''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 * Independe ...

film starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Mare Winningham. Leigh plays Sadie Flood, a punky 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. Leigh received Best Actress honors at the Montreal World Film Festival and the New York Film Critics Circle for her performance, while Winningham received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as Best Supporting Actress nominations at the

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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 me ...

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 ...

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 Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...

. 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, and Mare Winningham, 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,

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in 2020, and has twice been nom ...

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 Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage presence. ...

-style gut howl at an

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

benefit concert.

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 ofte ...

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 The 48th Cannes Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 May 1995. The Palme d'Or went to '' Underground'' by Emir Kusturica. The festival opened with '' La Cité des enfants perdus'', directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and closed with '' The Quick and ...

. ''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 Wan ...

, ''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 Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

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 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 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 ...

'' 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 The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...

'' 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 by the New York Film Critics Circle and at the Montreal World Film Festival, nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, and was widely predicted to receive her first Oscar nomination for the role. However, it was Mare Winningham who received an Oscar nomination (as well as an Independent Spirit Award 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 motion ...

. Speaking to '' MetroActive'' 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'', 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) * New York Film Critics Circle: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Best Actress (won) * Montreal World Film Festival: Grand Prix of the Americas for Best Picture (won) * Montreal World Film Festival: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Best Actress (won) *

: Mare Winningham, Best Supporting Actress (nomination) *

Independent Spirit Awards 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 gla ...

: Ulu Grosbard, Best Director (nomination) *

: Mare Winningham, Best Supporting Female (won) *

: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Best Female Lead (nomination) *

: 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