“Obit” reveals how The New York Times’ obituary staff breathes life into history

The paradox of the obituary, explains New York Times writer Margalit Fox, is that it is only incidentally concerned with death. The demise of a notable person might be its impetus, but the obituary itself is chiefly concerned with the deceased individual’s life. Fittingly, director Vanessa Gould’s stirring new documentary, Obit, which provides a illuminating look at the work of the Times obituary staff writers, is not a dismal meditation on mortality. Rather, it’s a swooning, down-to-earth tribute to the work of journalism and the art of writing.

Obit is loosely structured around a single day in December 2014, as Times writer Bruce Weber struggles to condense the life of a John F. Kennedy campaign adviser to 1,000 words. The film, however, is less of a day-in-the-life portrait of a profession than an unexpectedly stimulating round table on the significance and subtleties of obituary writing. The director intersperses vérité snippets of the ironically frenetic working conditions at the “death desk” with expressive talking-head commentary from the journalists, who discuss their approaches with a distinctly NYC mix of erudition, pragmatism, and rumpled newsroom humor. Whenever the mood becomes too solemn, Obit drops in on droll archivist Jeff Roth in the Times’ “morgue,” a staggering clipping and photo repository that serves as an invaluable resource for obituary writers.

Converting the nitty gritty of biographical journalism into stimulating cinema is a challenging feat, but Gould pulls off this unlikely alchemy by maintaining an energetic pace. The film features writers reading aloud from particularly poetic examples of their work, as flurries of photographs and clips combine with Joel Goodman’s urgent, sweeping score to establish a brisk tempo. In short, Gould gives the potentially gloomy subject of death journalism the sort of vibrant presentation that suits the profession’s fascination with humanity in all its colorful splendor.

Opens Friday, June 23 at the Landmark Tivoli Theatre.