Georgia

'Georgia' is a strong, sometimes harrowing drama about the relationship between two singing siblings: the eponymous elder sister, an established country-folk star, and the less talented Sadie, who is actually the central character of this film. Jennifer Jason Leigh is in her element as the self-destructive, self-loathing Sadie, and delivers perhaps her finest performance; but Mare Willingham is also good in the subtler role of Georgia, a woman whose capacity to feel compassion has been tested to the limit, and which only survives when focused through a prism of superiority. Georgia is instinctively careful with words but Sadie compulsively goads her into betraying these instincts; the telling dialogues between them are constructed with a deadly precision, the high points of a generally excellent screenplay. What's also surprising is that the music is also good. In any film about art, a central problem for the director is creating a belief in the merits of the fictional work; in 'La Bellie Noiseuse', for example, Jean-Jacques Rivette created an explicit plot justification for not having to show the painting that is the film's centrepiece to his viewers, rather than letting us judge it. By contrast, in this film, Georgia sounds genuinely good, while Sadie veers between downright awful and almost interesting; this allows the film to actually use the music as a means of conveying the narrative of the story. This slows the pace of the film, and if you don't like the types of music played, might be excruciating; but it's interesting to see the (fictional) truth conveyed through the medium of performance.

One of the film's strengths is that it grants us no indulgent fantasies; because of this, the narrative arc is limited (especially as the film is quite long). In some senses, the film resembles other great films about the self-destructive, like 'Five Easy Pieces' or 'Naked'. It's not quite in that class, but it's double-headed structure makes it more reflective, less visceral, but by no means uninteresting. Overall, it's an unjustly neglected work.

This film presents a fairly accurate portrayal of the chaotic, symbiotic environment of the bar band music scene. If you are looking for a coherent, one-two-three plot and are expecting realism at the same time, forget it. You would be missing the point. Having "been there" and "done that", I can affirm that this movie does a pretty good job at portraying interesting and realistic snapshot views of people in this particular music genre. In addition, this film even goes so far as to attempt realistic discriminations between different types of musicians (e.g., between ones who want to just succeed, ones who just want to play, ones who can't get their lives together enough to make it, starving artists, etc.).

This film initially may seem innocuous and even simplistic to some casual viewers. I must admit that I didn't get much the first time I casually viewed it. "Georgia" is very layered and textural -- the more you stand back and look, the more you can almost reach out and touch it -- but, as with most true art -- one must stand back and really take a look at it to appreciate the many layers. The layers of this particular artwork is done via multiple, sometimes concurrent, relationships, which intermittently share the foreground and the background with some really great music and various elements of the music scene. There is the relationship between Georgia and Sadie -- of course, the most obvious relationship that maintains precedence, but if you spend too much time on this one, you will miss so much. There is the Sadie-Axel layer; the Sadie-Georgia's husband layer; the Sadie-Herman layer; the Sadie-and the music layer; the Sadie-Sadie layer; the Sadie-drugs layer; the Sadie-father layer; on and on. All these relationships involving Jennifer J.L's character puts a lot of pressure on J.J.L, and I think she brings it about beautifully. I don't find her "overacting" in any scene -- the only "overacting" that is done is done by Sadie, not by J.J.L.

J.J.L. has rarely disappointed me in her character portrayals. I have always found her an interesting sort of actress: she does not have that obvious physical "stand out" star quality about her, but more of a quiet, well-played character actress, genuine star quality about her. I think she, along with the other actors in this movie, did a terrific job with very difficult material (about a very unusual and difficult, but interesting, lifestyle), and this movie calls out to me to watch it every time it plays on my satellite service.

This movie should not be judged along with "standards". It is a rare piece of filmwork, and should be judged entirely on its own standalone merits.

I suppose 'Georgia' makes a more mellifluous title than 'Sadie,' because that's the Flood sister that gets the lion's share of attention in this movie. Sister Georgia has built herself a career as a successful country music singer and has a stable marriage and family life. Sadie sings too, sort of; she's not that good and performs with semi-pro bands in mostly empty nightclubs. The two women have a complex and fragile relationship. Sadie seems to love her sister and admire her talent, but just below the surface lurk envy and resentment. Georgia for her part is always polite but somewhat on edge when Sadie is around, as if she's afraid her sister might lose control of herself and do something stupid or embarrassing. That fear is not unfounded, for Sadie is, as one critic described her, an emotional black hole, the kind of person who sucks in all the concern and attention in a family. She's also a substance abuser who is always walking on the edge of personal destruction.

The movie was written by Barbara Turner, mother of Jennifer Jason Leigh who plays Sadie, and directed by Ulu Grosbard. They tend to underplay rather than overplay Sadie's drug use and erratic behavior. She often threatens to do something out-of-control or embarrassing but most often stops just a bit short. Only once in the film is she shown really suffering the ill effects of being a junkie, but it's a harrowing scene. Also, Sadie and Georgia are often right on the verge of an emotional bust-up scene, but they only really have it out one time as well. This keeps the film from degenerating into caricature but it may stop it from being a great film rather than just a good one.

Director Grosbard took one very large chance on a scene where Sadie is Georgia's guest onstage at a benefit show. Sadie sings a Van Morrison song, "Take Me Back," stretching it out with her own improvised lyrics before an uncomfortably silent audience, forcing Georgia to come to both Sadie's and the crowd's rescue. To make this scene work, Grosbard had to let the song run on a long time, some eight minutes. This runs the risk of alienating some viewers and providing an easy target for critics, but you have to admire the daring it took to include it.

'Georgia' is a good, solid, if not spectacular film about sibling rivalry and family relations. Leigh is good in her role, as is Mare Winningham as the more subdued title character. Of the supporting cast I especially liked Max Perlich as a hero-worshiping fan that Sadie uses by turning him into her husband.

Hello, Brazilians! Georgia is such a touching film. I saw it once in one of the BAND's dawns, and then it didn't leave my mind anymore. After a long time, I saw it again, VHS, then I could remind it... still touching. A beautiful view of a beautiful life. Sadie is quite full of life. This life, sometimes, flees from her, but she's always trying to take it back. And there's no doubt about her ability... "She swallow people" - Georgia said. Yes, she's strong... she is Sadie Flood. And I really love this movie. I wish I could leave the Contracampo's (a Brazilian movie magazine)commentary here, but only English posts are accepted... what a pity!

Jennifer Jason Leigh is an incredible actress, climbing into a character and making you feel what the character feels. She accomplishes that to an intense degree as Sadie Flood in "Georgia." The problem is that I didn't really want to feel what Sadie felt. She scared and disgusted me. Mare Winningham (who knew she had such a clear, sweet singing voice?!?) matches Leigh's believable portrayal, but had a more sympathetic character with which to work. The stand-out, though, is Max Perlich as Sadie's worshipful husband/doormat. My heart broke for him. While the acting was strong, I found this film exhausting and kept checking to see how much time was left - it felt more like an assignment than entertainment.