Obit.

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1:34

Obit.

2017

1h 35m

Documentary

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

57 Reviews

76%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

At The New York Times, a particular team of writers is entrusted with reflecting upon the luminaries, icons, and world leaders of our day. Here, we are introduced to those responsible for crafting these unequaled obituaries. As we are taken through their painstaking process, we learn about the pressures accompanying a career spent shaping the story of a life.

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Critics Consensus

Obit shines an entertaining -- and overdue -- spotlight on an engaging group of people whose singular craft is too often taken for granted.

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Tom Long

Detroit News

Jun 23, 2017

B+

"Obit" manages to be both about a specific type of journalism and the larger world it reflects while dropping in all manner of colorful lives and circumstances.

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Matthew Lickona

San Diego Reader

May 18, 2017

3/5

The real subject here is storytelling, the creation of a stylish, authoritative, highly personal record of "how the world got to be the way it is." One more thing to miss about newspapers when they go.

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Ty Burr

Boston Globe

May 18, 2017

3.5/4

As someone who takes great pleasure in both reading and writing valedictions to the recently deceased, I can personally attest that the movie's dead on.

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Jason Adams

The Film Experience

Jul 6, 2021

Weaves well sourced magic out of the making of their post-mortems

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Richard Crouse

Richard Crouse

Feb 28, 2021

3.5/5

It celebrates those no longer with us as much as it does the journalists who write the stories.

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Leigh Monson

Substream Magazine

Sep 24, 2020

4/5

I found the poetry and intellectual curiosity of Gould's subjects to be entirely enthralling, and Obit is as entertaining as it is informative.

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David H

@DavidQHarris Nov 2, 2024

Interesting film. In a more perfect world, where I wouldn't have to prioritize the various activities I engage in so much, I'd have been happy to watch it all. But I watched the first half hour of if and enjoyed it very much.

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Oct 13, 2020

This is an excellent doc. It focuses on the art and craft of obit writing, which should grab the interest of anyone who admires those as they are written in The NY Times and periodicals such as The Economist. It periodically presents some of these obits, and while taking in the details of the lives of those who died, it provokes a lot of self-reflection, as good obits tends to do.

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Feb 6, 2018

My kind of documentary -- thoughtful about a lot of different things, mostly from oblique angles. Interesting people, and a subject that I really hadn't given enough thought to before seeing this. Really enjoyable to watch.

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Nov 10, 2017

Fascinating and thought provoking.

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Nov 9, 2017

"Everyone is going to die." said a obit writer for the NYTimes. This entertaining documentary reports about the obit writers and the research that goes into the writing. Some obits are there just waiting for the "end" and last details. The selection of who becomes an important obit in the NYT is fascinating. The documentary follows the shaping of the obit of the man who primed JFK for the first tv debate in 1960. It was felt that his maneuvering helped JFK look so good on tv and, as JFK felt, won him the 1960 election. Fascinating movie.

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Sep 28, 2017

Surprisingly funny and touching film - the wriers are increcibly smart and clearly dedicated to the job. We should all be so lucky as to have our obits written up by this crew!

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Vanessa Gould

Director

Caitlin Mae Burke

Producer

Vanessa Gould

Producer

Pamela Tanner Boll

Executive Producer

Geralyn White Dreyfous

Executive Producer

Ben Wolf

Cinematographer

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Obit.: Trailer 1

1:34

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Synopsis

At The New York Times, a particular team of writers is entrusted with reflecting upon the luminaries, icons, and world leaders of our day. Here, we are introduced to those responsible for crafting these unequaled obituaries. As we are taken through their painstaking process, we learn about the pressures accompanying a career spent shaping the story of a life.

Director: Vanessa Gould
Producer: Caitlin Mae Burke, Vanessa Gould
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Production Co: Mystic Artists Films Productions, Green Fuse Films, Imperfect Films, Topiary Productions
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 26, 2017, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 25, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $313.3K
Runtime: 1h 35m

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