IRIS (Albert Maysles). 83 minutes. Rating: NNN
Where to watch: iTunes, Netflix
From Joan Didion to Joni Mitchell, women of a certain age are having a fashion moment. New York City-based Iris Apfel, the flamboyant 93-year-old subject of Iris, leads the pack with her exuberance and attention to the art of getting dressed.
The self-described “geriatric starlet” would likely balk at being part of a trend, so determined is she to remain a free spirit and an individual. There is little she detests more than sameness.
Quick-witted and a mean bargainer, she embodies the true power of personal style, something we risk losing as fast fashion giants take over the game. She doesn’t over-analyze or intellectualize fashion. Rather, she lets the joy and unique mode of expression it offers speak for itself.
The film doesn’t have quite the same vibrancy and lightness of spirit as Advanced Style, the doc that likely made this one possible. Apfel, while eccentric in dress, isn’t exactly a charismatic character.
Iris is more one-dimensional than other films by the late Albert Maysles, like Grey Gardens. There’s no darkness and little subtext beneath Iris’s pretty surface. 83 minutes.
