From Grey Gardens filmmakers Albert and David Maysles comes a tribute to the eccentric East Hampton recluses (and counterculture icons) Big and Little Edie Beale, and to their landmark documentary's legions of fans.
Little Edie models her strange getups, studies an astrology paperback through a magnifying glass, holds forth on the horrors of alcohol and the strength of her Catholic faith, and delivers numerous spontaneous singing performances.
A bit like wandering into a slice of life that suddenly turns into a Tennessee Williams play, with upper-class Eastern accents replacing the Southern ones.
It lacks the first movie's cohesiveness, but Grey Gardens was never a model of structure; it was more a reality show before its time, and The Beales of Grey Gardens brings us closer to the mysteries at its heart.
Fans of the first film will want to see this extension, though it stands equally well on its own as a portrait of thwarted, headstrong women trapped in a degraded present and borne back ceaselessly into the past.
Never been much of one for once-rich and privileged, now-poor and self- obsessed white folks endlessly rambling over past glories and flirting like school girls. i must have no heart.
September 25, 2009
Lesley N
Super Reviewer
Worth the watch but just the one time. Grey Gardens sloppy seconds.
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