Friday, January 6, 2023

DOCUMENTARY WEEKEND: ADRIENNE

 Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

I watched an excellent documentary recently: Adrienne, the story of the late actress, screenwriter, and director Adrienne Shelly, as told by her widower, Andy Ostroy (2021, Rated TV-MA, streams on HBO Max). 


Shelley wanted to be an actress from the time she was very young, according to her mother and childhood friends, who describe her early success. As a young woman, she became known for her roles in some indie films, but her greatest success came after her death in 2006.

I love Waitress (2007) and have watched it several times.


Shelley had decided that if she wanted to be a success, she would need to create her own material. She wrote Waitress while she was pregnant with her daughter, Sophie, in 2003.

Shelly then directed the movie and played one of the roles. The movie is funny and sad and sweet. Little Sophie has a cameo at the end.

Perhaps the most poignant parts of the documentary are a teenage Sophie's words about the mother she can't remember.

Before her death, Shelly knew the film had been accepted by the Sundance Film Festival.



Ostroy tells the story of Shelly's death himself. After he found Shelly's body, the police assumed Shelly had committed suicide. At Ostroy's insistence, police carried out an investigation leading to the discovery of her killer.

The only part of the documentary that I didn't care for was Ostroy's meeting with the killer.  The film strays into self-indulgence at that point.

Overall, however, Ostroy creates a loving tribute to Adrienne Shelly and preserves her memory for their daughter. Adrienne is as luminous as the woman herself.

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

12 comments:

  1. Sounds amazing! I'll add it to my "to watch" list, thanks!

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  2. Thanks for the review. I'll add it to the list.

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  3. The movie Waitress sounded really familiar...I rented it back in 2008 from Netflix and gave it 5 stars so it must have been good. I remember her face very positively. I will have to peek at this documentary. How sad that she was murdered!

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    1. I'm sure I gave Waitress 5 stars, too. It made a lot of money.

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  4. Never heard of her, which is weird because I have heard of Waitress. Maybe one of the days I'm home recouping we will pop it on.

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    1. Adrienne Shelly plays one of the waitresses in Waitress. She's very funny.

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  5. I didn't know you're in Belgium! Interesting!

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  6. How very tragic. I'm glad her husband insisted so her murderer didn't get away with it.

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    1. He knew she would not have committed suicide. Shelly had just learned Waitress had been accepted by Sundance. She had a bright future.

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