The documentary form in 2021 became shaped almost exclusively by individual character studies. This could be a byproduct of celebrity culture, where Twitter and television have made people often more curious about famous strangers than their own relatives. It could even be a result of the coronavirus pandemic, indicating a yearning to know someone's life and be a fly on their walls during the months of quarantine and social distancing.

Whatever the reason, intimate character studies have dominated the documentary landscape this year. Seven of the year's top ten documentaries delve into the lives and careers of diverse people, be they volatile actors, famous footballers, dirty comics, celebrity chefs, human rights activists, or musicians young and old. These personal stories are crucial for a society in flux.

So many things are happening across this breakneck culture, and 'the individual' is easily swept up and forgotten in important national and global processes like climate change, the coronavirus, #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, to name only a few. Life happened very fast in 2021, so it's a true treat when one can slow down and meet interesting people through great art. Documentaries put a frame around the familiar in this way and push audiences to notice something different than the noise, reminding viewers of the vast array of great stories in our midst so often missed. These are the top ten documentaries of 2021.

10 Pelé

Pele
Netflix

Football, or American soccer, is the most popular sport in the world, and Pelé is arguably its most popular player; he tied with Diego Maradona for the FIFA Player of the Century, after all. A football-lover's dream, the documentary Pelé details the titular legend (born Edson Arantes do Nascimento) through many of his key matches and goals, framing it in the context of Brazilian history from 1950 to 1970. The man had such a rich and varied life that it makes sense for the film to mostly limit itself to Pelé's football career, with this narrative device allowing audiences to follow the G.O.A.T. in his journey through the thing he loves. His passion and skill in Pelé might even turn 'soccer' haters into believers.

9 Pray Away

Pray Away
Netflix

Religions have often made terrible choices based on phobias and fears, with some of the worst regarding LGBTQ+ people and especially 'conversion therapy.' Pray Away documents this abusive, phony practice from the perspectives of those who preached and lived it, revealing how easy it is to be sold a lie in the name of God and family. Religion itself is not on trial here, but rather the intolerance of institutions, megachurch leaders and televangelists who spouted hateful rhetoric which kept generations of people fearful about their own identities. Using dated footage and current interviews with an interesting and subtle editing system, the film follows supporters and deniers throughout different phases of their beliefs, detailing the psychological (and sometimes physical) torture the 'pray the gay away' movement has dealt. It's certainly only one perspective; a queerer, more radical documentary still needs to be made, but in the meantime Pray Away is a necessary and difficult reminder that these traumas exist and must be addressed..

8 Val

Val
Amazon Studios

Maybe the most artistically ambitious and innovative biographical documentaries of the year, Val combs through the life and works of actor Val Kilmer, who casts a strange shadow over the whole affair-- he writes the narration himself, which is read by his son due to Kilmer losing his voice to cancer; he lounges around, watching footage of himself; he waxes philosophical about acting and art. His participation in the movie makes everything much more metafictional and strange, but also surprisingly direct. The film never shies away from Kilmer's egomaniacal and sometimes violent behavior, and is achingly authentic in documenting his disappointment over how his life turned out. Bizarre, beguiling, and brilliant, Val is an excellent experimental biography, warts-and-all.

Related: Val Trailer Explores Val Kilmer's Career Through His Home Movies Ahead of Cannes Debut

7 Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

Roadrunner
Focus Features

Anthony Bourdain had been in front of cameras for decades before he tragically passed, so it was strangely comforting to be able to spend some posthumous time with the legend and those who knew him in Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain. One of the few chefs who was more personally interesting than his meals (and that's saying something), the dark and troubled but brilliant Bourdain is simply magnetic to observe. Morgan Neville is quickly becoming one of the best documentarians of his time, and his expertise at deconstructing entertainers (seen especially in the highest-grossing biographical documentary of all time, Won't You Be My Neighbor) is on full display in the probing, melancholic Roadrunner, which almost feels like a sad but beautiful wake after the passing of a dear friend.

6 Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry

Billie Eilish The World's a Little Blurry
Neon / AppleTV+

R.J. Cutler was in the right place at the right time when he started filming the beginnings of pop star Billie Eilish's career. He captures early, carefree moments of the singer simply composing and playing around with her brother in his bedroom, blissfully unaware that more cameras than Cutler's were about to intrude upon her life at every waking moment. The World's a Little Blurry follows Eilish through all of this, and it's often painful to watch someone so young and introspective be thrown into such a demanding, high-energy world. Cutler is wise to keep his distance most of the time, simply observing Eilish and letting her be herself, something which record companies and fans don't often do. The result is a deeply intimate look at one of the biggest musical acts in recent years, and the cost of that success.

Related: Billie Eilish Lives Her Dream in Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles Trailer

5 The Sparks Brothers

The Sparks Brothers
Focus Features

The band Sparks had an exciting year. Ron and Russell Mael, the duo behind the music, appeared as themselves in Leos Carax's baffling musical Annette with Adam Driver, but it's Edgar Wright (of Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver fame) who documents them best in his film The Sparks Brothers. While Wright is as bombastic as ever with his playful and winsome direction, and the delightful music infests the movie with earworms, it is the brothers themselves who steal the show here. Witty and charming, it's simply a joy to watch as the underrated Mael's engulf every scene they're in, and the audience is lucky to spend time with them.

Related: Annette Final Trailer Sweeps Adam Driver & Marion Cotillard Into a Tidal Wave of Love

4 The Rescue

The Rescue
Greenwich Entertainment

The most harrowing documentary of the year assembles footage from the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue and weaves it together with artful reenactments. Couple Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin are no strangers to extremely tense and daring acts of physicality, having won the Oscar for their documentary Free Solo, and are poised for another nomination with The Rescue, which observes the 18 days from the perspective of the ragtag group of hobbyists who came together to save a junior association football team. The directors form a day-by-day narrative, ratcheting up the drama of this almost unbelievable and miraculous story, and the entire thing plays out like a great fiction film.

3 Hating Peter Tatchell

Hating Peter Tatchell
Netflix

Peter Tatchell was hardly a household name, but hopefully the 2021 documentary about the activist will change all that through its exploration of his lifetime of activism spanning over half a century since his teenage years. Legendary and inspiring, Tatchell was the first person to stage a gay rights protest in a communist country, has been violently assaulted hundreds of times, and was infamously beaten and arrested by Russian forces in 2007. Divisive in his confrontational style and often antagonistic approach (like the time he rushed the stage of a church sermon as a protest), equally despised and adored, Tatchell is the perfect subject for a documentary about activism-- complex, difficult, urgent, necessary, angry and passionate, all of which is on display in Hating Peter Tatchell.

2 Patrice O'Neal: Killin' is Easy

Patrice O Neal Killin is Easy
Comedy Central

Patrice O'Neal died so young, but he was a comic who 'killed,' or did so well his audiences often erupted in laughter; he was more interested, however, in being himself. "Killing is easy," a friend says, "but that's not what he wanted. He wanted the truth." Combing through the years of O'Neal's stand-up career with extremely direct interviews with family, friends, and a fiance, Killin' Is Easy documents one of the greatest but also troubled and complicated comedians of all time. Though he was hilarious, he was also arrogant, sexist, rude, and hard to work with. His friends in the comedy scene may have loved him, but they're completely honest that "he was a f***ing a**hole," as one comic says; O'Neal would hardly disagree, often saying "I'm a complete misogynist" and wondering why anyone would be with him. The price of authenticity is on display here, with the extremely authentic and genuine O'Neal alienating so many around him through never compromising his identity. "Stand-up is dissecting humanness and the flaws of being a human," one woman says in Killin' Is Easy, and by that characterization the film is beautifully human.

1 Summer of Soul

Summer-of-Soul-2
Searchlight Pictures / Hulu

While Woodstock has been celebrated as one of the most cultural events of the past century, it took Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson's directorial debut for people to see the deep significance of The Harlem Culture Festival from the same year. Questlove assembles nearly 50 hours of obscure and forgotten footage from 1969, combined with news footage and interviews to tell a quintessential story about that cultural moment from a black perspective. The musicians in the film (who often watch and comment upon themselves with 60 years of hindsight) are brilliantly spirited-- Gladys Knight, Mavis Staples, Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone, Sly Stone, B.B. King and Billy Davis, Jr. perform emotional renditions of classics, and it's incredible to see them in one place. Summer of Soul is the block party of the year.