Film

Nothing Compares

Name: Nothing Compares
Genre: Documentary, Music
Released: 2022
Cast: Sinéad O'Connor, John Reynolds, Margo Harkin, Kathleen Hanna, Brian D'Arcy

Musical

A portrait of Sinéad O'Connor's courage and artistry, tracing her refusal to compromise in a society determined to diminish her. Director Kathryn Ferguson builds a case for an artist systematically misunderstood—punished for speaking plainly about abuse, faith, and power. Essential viewing for anyone who remembers her or who wants to understand how we got her wrong.

TMDb rating

3.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a music documentary that treats an artist's defiance as a serious argument about faith, womanhood and the press, rather than a nostalgic hits parade.

Skip it if you came for the songs and want them played in full, since this leans on talking heads and archive clips far more than live performance.

What it asks of you: At ninety-six minutes, it is measured and talky, built from archive footage and sit-down interviews, and it rewards close listening over easy momentum.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Amy2015

Like *Nothing Compares*, it's a rigorous, unsentimental portrait of an artist whose complexity was flattened into scandal by tabloid culture and public appetite for self-destruction narratives.

But The tragedy is relentless and the ending is foreknown. Some viewers find the film's sadness too heavy to sit with.

TINA2021

Another documentary that restores agency and context to a woman whose public image was built on male control and misrepresentation. It has the same careful, respectful archival work and the same urgent need to set the record straight.

But The domestic violence content is difficult, and like *Nothing Compares*, it demands you sit with uncomfortable truths.

The Decline of Western Civilization1981

Penelope Spheeris's landmark documentary about punk's raw power and refusal. It understands that artists like O'Connor don't break rules for attention—they break them because the rules are lies.

But The sound design and pacing feel dated, and it's purely observational—no narrative spine to guide you through the chaos.

The Decline of Western Civilization poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Nothing Compares

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Under the Skin2014

Both are about refusal—of explanation, of comfort, of being easily digested. Both make their power felt through what they withhold.

Jonathan Glazer's film about an alien in Scotland is formally experimental and almost wordless—as much about presence and refusal to explain itself as it is about narrative. Like O'Connor's artistic choices, it refuses to make itself palatable or legible to the viewer. Absolutely hypnotic.

But It's a sci-fi art film with minimal dialogue and a glacial pace. If you want conventional storytelling, this is the opposite.

My Name Is Khan2010

A powerful, specific story about identity, faith, and the public's hunger to make you a symbol of what they fear. It shares *Nothing Compares*' moral clarity about institutional and social judgment.

But It's a mainstream drama, not a documentary, so the parallels are thematic rather than immediate. Some find the tone overtly didactic.

The World for the Two of Us2022

A documentary about the lifelong relationship between a nun and a former nun that quietly interrogates faith, choice, and how institutions shape identity. It has the same Irish Catholic context and the same refusal to judge.

But It's very quiet and meditative. If you want cathartic anger, this won't give it to you in the way *Nothing Compares* does.

Blackbird2007

A low-key Irish film about a woman confronting her past with the church. It shares the documentary's particular ache about what Catholicism took from people and the difficulty of speaking about it afterward.

But It's deliberately paced and emotionally restrained, which can feel slow if you're expecting narrative momentum.

I Am Not Your Negro2017

Raoul Peck uses archival footage to build a devastating argument about how media and public discourse systematically distort black artists and intellectuals. The structural approach mirrors *Nothing Compares*' methodology.

But The racism it details is graphic and unsparing. It's not an easy watch, and that's the point—but not everyone is ready for that intensity.

Feast of Love2007

A smaller, quieter film about refusing to be remade into what others need you to be. It's interested in the same questions about authenticity and the cost of standing your ground.

But It's less ambitious in scope and some find it too intimate, without the broader cultural stakes that *Nothing Compares* carries.

The Watermelon Heist2003

An Irish documentary about rural life and stubbornness that shares the Irish sensibility and eye for how communities police their own. It's a completely different subject but similar in spirit.

But It's very niche and hard to find. The connection is more tonal than thematic.