I was riding my bike, on my way to see Roland Tec’s We Pedal Uphill—which is moving and excellent, go see it—when a poster caught my eye. Grey Gardens! An HBO film? With Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange? Directed by Michael Sucsy?
I stared dumbfounded at that poster for about a minute, no shit.
What’s going on here?
Didn’t the documentary say everything (and then some) there was to say about Big Edie and Little Edie? Didn’t the brilliant Maysles Brothers tell us where the Edie’s came from, show us where they had landed, and allow us, generously allow us, to imagine the rest?
Now I know it was a musical, and I'm sure Albert Maysles got a nice check from HBO, and I don't blame him, I really don't. Why shouldn't he cash in?
But I do wonder about the person who thought it was a good idea to turn Grey Gardens, one of the truly great documentary films into Grey Gardens, an HBO film.
I really can’t imagine watching this.
Am I alone here? Is this just me being a curmudgeon again?
