15 Best Documentaries Of 2020

15. Tiger King

Never has a documentary been released with such fortuitous timing. As we were all sentenced to stay within our homes for the foreseeable, a fascinating new series dropped about a compellingly odd man named Joe Exotic and his obsessive bond with man eating cats.

Tiger King was just what we needed, a compulsively watchable series with something for all tastes. On the surface, it had a freakshow quality, a parade of oddballs engaging in bigamy, running a seriously shady-looking zoo with questionable health and safety practises. Joe Exotic himself has an instantly iconic look, and in any other year would be the go-to Halloween costume once October rolled around.

Then there was Tiger King’s darker side. Exotic has an enemy in Carole Baskin; she seems like a voice of reason, looking out for the tigers, until theories arise as to the fate of her missing husband. There are lawsuits, assassination attempts, FBI intervention - things get very messy, very fast.

Tiger King isn’t a great piece of documentary filmmaking, overstaying its welcome quite badly towards the end of its run, but in 2020, it was just what we needed.