Georgia

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.

Usually I like films that are good character studies, but Georgia fell flat as a character study. At almost two and a half hours long, the film grew dull and too long very quickly. I have the highest regard for Jennifer Jason Leigh's work as an actress/writer/producer, but I can only hope that her real singing is much better in real life than in this movie! It's just that Leigh's Sadie is an unlikeable, unsympathetic character, and her and Georgia's sibling rivalry is not gone into nearly enough detail to MAKE Sadie a sympathetic character. Mare Winningham does a very good job, and the woman has some beautiful pipes! Who knew? An OK film, but with the talented Leigh at the helm, it should have been MUCH better.

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.

Sadie Flood (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is an aspiring singer. Her older sister Georgia Flood (Mare Winningham) is a successful country singer and the head of her family. Troubled addict Sadie's love for Georgia is tinged with a sense of inadequacy and jealousy. She's desperate to be Georgia but doesn't know how. She has more ambition than Georgia but with much less musical talent. She marries boyfriend Axel.

I love both JJL and Mare. I love Sadie and Georgia's complicated sibling relationship. Their first kitchen scene is amazing and I want more of that. This would be a super great character based film if Sadie stays at Georgia's home for the week ending with a reunion with their dad. The movie elevates everytime the sisters have a scene together. On the other hand, the music is problematic. I'm not a country fan and Georgia's music bores me. That's almost as bad as Sadie who is suppose to be a weak singer. I don't know why there is so much of her music if it's supposed to be inferior. At best, they are a bowling alley band. The music is begging to be cut out so that more character scenes can be added. The movie wastes half a hour with the band playing bad gigs. It could have represented all of that in much shorter time. It should be the movie's fifteen minute introductory first act. This is best as a family drama and less about the band. The sisters' simmering passive aggressive conflicts are the source of everything in this movie. Mare got an Oscar nomination although Jennifer did not.

I read with effervescent amusement and disbelief the comments below. Jennifer Jason Leigh the best actress of the color film era? Goodness, where on EARTH are such judgments formed? From "Fast Times at Ridgmont High" ??? She is that rare actress who is unable to communicate either via verbal or nonverbal means - whatever drugs some of you folks might be on, send me some!

This is an unholy MESS of a movie - it has the worst of everything - a horribly written script, a plot with no point, a non-credible storyline and some of the most poorly drawn, stereotypical characters I've seen in a movie. Add to that hamfisted acting, labored directing and you have one royally screwed up-movie!

I think a few of the people below who have thrown laurels this movie's way would love to buy a suit of the emperor's new clothes - rare is the movie that comes along which is as pointless, vapid and obnoxious as this one.