A fascinating HBO feature starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange, it is the story of a mother and daughter who shut themselves away from society for decades in a crumbling house and yet cannot escape the attentions of the outside world.
Lange is awesome while Barrymore is absolutely brilliant. The film's strengths are its attention to detail, intelligent handling of two very eccentric characters and its wonderfully realised script. One cannot but be enamoured by these two women despite their skew-wiff take on life and existence.
They were the subject of a groundbreaking documentary by the Maysles brothers back in the early 1970's and this film so perfectly recreates the house and the actresses bring the characters to life so accurately that it is sometimes impossible to see where the doco ended and this film begins.
It does slightly drag towards the end but that is a minor quibble for the film is a near perfect blend of love, pace, comedy, drama and almost voyeristic insight into the lives of these two very strange women.
**** out of *****
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