Grey Gardens (1976)

This isn't so much a documentary as it is a peek into life at Grey Gardens, a crumbling estate in the Hamptons. It almost feels like a collection of home movies stuck in the player one after another, but, you know, more interesting than "the Smith Christmas: 2005." The subjects are so very different from anyone I've encountered in real life and I just couldn't look away.

Edith and Edie (mother and daughter - 79 and 58 at the time of filming) are the owners of Grey Gardens and they have a most bizarre dynamic. They're undeniably co-dependent, Edith constantly insulting her daughter and Edie non-stop complaining about being stuck in the house which "terrifies" her, but it's obvious that they would be lost without each other. Edith rarely leaves her bed, but is confined to the edge since a parade of flea-filled cats, stacks of damp-looking paper, a hot plate (which she employs to boil and serve corn during one scene), and God knows what else takes up the rest of the filthy mattress. Edie complains about the raccoons taking over the house, but we see her dumping an entire package of white bread in the attic to feed them at one point.

It's hard to know what to think about this, but it's eye-opening in that "I had no idea there were people like this!" way. There's no real throughline here, just a series of lazy arguments, bizarre behavior, tragic housekeeping and possible insanity.

In a word: incomparable.

B+