There are a few reasons to watch Grey Gardens. One of them is seeing the inspiration for the famous and incredible first episode of Bill Hader and Fred Armisen’s IFC show Documentary Now! (It’s much truer to the original 1976 documentary than you might think.) Another is to see a pioneering documentary that launched 1,000 references. Despite the ruinous family home setting, I stay tuned in to see, at the very least, what outfit Little Edie is going to put together next. Another reason to watch is to add context to the recent assertion that the film’s subjects — the eccentric, reclusive mother-daughter relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis — are the reason that Kennedy royal Jack Schlossberg is so quirked-up. While it seems like an odd pick for Mother’s Day, it is perhaps one of the best organic explorations of a mother-daughter relationship, if you watch closely. Little Edie is an icon, and I’ve been trying to work “staunch character” into my vocabulary for years.
May 10 & 13 at the Belcourt
2102 Belcourt Ave.
