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MOVIEPIQ · DOCUMENTARY · CURATED LIST

Best Documentary Movies When You’re Bored From The 80S And 90S That Will Make You Think For Days

The Moviepiq team picked these documentary films specifically for when you need something actually worth watching. No filler. Every film on this list earns its place for exactly this occasion.

The best documentary movies when youre bored from the 80s and 90s that will make you think for days. Includes Baraka, Paris Is Burning, Koyaanisqatsi and mor...

The cure for boredom isn't distraction - it's genuine engagement. These films demand enough from you that boredom simply doesn't survive the first twenty minutes.

Go back far enough and you find films that had no idea they'd become classics. The 80s and 90s produced more of them than any other era.

A great documentary finds the universal in the specific. One person's story becomes everyone's story.

Baraka movie poster
1
1992 · ★★★★☆ 8.2/10

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision-an odyssey through landscape and time-that attempts to capture the essence of life.

Paris Is Burning movie poster
2
1991 · ★★★★☆ 8.0/10

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women - including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

Koyaanisqatsi movie poster
3
1983 · ★★★½☆ 7.9/10

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

The films that stay with you aren't always the ones that answer every question. Sometimes it's the ones that leave you with better questions.

The best documentaries don't resolve neatly. They give you something to carry. These do that.

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