''Georgia'' is a 1995 American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

film starring

Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh (born Jennifer Leigh Morrow; February 5, 1962) is an American actress. She began her career on television during the 1970s before making her film breakthrough as Stacy Hamilton in '' Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982). Sh ...

and

Mare Winningham A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four y ...

. Leigh plays Sadie Flood, a

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

y barroom singer who has a complicated relationship with her older sister, Georgia, played by Winningham. ''Georgia'' won the Grand Prix of the Americas Award for Best Picture at the

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (WFF; french: le Festival des Films du Monde) was one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF (although the Toronto Interna ...

. Leigh received Best Actress honors at the Montreal World Film Festival and the

New York Film Critics Circle The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) is an American film critic organization founded in 1935 by Wanda Hale from the New York ''Daily News''. Its membership includes over 30 film critics from New York-based daily and weekly newspapers, magaz ...

for her performance, while Winningham received an

Independent Spirit Award The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glas ...

for Best Supporting Actress as well as Best Supporting Actress nominations at the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

and from the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

Plot

Georgia Flood is a successful, talented and well-adjusted

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

singer who is happily married and a mother of two. Her younger sister Sadie is passionate but self-destructive and lacking in technical skill. She tries to match Georgia's accomplishments by becoming the lead singer for a punk rock band, but is unsuccessful and destroys herself through drug abuse. Sadie comes to Georgia seeking help after she ends a relationship. An initially reluctant Georgia tries to help her sister out of a continued downward spiral.

Cast

Production

The film was a highly personal project for Jennifer Jason Leigh. Leigh's mother, Barbara Turner, wrote the screenplay; Leigh and Turner co-produced it along with director

Ulu Grosbard Israel "Ulu" Grosbard (9 January 1929 – 19 March 2012) was a Belgian-born, naturalized American theatre and film director and film producer. Life and career Born in Antwerp, Grosbard was the son of Rose (Tenenbaum) and Morris Grosbard, who wo ...

, and

, a longtime friend who had been Leigh's camp counselor during their teen years, co-starred. The music in the film consists of 13 songs; to create a realistic effect, Leigh and Winningham were both filmed singing live. The 13 songs included covers of songs by

Gladys Knight & the Pips Gladys Knight & the Pips were an American R&B, soul and funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for over three decades starting from the early 1950s. Starting out as simply ...

, Elvis Costello and

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

. In the talked-about centerpiece of the film, Sadie drunkenly performs a raw, grueling cover of Morrison's "Take Me Back" in a ragged Janis Joplin-style gut howl at an AIDS

benefit concert A benefit concert or charity concert is a type of musical benefit performance (e.g., concert, show, or gala) featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate hu ...

John Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are often ...

of the band X plays a supporting role and performed as a member of Sadie's band.

Reception

Release

''Georgia'' was screened in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. ''Georgia'' was released in the U.S. on December 8, 1995. The film performed poorly at the U.S. box office.

Home media

On February 15, 2000, the film was released by Miramax Classics on DVD. It was re-released on DVD on May 17, 2011.

Critical reception

On review aggregate website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''Georgia'' has an approval rating of 80% based on 25 reviews. Susan Wloszczyna of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' described the film as "a painful though sadly humorous portrait of sisterhood". In a 3.5/4-star review, Roger Ebert said ''Georgia'' "is not a simply plotted movie about descent and recovery, but a complex, deeply knowledgeable story about how alcoholism and mental illness really are family diseases; Sadie's sickness throws everybody off, and their adjustments to it don't make them healthier people."

James Berardinelli James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...

of ''ReelViews'' praised it as “a tour de force for Leigh... there are times when it's uncomfortable to watch this performance because it's so powerful”, adding “''Georgia'' doesn't possess an amazingly original narrative, but what distinguishes this picture is the depth of the characters and the amazing power with which the two leads breathe life into them.”

Kenneth Turan Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 ...

of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' wrote that “Leigh’s exceptional performance tears you apart… we’ve never seen anything like it before”, adding that "''Georgia'' is not an easy film, but in the American independent arena, it outperforms everything in sight.” Barbara Shulgasser of the '' San Francisco Examiner'' wrote, "What Leigh succeeds at conveying so well is the desperation of a young woman whose passion for art exceeds her capacity to express herself artistically...Because of erpowerful performance we glean that Georgia''' is really not about drug abuse or sibling rivalry, or the frustration of the untalented...but about talent tself" Jennifer Jason Leigh was voted the year's

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

by the

and at the

, nominated for an

, and was widely predicted to receive her first

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

nomination for the role. However, it was Mare Winningham who received an Oscar nomination (as well as an

and

nomination) as Best Supporting Actress, while Leigh was overlooked by the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

. Speaking to ''

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'' magazine, Winningham said: “I felt incredibly honored and touched to be nominated...But it was hard to be separated from Jennifer, because she was the heart and soul of that film. While we were making the movie, I thought not only that she would get a nomination, but that she would win. I saw the kind of work she was doing. In my mind she will always be the greatest performance of that year, and a lot of other people thought so, too.

Meryl Streep Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...

grabbed me at the Academy Awards. She said, 'Jennifer should be here!' and I said, 'I know!'” In a 2018 essay for ''

Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...

'', Brad Stevens wrote of the film: "What makes this film so endlessly fascinating is its refusal to impose a definitive reading. Is Sadie a talentless amateur leeching off her sister’s talent? Or is she the voice of raw authenticity, her harsh vocal delivery a critique of Georgia’s soulless professionalism? luGrosbard does not say, leaving us to fall back on our own judgement." In 2020, ''

'' named ''Georgia'' in the number 17 spot on its list of the 24 best films for

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

fans.

Awards and nominations

: Mare Winningham, Best Actress in a Supporting Role (nomination) *

: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Best Actress (won) *

: Grand Prix of the Americas for Best Picture (won) *

: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Best Actress (won) *

: Mare Winningham, Best Supporting Actress (nomination) * Independent Spirit Awards: Ulu Grosbard, Best Director (nomination) * Independent Spirit Awards: Mare Winningham, Best Supporting Female (won) * Independent Spirit Awards: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Best Female Lead (nomination) * Independent Spirit Awards: Max Perlich, Best Supporting Male (nomination)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Georgia (1995 Film) 1995 films 1995 drama films 1995 independent films American drama films American independent films Films about heroin addiction Films about singers Films about music and musicians Films about entertainers Films about sisters Films directed by Ulu Grosbard Miramax films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films