Gates of Heaven (1978)

Errol Morris’s documentary about one failed and one successful pet cemetery is extremely well thought of in some critical circles. This is not a flashy documentary, while the subject matter may seem gimmicky the movie is really about the people, proprietors, employees, former owners of the interred, and even neighbors of the subject facilities. Morris spends a lot time just showing you his interviews of these people, talking heads with very limited use of other visuals (yet the film has a stylistic rhythm you catch onto after awhile). Notice the sequence were he intercuts between interviews of the three members of the Harberts family, and it takes a while before you realize that their all talking about their respective dreams, and how different, and kind of desperate those dreams are. A little slow, especially at first, but intriguing on the whole. Grade: A-