Some Kind of Heaven

They say that youth is wasted on the young, but don’t tell anyone that in The Villages. If you are like me and never have heard of The Villages, that’s  ok, that just means you are under 65, as The Villages is the largest retirement community in America. This place has it all, night clubs, all kinds of activities, and what has to be the largest amount of golf carts you will see on any course. The Villages  looks like quite the place to live, but it’s the people who live there that truly makes it special.

It is safe to say that director Lance Oppenheim went through a hand full of candidates to find a select few to follow, and while there is a promise of non-stop fun, I don’t know if these people are having any. There is the married couple Anne and Reggie, who have been married for forty-seven years, but who are going in different directions in The Villages. Where Anne is grounded, Reggie has decided doing drugs and acting a little crazy is the way to go. Then you have Barbara, who is still having to work, after her husband passed away as she tries to find her way to start living life again. Barbara doesn’t look like she is very happy, but she starts to find something after meeting a golf cart salesman. The cream of the crop when it comes to this cast of characters is Dennis, a single guy who lives out of his van as he searches for an attractive lady with money he can move in with. All of these characters seem to be searching for the happiness that is promised at The Villages, with each of them seemly settling for the space between happiness and despair.

Life in The Villages is quite a hoot, and Oppenheim does a great job of weaving in and out of these stories, while still giving you a large peak at what life there is like. If you are that single cat in his or her eighties, it is said to be like going to college when you move there, so I assume that means lots of parties and for this crowd a lot of scotch. Oppenheim doesn’t get into anything but the life that The Villages offers you, and with the weather of Florida and what seems like is the perfect planned community for baby boomers. While everything is always seems sunny, there is an undercurrent that flows through the film and it’s a denial of reality. It is a lot like the people Oppenheim chooses to follow, there is some darkness underneath all of the shinny exteriors. Some Kind of Heaven  is exactly that for some people, and maybe you might be one of them, but for everyone else, this is either a desired future or the thing you dread will happen, either way this is a good primer of what’s to come for some of us.