Gray House

Deftly blending vérité footage, interviews, landscapes, and fictional elements (some of which involve actors Denis Lavant and Aurore Clément), Gray House candidly explores the relationships between individuals and their environments across five different settings. By way of stunning nocturnal imagery and a commandingly atmospheric sound design, the film presents glimpses of corners of the country seldom portrayed in cinema—the North Dakotan oil plains, an intentional community in rural Virginia, a women’s correctional facility in the Pacific Northwest—and methodically unearths their obscure beauty. Perhaps more urgently, Lynch and Booth provide ample screen time to American working-class people who are seen in films even less often, carving out a space for them to express their fears, desires, politics, and musings about their everyday realities.