Obit

7.3
2017 1 hr 33 min Documentary

How do you put a life into 500 words? Ask the staff obituary writers at the New York Times. OBIT is a first-ever glimpse into the daily rituals, joys and existential angst of the Times obit writers, as they chronicle life after death on the front lines of history.

  • Cast:
    Bruce Weber

Similar titles

Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-in Movie
Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-in Movie
Once a vibrant part of American culture, drive-ins reached their peak in the late 1950s with almost 5,000 dotting the nation. Although drive-ins are experiencing a resurgence, today less than 400 remain. In a nation that loves cars and movies, why haven't they survived? April Wright's lovingly made documentary, filled with archival images of hundreds of open and closed drive-in theaters, interviews with theater owners, operators and cinema luminaries attempts to answer that question.
Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-in Movie 2013
Aim High In Creation!
Aim High In Creation!
A revolutionary film about the cinematic genius of North Korea's late Dear Leader Kim Jung-IL, with a groundbreaking experiment at its heart - a propaganda film, made according to the rules of his 1987 manifesto. Through the shared love of cinema, AIM HIGH IN CREATION! forges an astonishing new bond between the hidden filmmakers of North Korea and their Free World collaborators. Revealing an unexpected truth about the most isolated nation on earth: filmmakers, no matter where they live, are family.
Aim High In Creation! 2013
In Bob We Trust
In Bob We Trust
Having faithfully served his South Melbourne parish for nearly four decades, the cantankerous, controversial Catholic provocateur affectionately called Father Bob is well known and loved, as much for his incorrigible media savvy and battles with Church hierarchy as for his staunch advocacy on behalf of the disadvantaged and disenfranchised. In Bob We Trust goes behind the scenes with Bob, documenting his everyday trials during one of the most turbulent times in his career: his forced retirement and eviction from the church he called home for 38 years.
In Bob We Trust 2013
Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property
Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property
In 1831, Nat Turner led a slave rebellion in the United States that resulted in the murder of local slave owners and their families, the eventual execution of 55 rebels and the retribution lynching of more than 200 innocent slaves. Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property examines how the story of Turner’s revolt has been interpreted throughout history and how it continues to raise new questions about the nature of terrorism and other forms of violent resistance to oppression. The film adopts an innovative structure by interspersing documentary footage and interviews with dramatizations of these different versions of Turner’s story. A unique collaboration between MacArthur Genius Award feature director Charles Burnett, acclaimed historian of slavery Kenneth S. Greenberg and Academy Award-nominated documentary producer Frank Christopher, Nat Turner is a compelling look at one of history’s most mysterious figures.
Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property 2003
The Raw and the Cooked
The Raw and the Cooked
The Raw and The Cooked is a culinary journey around the gourmets paradise, Taiwan. The film makes seven stops along the way. In the islands capital, Taipei, we visit a traditional Taiwanese restaurant, a legendary dim-sum palace, and one of the city's lively night markets. Next, we encounter the hearty cuisine of the Hakka, Taiwan's largest ethnic community; were introduced to the pure and delicious seafood specialties of the Ami indigenous tribe; and we get a glimpse of the Buddhist influences on Taiwanese cuisine. Finally, we are invited to a banquet by one of the islands most creative chefs. Combining traditional cuisine and best organic ingredients, he weaves a culinary magic to create spectacular and novel dishes. On our travels, we witness the efforts of Taiwan's young environmental movement to resist the rapid pace of urbanization, which is destroying much of the islands beautiful countryside. The Raw and The Cooked is an island tour that celebrates fine food.
The Raw and the Cooked 2012
Je suis Charlie
Je suis Charlie
This new documentary by the father-and-son directing team of Daniel and Emmanuel Leconte pays tribute to the 11 journalists of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo who were killed in the January 2015 attack by radical Islamic extremists.
Je suis Charlie 2015
Chris the Swiss
Chris the Swiss
Croatia, 7th of January 1992: In the middle of the war, a young journalist's body is discovered dressed in the uniform of an international mercenary group. Twenty years later, his cousin Anja Kofmel investigates his story.
Chris the Swiss 2018
The World of Jacques Demy
The World of Jacques Demy
Agnès Varda's documentary portrait of her late husband, Jacques Demy. A companion piece to her Jacquot de Nantes.
The World of Jacques Demy 1995
Making Mao
Making Mao
When the Communist Party took over China in 1949, it engineered a massive propaganda effort to win over the people's hearts and minds. MAKING MAO revisits the people and events responsible for making Mao Zedong the star of this cultural phenomenon. It was an artistic yet brutal onslaught of images and slogans that lasted over 25 years and kept him in power. Yet while Mao was celebrated as a God by most, those who did not abide became victimes. Our story examines what created and perpetuated this mass hysteria, and revisits the art that would both shape and nearly destroy a nation.
Making Mao 2009

Reviews

Cubussoli
2017/01/11

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

... more
VividSimon
2017/01/12

Simply Perfect

... more
Fairaher
2017/01/13

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

... more
Marva
2017/01/14

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

... more
Ian
2017/01/15

(Flash Review)Yep, this is a documentary about the handful of people who write obituaries for the New York Times. Seemed like an unusual topic to make a film for thus it peaked my curiosity. The director did a good job of making it as exciting as the topic could be. The film went into how obituaries are written, what qualifies a person to make the cut and how much space is allotted based on a person's notoriety or perhaps their unique story that contributed to an interesting point in history. Also discussed, with much fervor, was how these writers handle a late afternoon death of a big name in today's world of immediate news. Such as when they had to rush Michael Jackson as he died near the end of the day and was unexpected. For many big names, they do have a partially written obit to save time in crunch time. It was moderately interesting but 60 minutes would have sufficed over 90.

... more
Larry Silverstein
2017/01/16

This rather fascinating documentary, directed by Vanessa Gould, shows us the inner workings of the obituary department of the New York Times. One might expect this film to be somewhat grim but it proves to be anything but, with even some deadpan (pun intended) humor well placed into the movie.Ar first, I thought the writers and editors of the department came across as flippant, considering the subject matter of a person's death. However, it became apparent that they have a job to do and are trying to do it in the best way possible, spinning an accurate and interesting narrative for their readers, while trying to sum up someone's life in just so many words, while also under time pressures to meet a print deadline.There's also lots of wonderful archival film and photos of people and events over the decades, as well as screen shots of various New York Times obits over the years. I thought the doc really gave me a good insight into how the writers of the obits chose those persons that would go into their columns and how the pieces are cobbled together, eventually with a finished product emerging.

... more
jdesando
2017/01/17

"Maybe a sentence or two will be about the death." Obituarist Dying is no fun, but the obit writers at the New York Times make the most of it. They treat the assignment as a celebration of life, a real life, a history of people who made differences in the lives of others. Additionally, more than the responsibility of finding out the facts of a life is getting the facts correct.Obit is a surprisingly upbeat documentary about a decidedly downbeat subject. The reporters are animated about the celebration and the discoveries they uncover in their journalistic pursuit. Most of them were accomplished journalists who are chosen because that part of the paper has grown from a pasture for declining reporters to a field of artistic possibilities energized by the lives the reporters chronicle.Much of the time they are going on gut feeling. When they reported on John Fairfax, the first to cross an ocean in a rowboat, they hit a goldmine because his life outside the rowboat was even more interesting.In one of the most prominent obits, the somewhat discursive doc features the death of William Wilson, one of the first TV consultants, who advised JFK the night in 1960 when he defeated Richard Nixon by virtue of Kennedy's telegenic superiority, helped in no small part by Wilson's choice of such details as the makeup he hurried to buy at a pharmacy.An interesting part of such obits as Wilson's is the choice for lead paragraph or the headline or where in the paper it should go--front page or obit section--and how long in words. These decisions are not fed into an algorithm but rather are the province of writers and editors who know history and culture well enough to make the decision.The NYT is my favorite newspaper, so good that I read the obits along with the editorials. Such a gift to me ensures that my own obit will exude the joie de vivre we both share.

... more
onefortheroad-08906
2017/01/18

Well, I thought the movie had a sense of black humor and an upbeat tempo of positivity. If you don't know, it's about Obituaries in the office of the greatest periodical in the world.I kind of loved Obit. It's a fine and visually stunning movie. Especially, I loved the Adobe Photoshop editing of Newspaper Clippings and Newspaper Photographs projected to the sounds of wise words from journalists. Spoiler Alert. The movie showed a place in the New York Times Office, where journalists store pre-written obituaries. Ronald Reagan had a lot more death stories written about his racist person than the other people famous people did. Because of Fascists unpopularity, journalists wrote a lot of obituaries about him before his death actually occurred.Obit was actually not about a journalist who passed away, though going into the theater I thought it was. I got there 5 minutes late. The screen showed a black and white photograph of a man attempting suicide by sailing his 20 foot schooner across the ocean. I liked getting educated about what Great Journalists think and do. I learned very little about what I need to do to reach my goal of becoming a journalist, but it was still good to see the interviews Of NY Times employees. I was the historical references. The oldest Newspaper of the United States certainly has a lot of information in its archives. Some interesting people I was unfamiliar with were mentioned among the famous deceased. I wanted to give these forgotten stars of history a second breath air, freeing them from lost memory, carrying them across time to the here and now, researching them on Google.

... more

Watch Free Now