[imagesource: Magnolia Pictures]

That’s right – the time has arrived for us to part ways until January.

I hate goodbyes so let’s rather say until we meet again for that coffee we keep speaking about but never get around to.

We like to think we’ve provided you with ample viewing options via all the ‘best of’ lists from the past few weeks.

See here, here, and here for reference.

This list, our final of the year, covers the best documentaries released during 2021 with the help of Paste Magazine.

Out of the 25 we have picked five, starting with Ascension:

[The] documentary profiles—in grand, sometimes enthralling and sometimes intimately small vignettes—a modern, restless, ever-changing Chinese society, part monolith and part vast, teeming ecosystem of every facet of human progress and life.

Joined by Nathan Truesdell, [director Jessica] Kingdon sets her camera on work and play alike, scouring overcrowded water parks and denim jeans factories and all the Chinese streets and markets and thoroughfares between, looking for overarching patterns and reason, defining the so-called “Chinese Dream” for people in thrall to forces with power far stronger than whatever’s wielded by a dad trying to keep track of his kids in a wave pool or a woman carefully trimming a sex doll’s pubes.

That escalated quickly towards the end.

Second, we have the timely From the Wild Sea:

Robin Petré’s From the Wild Sea consists of observing people as they work—performing menial and taxing tasks, staying organized and professional, confronting disappointment, cleaning, maintaining.

As Petré follows animal rescue workers at Seal Rescue Ireland and British Divers Marine Life Rescue, listening as they describe the scraps of plastic found in rescued seals (since died) or provide a clinical narrative for all the abuse inflicted on a dolphin’s corpse, the film is unambiguous…

From the Wild Sea mostly documents a story of slow, tiring disaster.

Definitely not as uplifting as My Octopus Teacher but not many documentaries detailing the wrecking of the planet and our oceans are:

Let’s take a break from that depressing topic and look at Some Kind of Heaven:

Bubble worlds and echo chambers, escapism and selectivity—perhaps the reason that first-time director Lance Oppenheim seems to understand The Villages retirement community so deeply is because its social elements resonate with anyone that grew up online…

Some Kind of Heaven leaves its subjects’ stories without ends—except the one end everyone knows is coming for us all—basking in the beautiful imperfect potential of an open door, an empty calendar day, a bare dance floor.

This is the sort of story that could only play out in Florida:

Three down, and we turn our attention to music.

In particular, The Velvet Underground, with this write-up via Polygon:

The Velvet Underground is one of the most influential bands of all time, pioneering a sound that melded primitivist garage-rock, avant-garde noise, and poetic explorations of the demimonde. Yet during their 1960s heyday, the group was largely ignored…

Since there isn’t a lot of vintage VU footage, for his documentary The Velvet Underground, director Todd Haynes shot new handsomely lit and framed new interviews…

It’s Apple TV+ so you know no expense was spared:

Finally, we wrap up with a doccie that was slated as a 2020 release but only hit US cinemas in March of this year.

For that reason The Truffle Hunters qualifies:

In the wilds of Northern Italy, a handful of eccentric old connoisseurs and their adorable dogs search for one of the most prized foodstuffs on Earth — and then they gather with their friends, family, and colleagues to complain that the business isn’t what it used to be.

The movie has a relevant social message, but it’s presented as a collection of quirky sketches, featuring clever humans who just want to keep providing something special to chefs and diners.

Old Italian people complaining is always going to make for good entertainment:

Throw in some dogs and you’re onto a winning formula.

You won’t find these doccies on Netflix – check this list to see the best of what’s on offer.

14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible is great and if you haven’t yet seen Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened then you’re in for a treat.

[sources:paste&polygon]