Premise: A
documentary about an eccentric mother-daughter pair living in a dilapidated
estate.
Grey Gardens is the
"high society" version of this. The two women are Jackie Kennedy's
aunt and cousin. The estate was in a wealthy neighborhood. Naturally, the women
and the house earned a lot of attention. The state of their house is bad,
although, having just watched The Wire, I'll note that it's not that
different from the state of a lot of the characters on that show 30 years
later, so a little perspective there. What's notable about them is how they
chose to live like this, in a rotting, rodent-infested house. It would've been
easy for them to live in better conditions. They had the right family name and
connections.
Big and Little Edie
are wacky individuals. Their lack of vanity and self-awareness are the stuff
that made reality TV so successful a few decades later. It's easy to see why
this movie has earned a cult following and has been adapted in so many ways. However,
it felt a little exploitative to me, which is the same reason I don't watch a
lot of reality TV. They are really intriguing people though. Their ability to
get on each other's nerves is pretty incredible. I admire the filmmakers'
attempts to stay out of the movie, but Little Edie in particular kept trying to
drag them in.
This movie has been
so thoroughly referenced and parodied (check out the Documentary Now!
episode) that there wasn't much that was new to me watching this. Perhaps it
would've been more entertaining without all that familiarity. As is, this ended
up being a movie I saw more to check off a list than because I really loved it.
Verdict: Weakly
Don't Recommend
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