Some Kind of Heaven

Film & Discussion with Director Lance Oppenheim. Ends Thursday, March 4.

(USA / 2021 / Directed by Lance Oppenheim)

With its strikingly composed cinematography and candy-colored backdrop, Some Kind of Heaven pierces the bubble of The Villages, a Florida retirement community northwest of Orlando that has grown into a 30 square-mile golf-opolis the size of a small city.

Behind the gates of this palm tree fantasyland, the film focuses on the dreams and desires of a cast of characters who’ve been unable to find happiness in their pre-packaged paradise. Reggie and Anne, married for nearly five decades, have hit a rough patch. While Reggie embraces Tai Chi and says he likes using drugs that get him to a spiritual place, on their anniversary he proclaims that he’s died and been reincarnated, leaving his wife lamenting his “out there” sense of reality. Dennis, an interloper, sleeps in a van, hangs out at swimming pools, and hopes to meet “a nice-looking lady with some money.” And newly widowed Barbara finds life without a partner difficult, especially far away from her Boston home. Reminiscent of Errol Morris’ early portraits of eccentric Americana, Some Kind of Heaven resists easy misanthropy, offering a tender and surreal look at the never-ending quest for finding meaning and love in life’s final act, and showing unexpected empathy for people who’ve cocooned themselves from the outside world only to confront its headaches anyway.

Unrated / 1 hr 21 mins.