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Some Kind of Heaven

Movie ID: 1202

RT slug: some_kind_of_heaven

RT URL: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/some_kind_of_heaven

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Release year: 2021

Runtime: 83 mins

Wide release date:

Limited release date: 2021-01-15

Festival premiere date:

Streaming release date: 2021-01-15

Tomatometer final: 93%

Audience score final: 74%

Genres: Documentary

Directors: Lance Oppenheim

Writers:

Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Jeffrey Soros, Kathleen Lingo, Lance Oppenheim, Melissa Oppenheim, Pacho Velez, Simon Horsman

MPAA rating:

Executive Producers:

Created: 2026-08-21 15:22:59

Updated: 2026-08-21 15:22:59

Synopsis

With Some Kind of Heaven, first-time feature director Lance Oppenheim cracks the manicured facade of The Villages, America’s largest retirement community -- a massive, self-contained utopia located in Central Florida. Behind the gates of this palm tree-lined fantasyland, Some Kind of Heaven invests in the dreams and desires of a small group of Villages residents -- and one interloper -- who are unable to find happiness within the community’s pre-packaged paradise. With strikingly composed cinematography, this candy-colored documentary offers a tender and surreal look at the never-ending quest for finding meaning and love in life’s final act.

Consensus

Some Kind of Heaven could have gone deeper into its subject, but it remains a breezily entertaining look at some interesting people.

Latest Snapshot / Canonical Review Totals

Canonical reviews: 83

Canonical fresh: 77

Canonical rotten: 6

Canonical calculated Tomatometer: 93%

Latest snapshot UTC: 2026-08-21 14:48:36

Snapshot Tomatometer: 93%

Snapshot review count: 83

Snapshot fresh count: 77

Snapshot rotten count: 6

Source note: Imported from manual review paste batch #2969 (full_snapshot)

Companies

Company Role
Magnolia Pictures distributor
30West production
Los Angeles Media Fund production
Protozoa Pictures production
The New York Times production

Cast

Billing Name Character
1 Darren Aronofsky Producer
2 Jeffrey Soros Producer
3 Simon Horsman Producer
4 Kathleen Lingo Producer
5 Melissa Oppenheim Producer

Movie Import Batches

Batch ID Status Mode Created Notes
1218 processed 2026-08-21 15:22:59 Processed successfully into movie_id=1202 using update_mode=merge_non_empty.

Review Import Batches

Batch ID Local Snapshot UTC Snapshot Entered % Entered Count Status Notes
2969 2026-08-21 09:48:00 (America/Panama) 2026-08-21 14:48:36 93% 83 processed Mode=full_snapshot. Processed 83 row(s); 0 row error(s). Parsed unique reviews in this batch=83, fresh=77, rotten=6, tomatometer=93%. Net new reviews added=83, fresh=77, rotten=6. Current canonical totals=83 reviews, 77 fresh, 6 rotten, tomatometer=93% (92.771%). Entered review count matched parsed batch count (83). Entered tomatometer matched parsed batch value (93%).

Latest Canonical Reviews (max 100)

ID Critic Outlet Fresh? Score RT Time Raw Approx Published UTC Quote
248204 Geoffrey Macnab iNews.co.uk Fresh 4/5 2025-01-16T23:44:30.000Z 2025-01-16 23:44:30 On one level, the film is optimistic. Its protagonists may have problems but at least they haven’t given up on life.
248205 Dan Bayer Next Best Picture Fresh 7/10 2022-05-13T20:04:58.000Z 2022-05-13 20:04:58 What's more remarkable is that Oppenheim manages to give the happier scenes a sheen of grotesquerie without making them feel fake.
248206 Dominic Corry New Zealand Herald Fresh 2021-09-24T21:00:47.000Z 2021-09-24 21:00:47 This documentary about America's largest retirement community is a much more wondrous film than the preconceptions elicited by that short description may suggest.
248207 Paul Whitington Irish Independent Fresh 4/5 2021-08-20T23:02:12.000Z 2021-08-20 23:02:12 [A] winning and funny documentary.
248208 Soham Gadre Film Inquiry Fresh 2021-06-24T05:41:01.000Z 2021-06-24 05:41:01 In Lance Oppenheim's playful and otherworldly documentary Some Kind of Heaven, we get a peculiar glimpse of the lives of people seeking to escape into something utopian and idealistic with varying results but a common sense of isolation.
248209 Jaime Fa de Lucas Culturamas Fresh 2021-06-09T15:00:11.000Z 2021-06-09 15:00:11 David Bolen's spectacular cinematography is the highlight of Some Kind of Heaven. [Full review in Spanish]
248210 Igor Fishman In Review Online Fresh 2021-06-05T20:32:02.000Z 2021-06-05 20:32:02 The struggle to find fulfillment ... mirrors the fragile illusions, aspirations, and failures of everyday folk in their quest to secure that elusive American promise.
248211 Guillem Martinez Oya Cinematismo Fresh 4/5 2021-06-02T13:00:14.000Z 2021-06-02 13:00:14 A film about the meaning of our existence as individuals. A masterclass of how to film the human void. [Full review in Spanish]
248212 Mark Kermode Kermode & Mayo's Film Review Fresh 2021-05-24T22:50:22.000Z 2021-05-24 22:50:22 Strange dystopia and really entertaining...
248213 Jim Ross Cinetopia Fresh 2021-05-24T18:20:15.000Z 2021-05-24 18:20:15 "The film very skillfully gets to different perspectives of [The Villages], and it does so in a way that goes beyond just a simple presentation of those different perspectives."
248214 Rich Cline Shadows on the Wall Fresh 3.5/5 2021-05-20T23:50:28.000Z 2021-05-20 23:50:28 A fascinating portrait of life in America's largest retirement community.
248215 Simran Hans Observer (UK) Fresh 4/5 2021-05-17T14:10:12.000Z 2021-05-17 14:10:12 It'd be easy to mistake the director's deadpan observation for mocking, but the space he holds for the darker aspects of his characters' individual stories helps to puncture any cultivated cutesyness.
248216 Edward Porter Sunday Times (UK) Fresh 3/5 2021-05-17T04:30:18.000Z 2021-05-17 04:30:18 Focused on four residents, it contents itself with telling poignant tales and letting Reggie, an ageing pothead, spring a few surprises.
248217 Deborah Ross The Spectator Fresh 2021-05-17T04:20:15.000Z 2021-05-17 04:20:15 It is a fascinatingly weird place and the film is worth seeing if only to get a sense of that.
248218 Veronica Lee The Arts Desk Fresh 4/5 2021-05-17T03:50:10.000Z 2021-05-17 03:50:10 Oppenheim's subtle and enjoyable film allows us to deduce that, for some, their heaven is another person's idea of hell.
248219 Kevin Maher The Times (UK) Rotten 2/5 2021-05-17T03:00:10.000Z 2021-05-17 03:00:10 The film sits back at a (cowardly?) distance, until all we can do is admire those painterly images.
248220 Brian Viner Daily Mail (UK) Fresh 3/5 2021-05-17T02:40:09.000Z 2021-05-17 02:40:09 Ironically, the new release least likely to have you slumping on the sofa is Some Kind Of Heaven, a documentary about the world's largest retirement community.
248221 Linda Marric The Jewish Chronicle Fresh 5/5 2021-05-14T18:40:29.000Z 2021-05-14 18:40:29 The awkward silences, deadpan deliveries and semi-comedic tone are often reminiscent of Louis Theroux's early BBC work which gave us a previously unseen slice of middle America.
248222 Alistair Harkness Scotsman Fresh 4/5 2021-05-14T17:00:24.000Z 2021-05-14 17:00:24 All human life is here, in other words, and Oppenheim's ability to capture just a sliver of it in such an artful and empathetic way reinforces how life never loses its ability to surprise, even as the end approaches.
248223 Dulcie Pearce The Sun (UK) Fresh 5/5 2021-05-14T17:00:23.000Z 2021-05-14 17:00:23 The real-life characters are surprising and dealt with perfectly.
248224 Tara Brady Irish Times Fresh 4/5 2021-05-14T11:30:09.000Z 2021-05-14 11:30:09 Intersects with the suburbia of Blue Velvet and, in common with that dark dramatic underbelly, there's a compelling soap opera bubbling under the sterile surface.
248225 Amber Wilkinson Eye for Film Fresh 3.5/5 2021-05-14T11:10:09.000Z 2021-05-14 11:10:09 If something of the bigger picture is lost, they deserve credit for noticing the little things, both kind of funny and kind of sad that go to make what more than one resident describes as, "The last hurrah".
248226 Cath Clarke Guardian Fresh 3/5 2021-05-13T11:20:11.000Z 2021-05-13 11:20:11 Director Lance Oppenheim takes a gentle approach, capturing some hilarious moments, but there's nothing patronising or mean-spirited about his film.
248227 Emily Maskell WeLoveCinema Fresh 2021-05-12T20:00:34.000Z 2021-05-12 20:00:34 Taking its visuals as seriously as its subjects, Some Kind of Heaven masterfully and conscientiously offers a poignant reminder that the journey towards happiness isn't over when you retire.
248228 Danny Leigh Financial Times Fresh 3/5 2021-05-12T19:30:33.000Z 2021-05-12 19:30:33 Light and shade coexist, sometimes wonderfully. If the film can seem deeply tickled by itself, there are also moments of melancholy strong enough to knock you off your feet.
248229 Rob Aldam Backseat Mafia Fresh 2021-05-11T08:30:07.000Z 2021-05-11 08:30:07 An amusing and lively portrait of a community of people with different hopes, fear and aspirations.
248230 Aimee Knight Little White Lies Fresh 4/5 2021-05-10T10:50:09.000Z 2021-05-10 10:50:09 A bottomless brunch of candy-coloured heartache.
248231 Jack Hawkins HeyUGuys Fresh 5/5 2021-05-04T11:20:18.000Z 2021-05-04 11:20:18 Among the best documentaries in recent years, Some Kind of Heaven is a painterly rumination on the sum total of our lives.
248232 Peter Canavese Celluloid Dreams Fresh 3/4 2021-04-18T03:20:10.000Z 2021-04-18 03:20:10 A fleet documentary about a fascinating, surreal and visually appealing place that you wish would be a little longer.
248233 David Bax Battleship Pretension Fresh 2021-03-25T23:42:34.000Z 2021-03-25 23:42:34 ...Some Kind of Heaven reminds us that individuality-with all its attendant pain and sadness-will always pop up through the homogeneity like a weed.
248234 Michael Calleri Niagara Gazette Fresh 2021-02-24T16:50:19.000Z 2021-02-24 16:50:19 The interesting movie is directed by Lance Oppenheim, who chronicles organized fun.
248235 Anne Brodie What She Said Fresh 2021-02-19T21:40:40.000Z 2021-02-19 21:40:40 Fascinating.
248236 Andrew Parker The Gate Fresh 8/10 2021-02-18T22:00:58.000Z 2021-02-18 22:00:58 A film about human connection in a place where "the good life" can seem all together artificial and unnecessarily sanitized.
248237 Carla Hay Culture Mix Fresh 2021-01-28T00:40:35.000Z 2021-01-28 00:40:35 The Villages retirement community might want to be a bubble removed from reality, but Some Kind of Heaven ultimately made a very safe and passably entertaining attempt to burst that bubble.
248238 Rubén Rosario MiamiArtZine Fresh 2021-01-26T00:30:38.000Z 2021-01-26 00:30:38 That energetic vitality driving this sun-dappled valentine to Florida is Oppenheim's own. He's made a honey of a movie.
248239 Richard Roeper Chicago Sun-Times Fresh 3/4 2021-01-26T00:30:37.000Z 2021-01-26 00:30:37 Director Lance Oppenheim (who at 24 is a good half-century younger than his subjects) employs a straightforward, deadpan style that suits the material well, avoiding condescension or cutesy gimmicks...
248240 Tom Meek Cambridge Day Fresh 3/4 2021-01-23T01:31:52.000Z 2021-01-23 01:31:52 It's a Day-Glo exposé of loneliness, desperation and hope in the green garden of paradise as the clock ticks down.
248241 Loren King Newport This Week (RI) Fresh 2021-01-22T23:01:52.000Z 2021-01-22 23:01:52 The impressive debut from director Lance Oppenheim... looks at The Villages, a sprawling planned retirement community in Central Florida, about 45 miles from Orlando, and finds the surreal and the strange as well as the humor and poignancy.
248242 Robin Clifford Reeling Reviews Fresh B 2021-01-22T22:51:48.000Z 2021-01-22 22:51:48 Oppenheim and his documentary team do an excellent job in showcasing the community and its many benefits. It also shows that "heaven" is in the eye of the beholder.
248243 John Serba Decider Fresh 2021-01-22T22:32:07.000Z 2021-01-22 22:32:07 Ranks high among 2020's best documentaries.
248244 Richard von Busack SF Weekly Fresh 2021-01-22T22:11:56.000Z 2021-01-22 22:11:56 The absolutely remarkable documentary Some Kind of Heaven was produced by (among others) Darren Aronofsky and the actress Lindsay Crouse. There may not be anything quite like it since Errol Morris started out.
248245 Adam Graham Detroit News Fresh A- 2021-01-22T01:00:53.000Z 2021-01-22 01:00:53 Once you arrive here, you may not want to leave.
248246 Pete Hammond Deadline Hollywood Daily Fresh 5/5 2021-01-19T17:50:37.000Z 2021-01-19 17:50:37 Darren Aronofsky-produced documentary is remarkable look at life in Florida's fake utopia.
248247 Becca James Chicago Reader Fresh 2021-01-19T17:20:28.000Z 2021-01-19 17:20:28 Whether about the local grifter or a recent widow, each story is beautifully shot and allowed to unfold organically, enabling an authentic rumination on life and the relationships that sustain it.
248248 David Fear Rolling Stone Fresh 3.5/5 2021-01-18T17:30:25.000Z 2021-01-18 17:30:25 Oppenheim doesn't want to bury or praise these folks indulging in senior-citizen hedonism; he's more interested in making queasy art out of the communal hangover.
248249 Deirdre Crimmins C-Ville (VA) Fresh 2021-01-17T03:20:08.000Z 2021-01-17 03:20:08 It chooses which facets of this niche world to show you through remarkable access to the residents, and with a guiding hand that asks you to draw your own conclusions.
248250 Peter Rainer FilmWeek (LAist) Rotten 2021-01-16T06:40:40.000Z 2021-01-16 06:40:40 One of those documentaries that has a great subject, but doesn't really know what to do with it.
248251 Amy Nicholson FilmWeek (LAist) Fresh 2021-01-16T06:40:37.000Z 2021-01-16 06:40:37 All that psychological stuff was very interesting. But the point that I really walked away with was that in this community, every man in this community seemed to act like a crazy teenager.
248252 Claudia Puig FilmWeek (LAist) Rotten 2021-01-16T05:50:50.000Z 2021-01-16 05:50:50 Sometimes it's poignant, other times it's chilling, sometimes just depressing... I just wanted to know more details than were explored here.
248253 Gary Goldstein Los Angeles Times Rotten 2021-01-16T01:41:32.000Z 2021-01-16 01:41:32 [D]espite its merits, this wry look at several beleaguered senior citizens living in the world's largest retirement community - Central Florida's the Villages - is often undercut by this telescoped approach.
248254 A.A. Dowd AV Club Fresh B+ 2021-01-16T01:41:31.000Z 2021-01-16 01:41:31 It's like a movie set the size of Manhattan-a Hollywood facsimile of the midcentury high life you can actually move into.
248255 Randy Myers San Jose Mercury News Fresh 3.5/4 2021-01-16T01:01:36.000Z 2021-01-16 01:01:36 Oppenheimer snoops around and finds a fount of cinematic gold, without once resorting to ageist tropes. "Heaven" is about how, even in twilight years, many of us still haven't found what we're looking for.
248256 Toba Singer culturevulture.net Fresh 2021-01-15T23:21:52.000Z 2021-01-15 23:21:52 In the unlikely event that there's an overabundance of merriment in your life under COVID, and nobody in your pod is complaining enough, you might want to see "Some Kind of Heaven.
248257 Jacob Oller Paste Magazine Fresh 8.5/10 2021-01-15T21:31:30.000Z 2021-01-15 21:31:30 Some Kind of Heaven leaves its subjects' stories without ends-except the one end everyone knows is coming for us all-basking in the beautiful imperfect potential of an open door, an empty calendar day, a bare dance floor.
248258 Lisa Trifone Third Coast Review Fresh 3/4 2021-01-15T21:21:27.000Z 2021-01-15 21:21:27 It's Oppenheim's fly-on-the-wall observational approach that delivers the most captivating moments.
248259 Vincent Mancini Uproxx Fresh A+ 2021-01-15T19:00:52.000Z 2021-01-15 19:00:52 The most surreal, sublime portrait of a particular subculture at a particular time I've seen in probably a decade.
248260 Michael J. Casey Michael J. Cinema Fresh 4/5 2021-01-15T19:00:51.000Z 2021-01-15 19:00:51 Bonkers and wildly entertaining
248261 Nell Minow RogerEbert.com Fresh 3.5/4 2021-01-15T18:21:01.000Z 2021-01-15 18:21:01 Charming.
248262 Oscar Goff Boston Hassle Fresh 2021-01-15T16:00:48.000Z 2021-01-15 16:00:48 If John Waters directed a remake of Midsommar, it would probably look a lot like Some Kind of Heaven.
248263 Mark Dujsik Mark Reviews Movies Rotten 2.5/4 2021-01-15T05:21:12.000Z 2021-01-15 05:21:12 [T]he movie leaves us feeling the need for more-more about this place, some other resident, about the subjects themselves.
248264 Anita Katz San Francisco Examiner Fresh 3/4 2021-01-15T03:11:48.000Z 2021-01-15 03:11:48 The film rambles somewhat, and a split-screen sequence clashes tonally with the rest of the film. But overall, it shines as a seriocomic document of how fantasy can't cure conditions like unhappy marriages and loneliness.
248265 Eric Kohn IndieWire Fresh B+ 2021-01-15T00:31:34.000Z 2021-01-15 00:31:34 Oppenheim relishes in the strange beauty of their lives with Rockwellian precision, and the bigger picture remains elusive throughout. Look closer, however, and the movie makes a sobering point, whether or not Oppenheim intended it .
248266 Josh Kupecki Austin Chronicle Fresh 3.5/5 2021-01-15T00:21:33.000Z 2021-01-15 00:21:33 Some Kind of Heaven effortlessly blends humor and pathos into a memorable and at times unsettling study on where life's trajectory might land us, and that is a concept that deserves more than mild contemplation.
248267 Tim Appelo AARP Movies for Grownups Fresh 5/5 2021-01-14T19:02:28.000Z 2021-01-14 19:02:28 This absorbing doc takes us inside a fascinating parallel universe, as elders golf, dance, swim, flirt, cheerlead, do karate, play tennis and binge movies in the place envisioned as the Disneyland of retirees.
248268 Ben Kenigsberg New York Times Fresh 2021-01-14T14:20:37.000Z 2021-01-14 14:20:37 Oppenheim resists easy misanthropy, showing unexpected empathy for people who have cocooned themselves from the outside world, only to confront its headaches anyway.
248269 Brian Orndorf Blu-ray.com Fresh B+ 2021-01-14T00:40:51.000Z 2021-01-14 00:40:51 Remains focused on the unusual lives it's capturing, but also becomes a Christopher Guest movie at times, with the helmer occasionally unsure how to approach off-beat personalities living in a plastic wonderland.
248270 Laura Clifford Reeling Reviews Fresh A- 2021-01-12T22:50:53.000Z 2021-01-12 22:50:53 With "Some Kind of Heaven," Oppenheim's created a spiritual successor to Errol Morris's "Vernon, Florida with the style of Todd Hayne's "Far from Heaven." It's a must see.
248271 Michael O'Sullivan Washington Post Fresh 3/4 2021-01-12T17:20:40.000Z 2021-01-12 17:20:40 The film deepens and grows more thoughtful - and, yes, sad - as its spotlight on the need for human connection - at any age - comes into focus.
248272 Chuck Bowen Slant Magazine Rotten 2/4 2021-01-10T17:50:09.000Z 2021-01-10 17:50:09 The film is most tragic and humorous when hints of the outside world break through the suffocatingly cheerful façade of the Villages.
248273 Todd Jorgenson Cinemalogue Fresh 2021-01-08T16:40:23.000Z 2021-01-08 16:40:23 Its observational approach goes beyond the brochure to highlight universal challenges reflecting contemporary population shifts.
248274 Susan Granger SSG Syndicate Fresh 7/10 2020-12-17T21:31:07.000Z 2020-12-17 21:31:07 Lance Oppenheim's look at The Villages, a huge retirement community in central Florida, is sadly surreal - a fascinating place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.
248275 Stephen Silver Living Life Fearless Fresh 3.5/5 2020-11-16T23:01:27.000Z 2020-11-16 23:01:27 The film does a great job capturing what a surreal place The Villages must be.
248276 Vadim Rizov Filmmaker Magazine Fresh 2020-09-15T00:30:48.000Z 2020-09-15 00:30:48 A sleek first feature shot across the bow...
248277 Eric Hynes Film Comment Magazine Fresh 2020-09-15T00:30:47.000Z 2020-09-15 00:30:47 I hazard to think that the film's mutual curiosity gives Some Kind of Heaven its vivifying spirit, that transforms what might have been familiarly charming and smirkily knowing into something more troubling, elusive, and enduring.
248278 Cameron Meier Orlando Weekly Fresh 3.75/5 2020-08-06T00:20:33.000Z 2020-08-06 00:20:33 A tragicomic ... combination of The Stepford Wives and an Errol Morris movie, it's one of the best documentaries you'll see this year.
248279 Stephen Saito Moveable Fest Fresh 2020-02-07T01:10:06.000Z 2020-02-07 01:10:06 [Director Lance] Oppenheim's debut is particularly refreshing and although it's debatable the stars of the film are better off opening themselves up to new experiences, this work of an extraordinarily gifted filmmaker leaves no question for the audience.
248280 Jake Kring-Schreifels The Film Stage Fresh B 2020-02-02T01:40:06.000Z 2020-02-02 01:40:06 The characters Oppenheim finds are compelling enough to stay invested in the ways they navigate this "Disneyland of retirement," a phrase used by its original owner Harold Schwartz.
248281 Beandrea July The Hollywood Reporter Fresh 2020-01-31T19:10:09.000Z 2020-01-31 19:10:09 There's a lot of dancing in this movie, and it turns out that watching old people dance in an authentic way is really enjoyable.
248282 Dennis Harvey Variety Fresh 2020-01-31T18:20:10.000Z 2020-01-31 18:20:10 Those nostalgic for the fond portraits of eccentric Americana in Errol Morris' early work - and pretty much everyone else - will be delighted by "Some Kind of Heaven."
248283 Rachel Wagner rachelsreviews.net Fresh 7/10 2020-01-31T08:50:05.000Z 2020-01-31 08:50:05 In a weird way the Villages becomes a type of 'keep you busy' prison and... that's a cynical message but not one without a dose of truth to it.
248284 Louisa Moore Screen Zealots Fresh 4/5 2020-01-30T23:40:09.000Z 2020-01-30 23:40:09 This beautifully crafted documentary gives an honest, open, and deeply human look at getting older.
248285 Matt Cipolla The Spool Fresh 2020-01-29T21:10:11.000Z 2020-01-29 21:10:11 Some Kind of Heaven perhaps works best in how it blends emotional and aesthetic construction, its score and look blending the progressive and the stagnant.
248286 Alan Ng Film Threat Fresh 8/10 2020-01-28T22:40:08.000Z 2020-01-28 22:40:08 Lance Oppenheim presents a hopeful future for latter years of life.

Showing the latest 100 canonical reviews for this movie.