Review of A Certain Kind of Death (2003) by Dylan R — 22 Jun 2007
This documentary is ostensibly about what happens to people when they're found dead and have no family or next-of-kin. There's lots of scraping "remains" off of floors and rummaging through filthy piles of weird derelict shut-in garbage as case workers attempt to collect and quantify a lifetime's worth of objects and memorbilia.
Pretty heavy stuff, right? Well, kind of. One of the best parts of this movie is the strength of its vérité. Effectively counterpointing the sensational subject matter is a cast of characters who have become pretty nonchalant about the fact that they rummage through dead people's stuff all day. Their candid and unaffected testimonies are quite a treat to watch and transform this film into an almost surreal exploration of how one of the most interesting jobs you've ever encountered is as mundane as yours.
This review of A Certain Kind of Death (2003) was written by Dylan R on 22 Jun 2007.
A Certain Kind of Death has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
