After a beautiful start to the long holiday weekend, many areas of the East Coast experienced cold and rainy weather today. It looks like Memorial Day might not be a wash out but when bad weather returns, you might want to think about heading to a theatre to see one of these wonderful documentaries.

I was lucky to be invited to the New York premier of Always at the Carlyle a few weeks ago. This is filmmaker Matthew Miele’s third documentary about an iconic New York location which include Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s and Crazy About Tiffany’s. The Carlyle is an iconic and beloved institution on the Upper East Side that attracts celebrities and regulars to its hotel rooms, as well as Bemelmann’s and Cafe Carlyle. It was interesting to learn more about the family who built and ran the hotel that Dorothy Draper originally decorated in the 1930’s. The celebrity interviews in the movie are very amusing but it’s the hotel employees who are the real heart of the film. I loved the Carlyle Hotel before but now I have a new found appreciation for my favorite neighborhood place to imbibe.

That Summer is one documentary that is in theaters and available for rent on demand if you don’t want to go out to the movies. In it, Peter Beard discusses his photography before reminiscing about his attempt to make a documentary in the summer of 1972 with Lee Radziwill about her childhood growing up on Long Island. Lee narrates some of the footage which also includes her sister Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and her children, Bianca and Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol, before it focuses on lost footage of her eccentric cousins, Edith Bouvier Beale and her mother Edith Ewing Bouvier, as they are about to be evicted from their rundown East Hampton property. This is three years before Grey Gardens was made by Albert and David Maysles, who were hired by Peter Beard and Lee Radziwill, that would later go on to become a cult classic. 

I’m looking forward to seeing RBG soon which is about 85 year old U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who “has developed a breathtaking legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon.”

I don’t think you have to be Catholic or even religious to enjoy Pope Francis: A Man of His Word. The Pope sits down with filmmaker Wim Wenders to discuss “his deep concern for the poor and wealth inequality to his involvement in environmental issues, social justice and calls for peace.”

The Gospel According to André is getting a lot of buzz these days. It profiles former Vogue editor and eccentric personality André Leon Talley as he reflects on his life in fashion. It’s been described as funny and poignant.

It won’t be released until June 8 but Won’t You Be My Neighbor? should be on everyone’s must see list this summer. The film by Morgan Neville chronicles the life and legacy of everyone’s beloved childhood hero Fred Rogers. We could all use his lessons of love, kindness, and acceptance in these increasingly troubled times. Make sure to take Kleenex with you to the screening.

Happy Summer!

XOXO,

HC