Common wisdom may suggest that documentaries and dramas are entirely separate genres, but common wisdom can be stupid sometimes. Sure, it's often easy to differentiate a traditional feature film from a documentary, but there are numerous examples of movies that successfully pull off doing both at once. Sometimes, it's through extensive dramatizations used within the documentary genre, while at other times, it's by giving a semi-documentary feel to a feature film.
The following movies all take radical approaches genre-wise, and in various ways meld the documentary genre with feature film conventions. Some are more identifiable as one over the other, but all stand out as being engaging genre hybrids that are worth seeking out for those who like feature films based on facts and/or documentaries with interesting stylistic techniques and artistic decisions.
1 'American Animals' (2018)
While it's slightly more identifiable as a feature film than a documentary, American Animals does use a surprising number of documentary techniques throughout. It's a true story about four young men who attempted to pull off an art heist in 2004, and splits its time between showing recreations of what they did and having interviews with the actual men more than 10 years on from the crime.
It might not be unusual for documentaries to use dramatized recreations sparingly, but American Animals is mostly made up of these scenes, and assembled a cast of genuinely great actors for this area of the film (including Evan Peters and Barry Keoghan). The way feature film and documentary clash here can feel jarring at points, but it mostly works quite well and makes for an offbeat and unique heist movie.
2 'Jacquot de Nantes’ (1991)
Few directors have been as skilled at making documentaries and feature films as French director Agnès Varda was. Throughout her 60+ year career, she made multiple documentaries and fictional films (both feature-length and short films), but rarely melded documentary and feature film as uniquely as she did in her 1991 film Jacquot de Nantes.
The film serves as a cinematic love letter from Varda to her husband, Jacques Demy, who was another famed French filmmaker and Varda's partner for 30-ish years. He was battling HIV/AIDS during the film's production and passed away a few months before the film was completed. In blending interview footage featuring the real Demy with recreations of his childhood done with actors, Jacquot de Nantes is a heartfelt tribute to one filmmaker's formative years, and a striking blend of feature film and documentary.
3 'The St. Valentine's Day Massacre' (1967)
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre was perhaps the most infamous crime-related event to occur during the Prohibition Era, which lasted from 1920 to 1933 in the USA. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre - the movie - tells the story of why and how it happened, depicting the gang warfare between criminal groups who took advantage of the nationwide alcohol ban to produce and distribute illegal liquor of their own.
It's a stretch to label it even partially a documentary (though it does feature frequent narration, like many standard documentaries), but it aims to be far more historically accurate than most historical crime movies. It contains an overwhelming number of characters and might feel unsatisfying as a story due to its dedication to the truth, but the film's commitment here is admirable, and it is more than serviceable as a dry yet informative crime movie.
4 'Tell Me Who I Am' (2019)
Netflix seems to favor quantity over quality when it comes to producing documentaries, meaning it's often better to look elsewhere for truly great ones. However, there are inevitably a few diamonds in the rough, and 2019's Tell Me Who I Am certainly can be counted among the better documentaries to be released on the streaming service within the past few years.
It tells a surprising story that can feel like it's from the mind of a writer, yet is heartbreakingly true. It centers on a pair of twins, one of whom comes clean to the other about a dark family secret, with each then coming to terms with their past. It's extremely emotional and cinematic, with the story playing out in a way that makes it far more gripping - and deeply personal - than your average documentary.
5 'Killer Legends' (2014)
It's one thing for a movie to blend documentary and drama, but Killer Legends goes a step further by being a documentary that also works as a crime/horror film. It's a documentary that seeks to unpack several well-known urban legends, assessing whether any have any truth behind them and doing so in a way that's frequently unnerving and tense.
Given it divides its runtime up between several different topics, some are more interesting than others, making Killer Legends as a whole feel a little uneven. However, at its best, it is quite interesting, and a worthy watch for those interested in urban legends and learning about dark events from (relatively recent) history.
6 'My Winnipeg' (2007)
My Winnipeg frames itself as a documentary, but purposefully makes it hard to work out what's real and what isn't throughout its runtime. It unpacks various historical stories concerning the Canadian city of Winnipeg, presenting them all as fact, even though certain events covered feel too surreal to be true.
Viewers can give themselves over to the idea of this being a documentary, or can treat it as a quirky (and sometimes darkly funny) fictional anthology film about lots of small stories weaved together to tell an overarching story about one city. Of course, there's also the option of picking and choosing what might be real and what mightn't be, and it's possible that My Winnipeg is a film that contains both truth and fabrication in near equal measure.
7 'Waltz with Bashir' (2008)
Using a unique style of animation to present a documentary that might otherwise seem fairly conventional, Waltz with Bashir leaves a tremendous impact. It works as both a devastating anti-war film and a movie about repressed memories, following the director's real-life journey to recall his involvement in the Lebanon War of 1982 by interviewing psychologists and other ex-soldiers he served with.
The often surreal animation perfectly conveys the unreliability of memory, given how many of those who are interviewed can't recall the precise details of the horrors they experienced during wartime. And when the animation gives way to live-action footage by the film's end, things become brutally real and truly distressing. It's not an easy film to watch, but the way it blends animation and documentary conventions makes for a powerful viewing experience.
8 'Nathan for You: Finding Frances' (2017)
Serving as a feature-length finale to the classic TV show Nathan for You, Finding Frances genuinely stands as one of the best documentaries of the 2010s. It centers on an elderly man who wants to track down a woman he used to have feelings for decades ago, and the strange things that happen when the show's host, Nathan Fielder, agrees to help him do just that.
It's equal parts funny, sad, uncomfortable, and thought-provoking. It explores the difficulties of human connection and the way people can change over time, and also serves as a meta-commentary on Nathan for You as a whole, investigating the show's unusual melding of documentary and manipulated, borderline fictionalized "reality." It's a film unlike any other, and works as a documentary, comedy, and drama all at once.
9 'The Nightmare' (2015)
Anyone interested in what a horror/documentary hybrid looks like should check out The Nightmare. It's a documentary with a very interesting premise, as it looks at the mysterious phenomena of sleep paralysis, which affects some people in their sleep. They find themselves unable to move or speak, yet will experience intense and extra visceral nightmares during this where they feel entirely vulnerable.
The horror elements come from the film's attempts to present these sorts of nightmares on screen, so those who don't have sleep paralysis can get some idea of what the experience is like. It's an admittedly terrifying subject, and The Nightmare does a decent job of presenting it and serving as a horror film on top of being a documentary.
10 'The Imposter' (2012)
Six years before director Bart Layton made American Animals, he took a similar approach of blending documentary and feature filmmaking conventions with The Imposter. It's a film about false identities and the exploitation of vulnerable people, with its story being more intense than most big-budget Hollywood thrillers could dream of.
Unlike American Animals, The Imposter is probably more of a documentary than a feature film, but features a certain level of cinematic style that makes it feel like a work of drama. It's also such an engrossing story that viewers may forget they're even watching a documentary, as it's far from dry.