Vanessa Gould’s Obit is a documentary about the oft-forgotten people who document other people’s lives: obituary writers for the New York Times.

It insightfully records how they record history through historical figures. Widespread unfamiliarity with the ins-and-outs of this vocation mostly forgive the overly-conventional aesthetics. As such, it’s an educational, if not expansively enlightening, nor emotionally engaging, nor objectively critical 90 minutes. That last point is the most critical, resulting in a lack of nuanced depth.