Jacob Goranson
"How did if feel to pull me out?" Sadie scornfully asks her sister after interrupting a drunken performance. "If felt like a thousand pounds of dead weight, Sadie."Sadie (exquisitely played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) is, throughout most of the movie, an anchor chained to Georgia. The movie begins with Sadie making a trip to stay with Georgia for an undetermined amount of time. During this time, Sadie picks up gigs and finds a lover. All of the things she does seem to be distractions for Sadie because she can't come to terms with the fact that she may not be the best singer.Sadie's presence is a black hole, she is someone that shares her misery with those surrounding her. She may not even realize this, that her attitude is not enthusiastic, but rather chaotic and detrimental. Even trying to be seemingly positive, Sadie winds up asking questions that bring up bad memories for her and Georgia.If there's any complaints I have, it's that we don't see many effects of Sadie unto the people around her. However, maybe this is for the best. Since the story is told through Sadie's point of view, it is interesting to see at least some effects of her behavior without having them fully realized.
moonspinner55
Jennifer Jason Leigh and Mare Winningham are a good match portraying vastly different siblings, but only Winningham is able to bring something convincing or substantial to her role. Leigh, playing bar-band singer and alcoholic Sadie Flood, constantly leans on older sis Georgia, an acclaimed folk singer in the Joni Mitchell mold. Perhaps due to her double duties as co-producer on the film, Leigh seems to have boxed herself into a corner: she isn't credible as a singer and, even if this is intentional, gives herself far too much screen-time at the microphone. Probably hoping for a tour-de-force, Leigh is wire-drawn and nervous and jagged; however, we simply do not see any talent within this character (Leigh is obviously a solid actress, but she makes decisions here that wall us off from her). If Sadie had even the slightest bit of charisma or appeal, we might be able to buy into the concept that she gets the (small) breaks that she does. As it is, the likelihood of her ever getting up on stage is slim. Director Ulu Grosbard crafts a few intense dramatic sequences, and the editing at the finale juxtaposes Sadie's bar performance with Georgia's sold-out arena show--both singing the same song--and it's a sadly nuanced moment...but really, what's the point? *1/2 from ****
paul2001sw-1
'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.
zigistardusted
Its probably not like the greatest film ever made but for those who 'get' the country vibe, not the cornball stuff but the real rootsy kind of textures and colors of a good Hank Williams record, this film is a keeper. There are some amazingly cool covers of some Velvet Underground stuff by the main character's band that I was rather shocked to hear, as I am a huge fan. They really had the whole Cowboy Junkies vibe down pat....Leigh is an amazing actress who has portrayed many dark and troubled characters throughout her career (almost exclusively). Here the tradition continues....Good soundtrack does not a great film make, but to me the characters were compelling enough to hold my interest (and I'm a tough customer). It kind of reminds me a bit of the LA-indie extravaganza Sugartown, an ensemble piece about many intertwining music & entertainment biz loonies, which is a bit more comic but certainly as dark.
AD
