Some Kind of Heaven

The title of the storytelling documentary Some Kind of Heaven is surely a nod to Gates of Heaven, Errol Morris’s groundbreaking 1978 film about a Napa Valley pet cemetery. Some Kind of Heaven, in contrast, is about the previous stop on the train ride of life, a massive retirement community in central Florida called The Villages, referred to at one point as “God’s waiting room for heaven.”

No 80-minute documentary could begin to capture a full picture of The Villages, with its 130,000 residents, 2,700 social clubs, and 100 rec centers. Instead, director Lance Oppenheim briefly sketches in the history and character of the place, then — just before his movie starts to seem like an infomercial — settles in to follow three households over the course of more than a year. In compact fashion, he manages to fuse elements of American Beauty, Nomadland, and I’ll See You in My Dreams into one multi-pronged narrative.

The film focuses on Anne and Reggie, whose 47-year marriage has hit some perilous rocks not typically associated with people in their 70s; lonely widow Barbara; and the sketchy Dennis, whom we meet while he’s living in his van, wandering around The Villages trying to land a rich female companion. Anne and Barbara provide the film’s heart and soul; Reggie and Dennis generate its plot twists.

Tolstoy’s recommendation to follow the unhappy families remains excellent advice for both fiction and filmmaking. So while Some Kind of Heaven offers only slim details on how the vast majority of Trump-voting Villages residents stay content and active, its tales of woe and duplicity are consistently engaging. It’s also beautifully filmed, with countless color-streaked clouds, a swelling original score, and enough incidental pop songs to keep a music clearance department busy for months. In other words, it’s the total documentary entertainment package.

What it all adds up to isn’t entirely clear — maybe “never give up hope,” or more cynically, “maybe it’s not as bad as you think.” It doesn’t matter much. These are real people who have, wisely or not, opened up their lives for our peeping pleasure, and like juicy gossip, it’s gripping and only a little guilt-inducing.

Grade: B-plus. Available to stream through the Fine Arts Theatre and the Grail Moviehouse websites.

(Photos: Magnolia Pictures.)

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures