Georgia

Judy Davis stars in a dual role. She's Nina Bailey, a tough government tax investigator, and Nina's long dead mother, Georgia White, who died under decidedly mysterious circumstances. Nina's investigation into her mother's death is triggered when someone arranges an exhibition of Georgia's old photographs, and invites her to the show. Film relies on a Rashoman-like series of flashbacks of the killing that provide conflicting versions of what happened but they're awkwardly executed. Overall, the film is only moderately interesting. It never quite gets off the ground, probably because the title character, Georgia, remains a cypher.

Smart, modern-day film noir has Judy Davis starring as a tough tax inspector in Melbourne, Australia. One day she gets an invitation in the mail to an photography exhibit. She goes.

She finds the exhibit rather disturbing, with odd images of a blonde woman. She also notices a strange man staring at her. Feeling uncomfortable and unnerved, she leaves. She calls her mother (Julia Blake) and asks her to meet her at the exhibit the following night. Blake bluntly tells her the woman in the photos is her real mother and that she dies when Davis was a small baby.

Stunned, she decides to look into the death of her mother and uncovers a web of deceit and lies that involves an ex-cop and a powerful mogul and leads her into peril.

Davis is, as always, terrific. She plays the dual roles of daughter and mother, and they are very different people. While the daughter is an efficient and touch tax inspector, the mother was a free spirit who was not very careful. Blake is good as the "mother," and John Bach and Alex Menglet good as the mogul and the ex-cop. Location filming in Melbourne is excellent.

There's also a mesmerizing score by Paul Grabowsky and a nightclub scene that features Kate Ceberano.

A must-see film for fans of Judy Davis.

Judy Davis returns to the Australian screen in an almighty role. She plays insurance investigator, Nina Bailey and her mother, Georgia White. After a recent photo gallery presentation at an Art Gallery of Georgia's work, Nina becomes suspicious of her mother's sudden death.

Davis leads an all star Australian cast, strongly supported by a solid plot and well written story. Georgia is another Australian classic.

Is "Georgia" a great film? Well, not particularly. Judy Davis gives a particularly good performance(s), the sort where she gets to have a lot of attitude, something she always does well. But there isn't a whole lot else going for this picture. Writer/director Ben Lewin creates a world that's convincing enough to get into, than twists it up in a knot like most thrillers. Somewhere, it becomes unconvincing beneath the weight of things. Still, the supporting cast is much of what holds "Georgia" together. I especially liked Marshall Napier as the retired cop.

I suppose I would have liked more character development. In fact, we're hardly introduced to the title character herself. It's hard to empathize with the death of someone who barely existed. Not to say this wasn't an enjoyable film to watch, though. You should enjoy it too. Give it a shot for Judy Davis.