Some Kind of Heaven

This documentary is very interesting. It has the best cinematography I've ever seen in a documentary and it covers quite a serious subject with respect.

This documentary follows four residents of The Villages, a massive retirement home in Florida - Anne and Reggie, a married couple; Barbara, a widow; and Dennis, a man who doesn't actually live at The Villages. Anne struggles with her marriage, due to Reggie's drug addiction and worsening mental health. Barbara's husband died four months before filming and she is nervous about dating again. Dennis lives in his van, and hangs around The Villages in hopes of finding a wealthy woman in his last few years.

Before this film, I had never heard of The Villages. I found the story of its residents fascinating. The Villages is often referred to as "The Disneyworld for Retirees," and when you hear that, you imagine a perfect place to spend the later part of your life. The problem with utopias is that they're basically impossible. And the goal of the film is to showcase that The Villages is not a perfect utopia. It follows the struggles of these four people and how they can't just escape their pain with tennis or acting classes. One thing I like about this film is that it doesn't come off as malicious. It's not trying to expose The Villages for being a place of fake happiness or mock the residents or anything like that. Instead I got the impression that the director wanted to tell a story about real people trying to cope with their problems and I can respect that.

The cinematography is one of the stand-out aspects of this film. Every shot looks staged, as if they were from a typical fiction movie. There's a surprising amount of close-ups for a documentary. It was to the point that I didn't actually believe I was watching a documentary at first. I'm very impressed with the cinematography - shout-out to David Bolen, the cinematographer.

There is a lot to learn from this film. Life is full of pain and struggles; and, as sad as it may sound, that's inescapable. It's impossible to always be happy, even in the utopic Disney World for Retirees.

I give this film 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 12 to 18. It comes out January 15, 2021. Reviewed by Calista B., KIDS FIRST!

Marriage is hard. For many people, being alone is hard. Hell, being human is hard, I don't care who you are. I was very pleased there was no talk of the politics of The Villages, but you will get the gist of the place. And if you're in the right mood to see real people caught up in the human condition , I think you'll enjoy. It stayed with me for a while.

The stuff in this documentary feels faker than most non-documentaries, and I appreciate it being filmed like a scripted feature to further this feeling. It's not that you think the whole thing is staged, but rather that's how absurd the subject matter is. The movie is a horrifying and hilarious dreamscape. One that is way too possible to not be a nightmare. How is this real? How did these people get like this? And, most importantly, how do I avoid it like the plague? This documentary is funnier than the sitcom version of the same story would be, precisely because you know it isn't a sitcom. Life can and has become just a checklist for a lot of people. Though the subjects have their redemptive moments of vulnerability, I mostly walked away with viewing their stories as a cautionary tale. Life is short, but not at the villages.

If one were to head into Lance Oppenheim's feature documentary not knowing that what they were about to see is in fact very real, there's every chance that the unsuspecting viewer would wonder what type of fever dream they have managed to enter into.

A stunningly well-shot examination of life and times in a Disneyland like retirement community in Florida known simply as The Villages, the Darren Aronofsky and New York Times backed doco Some Type of Heaven is a unique and at times wonderous beast that lacks a true focus or narrative drive but offers us a chance to gain insight into what life in a "dreamlike" retirement community may look like.

Full of sun, Hawaiian shirts and more wrinkled and sun-withered skin than any human should dare lay witness too, Oppenheim and his crew follow the exploits and daily activities of a raft of Village residents that includes a lonely widow, an 80 plus year old playboy hellbent on discovering love (aka money) too finally enjoy and a long time married couple that find their marriage tested in the face of ailing mental health and of all things a drug carrying conviction, with Heaven showcasing that not all is fun and games in what appears to be retiree nirvana.

As we watch the films participants drink, dance, golf and go about their daily routines against the backdrop of the picturesque surrounds of their slice of paradise, there's no doubt that viewers at times will be envious of what joys these folk can now partake in on a regular occurrence but their is an underlying sense of foreboding and despair that also lays in wait in this American dreamland and it's here that Oppenheim and his film make their biggest marks on the viewer; not even Disneyworld for retirees is as perfect as it at times may seem.

One of the other huge pluses to this off-beat affair is the fact that Oppenheim and his D. O. P David Bolen capture some of the most starkly beautiful and captivating imagery that I can recall seeing in the past 12 - 18 months of cinema, with the Villages and its residents providing a raft of unforgettable images and moments that are at times magical and other times hauntingly honest in their depictions of dreams clashing with harsh realities.

It's a shame there wasn't more glue holding all of this magic together when it comes to what drives the film or where the tales destination is wanting to take us but despite all of this, its unlikely you've ever seen either a narrative or documentary film quite like this before.

Final Say -

Bizarre, wonderous and depressing all in equal measure, Some Kind of Heaven is a majestically shot documentary that shines a light on one of the most unique places in the world.

3 1/2 golf carts out of 5.

This documentary has been on my list for around 3 years, and I'm so glad I finally got down to watching it. I am only 20 years old, but this film really resonated with me. It was a mind-opening experience that plunged me further into my existential crisis, and which reaffirmed something that I had been in denial of- that nothing stays the same, and that I need to accept this as a fact and eventually embrace it. Though I did appreciate the beauty in this film, it did scare me, and I'm sure I'll be thinking about it and the concept of death further down the road- which is, of course, bittersweet, but a needed intervention.