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Best Documentary Movies With Friends On A Friday From The 80S And 90S That Will Make You Think For Days

The Moviepiq team picked these documentary films specifically for a Friday night with friends. No filler. Every film on this list earns its place for exactly this occasion.

The best documentary movies with friends on a friday from the 80s and 90s that will make you think for days. Includes Baraka, Paris Is Burning, Koyaanisqatsi...

For a Friday with friends, you need a film that doesn't require perfect silence to work. Something engaging enough that it holds attention even in a room with people in it.

The 80s and 90s are where a lot of cinema's DNA was written. Films that set the templates still running today.

Documentaries work when they trust their subjects. The best ones get out of the way and let reality speak.

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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