of searing color and eerie landscapes, all abstract and alien – to a haunting score by Air’s Nicolas Godin and narration by Miranda July, turning this couple’s romantic adventures into something grandly cinematic.
Fire of Love is streaming on Disney Plus.
4. We Met in Virtual Reality
Filmed entirely inside virtual reality platforms, this HBO Max documentary captures real connections formed through avatars, offering a heartfelt exploration of love, friendship, and identity in online spaces. Director Joe Hunting creates an intimate portrait of VR communities where people express their truest selves, blending authenticity and creativity in ways traditional filmmaking rarely achieves.
A welcome counterpoint to alarmist takes about alienation and extremism in the social media age, Joe Hunting’s lively animated documentary We Met in Virtual Reality considers the ways that interacting online has been beneficial to people with physical, neurological, psychological, or logistical limitations. Recorded entirely within the online community VRChat, the movie celebrates the real relationships that have developed within virtual spaces, hailing the creativity and bonhomie that has led users to build so many eye-catching gathering spaces populated by sexy and/or whimsically goofy human-animal hybrids.
We Met in Virtual Reality is streaming on HBO Max.
3. Descendant
Margaret Brown’s Descendant explores the lasting effects of the last known slave ship, the Clotilda, and its survivors’ community in Alabama. The film follows their descendants as they uncover buried records and confront generations of silence around their history. Blending personal testimony with archival footage, it captures how reclaiming a suppressed story can strengthen a community’s sense of identity and justice.
Director Margaret Brown is best known for her nuanced nonfiction films about Southern culture, like her outstanding 2008 documentary The Order of Myths. For Descendant, Brown brought her cameras to a coastal Alabama community, where historians and amateur treasure-hunters were looking for an infamous shipwreck. In 2019, the discovery of the Clotilda – the last known slave transport vessel to reach American shores, arriving in the mid-19th century – sparked a lot of interest and conversation internationally. But for this film, what matters is that all the attention gave the Black Alabamans of “Africatown” a chance to reflect on how their ancestors’ stories have largely been erased from the historical record, leaving only folklore and anecdotes as the way the community preserves its truths.
Descendant is streaming on Netflix.
2. Riotsville, USA
Sierra Pettengill’s Riotsville, USA uses archival footage to piece together a surreal chapter of American history, showing how the U.S. military simulated urban uprisings to train police in controlling civil unrest. The film’s eerie reenactments and period commentary expose the state’s deep fear of dissent during the late 1960s. By juxtaposing official propaganda with raw footage of protest, Pettengill invites viewers to reflect on how institutional responses to rebellion have shaped public order and policing ever since.
In the late 1960s, civil unrest across America led to a national debate about possible solutions, and to two major initiatives – both covered in Sierra Pettengill’s remarkable and revelatory Riotsville USA. In one corner, a bipartisan commission studied the riots’ root causes, and found that the best way to reduce crime and violence would be to improve education, introduce job programs, and acknowledge institutional racism. In another corner, a coalition of military and law enforcement leaders constructed fake city blocks in the middle of nowhere and used them to train soldiers and officers to crack the skulls of hippies and ethnic minorities. Assembled almost entirely from archival film and TV clips, Pettengill’s film is set more than 50 years ago, but feels like it’s about the 2020s.
Riotsville, USA is available for purchase from Amazon, Apple, and Google Play.
1. Moonage Daydream
Brett Morgen’s Moonage Daydream isn’t a standard artist profile but a sensory explosion built from David Bowie’s own archive. The film merges unseen footage, concert performances, and Bowie’s reflections into a hypnotic experience that mirrors his creativity and restless self-reinvention. Rather than explain him, it lets viewers feel his shifting identities and philosophies, creating a portrait as daring and unpredictable as the artist himself.
Don’t come to Brett Morgen’s sprawling, sensational cinematic experience Moonage Daydream expecting to learn the basic facts about the late pop star and experimental artist David Bowie. With the immense help of the Bowie estate – which gave the director access to a vast archive of audio and video – Morgen has produced a kaleidoscopic 140-minute movie, blending old film clips and cranked-up rock music into a dizzying swirl of sound and vision. The film frames its subject’s frequent metamorphoses as a performer and a public figure as the work of a brilliant actor, disappearing into the role of an eccentric celebrity as a way of entertaining his fans while keeping his real life and self partially shielded from view.
Moonage Daydream is available for rent or purchase on Amazon, Apple, and Google Play.
Where to stream the best 2022 documentaries on HBO Max
Most of the best-rated 2022 documentaries that originally landed on HBO Max (now Max) are still available to stream directly on Max, either as HBO Originals or licensed titles.
Where to stream them
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In the Netherlands (and most of Europe):
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Use Max (the rebranded HBO Max) via the app or website; a subscription is required.
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Max’s Dutch catalog includes a “Beste documentaires” section that updates daily and lists 2022-era docs by IMDb score, so you can filter by year or genre.
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In the U.S. and other regions:
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Access the same 2022 docs through Max; some titles may also appear on partner platforms (e.g., Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV) as rentals or purchases, but the primary streaming home for HBO-branded 2022 docs is Max.
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How to find 2022 docs on Max
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Open Max → go to “Documentaires” / “Documentaries” → filter by “2022” or “Beste documentaires” (top-rated list).
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Look for HBO Original 2022 titles such as George Carlin’s American Dream, Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes, The Princess, and Endangered, which are all listed among the best HBO-Max documentaries of 2022.
If you tell me your country (you’re in Lelystad, NL), I can give you a short list of exact 2022 docs currently on Max in the Netherlands and how to navigate to them.
Where to stream 2022 documentaries on Netflix
Most 2022 documentaries that are on Netflix can be streamed directly on Netflix itself, either as Netflix Originals or licensed titles, via the Netflix app or website with a standard subscription.
Where to stream them
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In the Netherlands (Lelystad):
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Open Netflix NL → go to the “Documentaires” / “Documentaries” row or the “Beste documentaires” (Top 100) list, which is updated daily and includes many 2022 titles by IMDb score.
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Some 2022 docs also appear under “Beste documentaireseries” if they are multi-part.
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Elsewhere (U.S., etc.):
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Use Netflix in your region; availability of specific 2022 docs varies slightly by country, but the main place to stream them is still Netflix, not a separate service.
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How to find 2022 docs on Netflix
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In the Netflix menu, open “Films” → “Documentaires” (or use the search bar and type a title plus “2022”).
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For a curated list, check Netflix’s own “Documentaries to Stream” page or third-party guides that filter by “2022” and “Netflix,”
