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The Beales of Grey Gardens
A film by Albert Maysles, David
Maysles, Ian Markiewicz
Criterion Collection
"Your friends just fade away."
Edie Beales
The original 1976 doc Grey Gardens
by the cinema verite auteur Maysles
brothers was found somewhere on a
list of "Top 50 Cult Films" of all time.
Perhaps at around 60 minutes it was
worthy of such a salutation.
However, could the new, expanded
edition of the quirky flick be too
much of a cult thing?
As this type of film should do, I will
leave that up to you.
But the extra 30 minutes of footage
tacked on for this excellent transfer
to vid by Criterion may have had the
ironic effect of making the whole film,
well, less ironic.
A shorter view of mother Edith Beale,
and clearly loopy daughter Edie-who
claim distance kinship with the
Boucher's-might in fact be, more.
Some shadenfruede at how far the
Beale duo had fallen out in there
near spooky East Hampton falling
down house might be healthy.
But long, jump-cutted close-up
examinations of Edie- who claims not
to be schizophrenic but might
possibly be -seems like pulling fleas
from the Beales' army of cats-and that
is suggested in the film too.
It's not like the new film is not
fascinating to watch,what with mother
Edith's zingers aimed square at her
daughter's excess, and Edie's some
time mental clarity amidst her
madness.
It's just that watching what amounts
to two old bags disintegrate in what
used to be a grand home in an
exclusive neighbourhood, is, well,
bizarre.
Here's a clip: The Beales at Grey
Discuss amongst selves.
A film by Albert Maysles, David
Maysles, Ian Markiewicz
Criterion Collection
"Your friends just fade away."
Edie Beales
The original 1976 doc Grey Gardens
by the cinema verite auteur Maysles
brothers was found somewhere on a
list of "Top 50 Cult Films" of all time.
Perhaps at around 60 minutes it was
worthy of such a salutation.
However, could the new, expanded
edition of the quirky flick be too
much of a cult thing?
As this type of film should do, I will
leave that up to you.
But the extra 30 minutes of footage
tacked on for this excellent transfer
to vid by Criterion may have had the
ironic effect of making the whole film,
well, less ironic.
A shorter view of mother Edith Beale,
and clearly loopy daughter Edie-who
claim distance kinship with the
Boucher's-might in fact be, more.
Some shadenfruede at how far the
Beale duo had fallen out in there
near spooky East Hampton falling
down house might be healthy.
But long, jump-cutted close-up
examinations of Edie- who claims not
to be schizophrenic but might
possibly be -seems like pulling fleas
from the Beales' army of cats-and that
is suggested in the film too.
It's not like the new film is not
fascinating to watch,what with mother
Edith's zingers aimed square at her
daughter's excess, and Edie's some
time mental clarity amidst her
madness.
It's just that watching what amounts
to two old bags disintegrate in what
used to be a grand home in an
exclusive neighbourhood, is, well,
bizarre.
Here's a clip: The Beales at Grey
Discuss amongst selves.
