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			Released: 1975 Directed by: Ellen Hovde, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Muffie Meyer Written by: N/A Genre: Documentary Rated: PG Runtime: 100 minutes Country: USA Purchase Now Review by: Neko

	Review Type: MOVIE
	Review: First of all, Grey Gardens is in no way your traditional "movie". It's actually only marginally what I would consider a documentary. The word "documentary" brings to my mind movies like "Spellbound" or "Supersize Me", things that document specific events or experiments. Grey Gardens is more voyeuristic in nature, letting it's two leading ladies run the show in no particular direction. Expect something more along the lines of "home movies gone awry". The movie is a slice of the lives of two formerly aristocratic, society women - Edith Bouvier Beales ("Big Edie") and her daughter, "Little Edie", who have taken to living a very secluded life in their crumbling East Hamptons home. The house, which was obviously once a really upper crust place, is in a state of decay - large holes in the walls, dirt, dust, unidentified stains on the floors, walls, and stairs, raccoons in the attic (which Little Edie sort of endearingly feeds whole loaves of Wonder Bread topped with a box of dry cat food) and cats, cats, cats. Cats everywhere and not a litter box in sight, which goes a little further towards identifying some of those mystery stains on the floor. It's clear from the beginning that neither of these women is playing with a full deck of cards. Big Edie, who was 79 years old at the time of filming, seems wistfully caught up in her former life as a singer, often bursting into warbly song for the camera. She spends about 80% of the film reclining in her bed, which is covered with trash and cats. She puts on a big floppy hat and loopily gives us her shaky, top volume rendition of "Tea for Two", accompanied by an instrumental record. It's 50-something year old Little Edie, however, that shines as the true tragic figure here. It's hard to tell if the solitude has made her the way she is or if she was always a little off, but Little Edie is crazy. Whimsically crazy, yes, but still obviously not all there. From the pair's history, which is indistinctly pieced together throughtout the film - bits and pieces of the timeline coming up during conversations or arguments, it seems that Little Edie lived in New York by herself for a few years, as a model and dancer, but eventually got tired of worrying about her mother's health problems and came back to Grey Gardens where she's remained since. Or perhaps mother made her come home? It's hard to say. Either way, Little Edie's stuck. She constantly talks of leaving, how she hates the country, hates the house, misses the "terrible noises" of the city. She blames her mother for her stagnant life, but at the same time, waits on her hand and foot. Little Edie has barely to leave the room her mother is in before we hear Big Edie calling her back, asking for things, asking questions. "I think my days at Grey Gardens are limited" she repeats throughout the film. It's a little sad at times and a lot weird. As crazy as Little Edie comes off, she's also very charismatic. There are shadows of the "lady" she must once have been, breezy, well-bred mannerisms and hand gestures, and pictures of her days as a model to prove that she used to be a real knock out. She's incredibly quotable in a madcap way, almost constantly spouting off interesting and unusually phrased dialogue. She refers to her bizarre outfits as her "costumes for the day". She more or less inexplicably keeps her head covered at all times with a vast array of shawls, wimples, scarves, towels, and sweaters, all fastened on with an ever present gold brooch. Brief mention is made of her hair someday "growing back", but we don't know what the story there is. We just know that Little Edie determinedly keeps her head under wraps as she yells, bickers, whispers, sings, whines, dances and squints her way through her strange, lonely life. I have no doubt that there are crazy women all over the country that live something similar to this. Mentally deteriorating old women with a billion cats have become a stereotype. Why is there a documentary about this, you might ask. Actually, and this is what made me curious about the movie in the first place - the Edies are the aunt and first cousin of Jackie Onassis, former Kennedy wife and first lady. And that's surprising for about the first two minutes of the film, but it promptly fades into the background as their combined states of mental health and way of life take over as the real subject matter. I gave this movie an A- because I wanted a little more structure. I wanted more solid fact about how these women ended up where they were. Aside from that, I can't complain. I was curious and my curiosity was sated. I was entertained and vaguely appalled. As I said, the movie accomplishes what it sets out to do - to let you into someone elses lives for just a little while. Whether or not it would be worth watching to someone else depends on how appealing the idea of watching crazy people for an hour and a half is to them. Personally, I was captivated.
		Final Grade: A-