Iris

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When it comes to the world of fashion, everyone knows Anna Wintour, the formidable Vogue editor-in-chief who’s known for her no-BS demeanor and signature round sunglasses. Lesser known but perhaps even more beloved is Iris Apfel, a 93-year-old interior decorator and style maven who also rocks iconic eyewear and has little time for nonsense. She has had time, though, to collect thousands upon thousands of unique outfits and breathtaking baubles, from tacky costume jewelry to priceless, auction-worthy pieces.

Running just shy of an hour-and-a-half, this short and sweet documentary was the last from famed filmmaker Albert Maysles, one half the duo of filmmaking brothers who brought you such classics as “Grey Gardens” (David Maysles passed in 1987; Albert passed just this March). There are echoes of “Grey Gardens” in “Iris,” including the way the white-haired beauty can coop herself up in her knickknack-filled Park Avenue apartment, or the way she very carefully chooses the best outfit for the day. (“Getting ready for the party is often more fun than actually going to the party,” she keenly observes.

The great irony of “Iris” is that its subject, a woman who’s known for her vast collection of, and means of manipulating, material items is incapable of immaterial thinking. A great scene sees her suffer the foolhardy, scripted come-ons of a QVC-style host, who talks as though she just read up on Iris via a fluffy press release, but isn’t called out or judged by the aging diva. Iris projects that she has no time for shade, let alone anything that doesn’t enrich her life.

Maysles, who’s always been a canny force when it comes to depicting people in their natural states and environments, gives Iris her space and lets us come to know her longtime spouse, whose clothes Iris also ends up donning from time to time. Like most fashion docs, “Iris” is a celebration of beauty. But unlike most, it’s also a hymn to wit and wisdom, which Iris has acquired in even greater abundance than her garments and trinkets. She says, “I was once told, ‘Darling you’re not pretty. Bnut you got something better — style.”

Iris

PG-13
Three-and-half reels out of four
Now playing at the Ritz at the Bourse

Recommended Rental:

The Loft

R
Available Tuesday

Headlined by James Marsden and Karl Urban, “The Loft” is a star-studded film of adultery and intrigue, remade from a European film of the same name. The titular location is where a group of friends (played by Marsden, Urban, Matthias Schoenaerts, Wentworth Miller, and Eric Stonestreet of “Modern Family”), bring their respective mistresses for illicit trysts. And then, naturally, something goes terribly wrong …

Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.

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