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I would just like to apologize to the Criterion Collection for taking so long for this review. I've had the screener since September and it's just taken me a while to get to it. My apologies Criterion!
GREY GARDENS
Taken from Uncle John's Great Big Bathroom Reader (sometimes it's better not to ask questions):
(Taken from the Famous For 15 Minutes section.)
THE STARS: Big Edie and Little Edie Beale, the aunt and cousin of Jaqueline Kennedy.
THE HEADLINE: Filmmakers Find Two Nuts in Bouvier Family Tree
WHAT HAPPENED: In 1961, Big Edie and Little Edie Beale, members of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy's family, traveled to Washington D.C. to attend John Kennedy's inauguration. Afterwards, they returned home to Grey Gardens, their 28-room mansion in East Hampton, New York...and never left the house again.
They were still there in 1973, living in two small rooms in an upstairs porch, along with raccoons, fleas, and dozens of cats in a "squalid" estate filled with overgrown weeds, when Jackie's sister, Lee Radziwill, approached filmmakers Albert and David Maysles about making a film portrait of her childhood with Jackie Kennedy.
The Maysales agreed and filmed various Bouvier kin...until they got to Big Edie and Little Edie. They found the pair so interesting that they abandoned Radziwill's project and made a film entirely about the Edies. In the film mother and daughter-surrounded by their cats-sing, dance, bicker, dress in bathing suits and bath towels secured with expensive broaches, and eat ice cream and boiled corn in bed. "I saw many signs of health in the Beales," Albert Maysles told the Los Angeles Times in 1996. "They don't have television, they don't drink, and they have a strong bond between them. I've always believed their lifestyle was their way of thumbing their noses at the aristocracy and all its snobbery."
AFTERMATH: Grey Gardens was released in 1976 and was an enormous critical success. It catapulted Big Edie and Little Edie into cult superstardom. "Perry Ellis was a huge fan," says Susan Fromke, who also worked on the film. "They used to have 'Grey Garden' parties with the film projected on the wall of a loft and people would wear their favorite Edie outfit."
Big Edie dies about a year after the film was released. In 1979, Little Edie sold Grey Gardens to Ben Bradlee of The Washington Post. "Mother told me to sell it to keep it out of Jackie's hands," she explained. She moved to Miami Beach and was still living there in 1998.
Movie: 7/10
When I first got this DVD I was almost afraid to watch it. Look at the cover and you'll know what I mean. Everyone kept asking me "What the hell is that?", Little Edie looking super bizarre on the cover. I knew, however, that the Maysles (Salesman, Gimmie Shelter) and Criterion would not put out a trash piece and I was right. The film is very good, not as good as Salesman in my opinion, but a very decent documentary. The above except pretty well summarizes it: the film takes an in depth look at the relationship between the eccentric mother and daughter and their lifestyle in the declared "health hazard" of Grey Gardens. The Maysles do a very nice job again with their documentary (like always), however, something didn't come out and grab me about this one. I can't really put my finger on it, maybe the lifestyles were just too weird for me.
Video: 8/10
It's full screen color, not a bad transfer, at times it's gritty but it is a documentary so it's not going to be glossy. Looks great for being so old.
Audio: 7/10
Not bad again, I believe it's Dolby Digital Mono, not much happening so you're not missing much. Not superb either though.
Extras: 8/10
A very nice package of goodies: a really decent audio commentary by the filmmakers, excepts from a recorded interview with Little Edie, video interviews with fashion designers Todd Oldham and John Bartlett on the influence that Grey Gardens and Little Edie had on their styles of design. There is also a trailer and some really nice behind the scenes photos, Filmographies are also included. What I feel is missing here is a little documentary on the lives of Little Edie after her mothers death and maybe more on the influence the film has had. A commentary with Little Edie would have been nice also (if she is still alive). Nice overall!
Overall: 7/10
Well rounded package, not for everyone mind you.
COMING SOON: Reviews of TWIN PEAKS: THE FIRST SEASON, Criterion's 8 1/2, Shadow Skills, and an Orson Welles double feature of The Stranger and The Trial.
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