Gates of Heaven/Vernon, Florida

This double-feature from Criterion presents early films—a pair of unconventional portraits of offbeat subjects—from Errol Morris, one of the most celebrated and distinctive documentary filmmakers of our time. Gates of Heaven (1978) serves up a profile of two pet cemeteries, along with the people who loved their animal companions so much that they gave them formal burials and headstones. Morris presents the interviews without adornment or commentary, and the interviewees' plainspoken words lend the film an almost surreal quality (audiences weren't sure if Morris was being sincere or satirical, but Roger Ebert included Gates of Heaven on his All-Time Ten Best list). Vernon, Florida (1981) is equally odd, presenting a cockeyed slice of Americana at its most eccentric, centering on the residents of the titular rural town. Morris lets these colorful real-life characters tell their stories and share their strange interests and obsessions, once again simply recording with a dry, deadpan style. Both films ably confirm the cliché that truth is stranger than fiction. Presented in newly remastered editions, extras include new interviews with Morris, Les Blank's infamous 1980 short “Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe” (in which Herzog promised to literally eat his shoe if Morris completed Gates of Heaven), and an essay by critic Eric Hynes. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)