Surely one of the strangest and most exhilarating documentaries ever made is Grey Gardens, the unusual cinema verité take on the lives of two women living in a dilapidated mansion, its name supplying the film’s title. The 1976 Maysles Brothers feature is haunting, feeling like the bastard child of Tennessee Williams and Eugene O’Neill. This mother and daughter have taken a fall from economic grace, and the crumbling mansion itself becomes a perfect metaphor for their own collapsing lives.

The two women, particularly daughter Little Edie Beale, became countercultural heroes, inspiring legions of cult fans, a Rufus Wainwright song, a Broadway musical and a dramatic film version starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange (due out late this year).

And now, this: a documentary sequel called The Beales of Grey Gardens, in which surviving Maysles brother Albert scours the cuttingroom floor to savour further moments with the mother and daughter team. Though this lacks the same dramatic punch that the original film had, Grey Gardens freaks will swoon over never-before-seen moments with Big Edie and Little Edie. And then there’s the occasional song, just like in the original—in particular one rendition of “You Ought to Be in Pictures” that makes the entire film seem like Sunset Boulevard on crack.

In other DVD nostalgia news, the first season (1968) of Hawaii Five-O is now out. Apparently Jack Lord always rather resented this role (he was a trained Method actor), but he was perfectly stoic as the determined cop. And then there’s that unstoppable theme music.

by MATTHEW HAYS