THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604060045
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
IF WE COULD pair Nicolas Cage's character in ``Leaving Las Vegas'' with Jennifer Jason Leigh's character in ``Georgia,'' their children might turn out to be a serious version of the Addams Family.
``Georgia'' is so strikingly downbeat that you might go running for the popcorn stand just to see if it, as well as the rest of the real world, is still there.
It contains one of the showiest roles of the year - Leigh as Sadie, an alcohol and heroin addict who wants to become a singer. Leigh, known for her excessive mannerisms and speech slurs, has a grand time with this part.
Sadie lives in the shadow of her famous sister, folk-country star Georgia. At the movie's beginning, she is cleaning out cheap motel rooms and living with an abusive blues star. At the end, she's still trying to get jobs singing in bowling alleys or dingy bars. In between, she suffers.
We aren't giving anything away here because the film makes it clear that it is not interested in anything as routine as a forward-moving narrative.
But how long are we willing to put up with a character who asks for outright pity rather than mere sympathy? In tragedy, a character has a downfall from nobility. Sadie, while often fascinating to watch, stays the same throughout.
The film was written by Leigh's mother, Barbara Turner. It is ostensibly based on Leigh's older sister, a woman who had trouble with drugs (and perhaps with the problem of a younger sister who was a movie star?). Leigh, whose father was actor Vic Morrow (killed in the 1983 helicopter accident on the set of the ``Twilight Zone'' movie), has played hookers, junkies and a mother supplementing the family income by selling telephone sex.
Leigh's is a striking, if often exasperating, performance that at all times demands watching.
Surely the most irritating scene is an eight-and-a-half minute sequence in which Leigh sings, terribly, Van Morrison's ``Take Me Back.'' It seems much longer than eight minutes. The number was recorded live, with no dubbing involved. Leigh makes it touching, however: Here is a person who badly wants to be talented, but isn't.
The film's real standout performance is that of Mare Winningham as Georgia, the successful sister. It's a deceptively difficult role that won her an Oscar nomination. Winningham's scenes thoroughly suggest the caring and heart-wrenched concern she has for her lost sister. At the same time, she is never sentimental or coy about it.
A surprising thing, too, is Winningham's crystal-clear singing voice, which makes it completely believable that she could be the star she is asked to play. Winningham has obviously been under-used as a singer all these years.
The difference in the discipline and control of the two widely varying performances suggest that director Ulu Grosbard let the actresses take their own courses. Grosbard (``The Subject Was Roses'') didn't seem to mind that Turner's script has no third act.
Refreshingly, the film refuses to stoop to the level of sisterly bitchiness that would be expected from such a plot. This film flirts with the conflict between intimacy and rivalry but never sinks to melodrama.
That leaves the two performances. If you want an acting demonstration, this is your bet. If you, however, are not willing to sign up for a drama workshop, this film will leave you uninvolved. ``Georgia'' is exasperating in its moody and self-conscious contradictions. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MIRAMAX
Jennifer Jason Leigh, left, has the showy role in ``Georgia,'' but
it's Mare Winningham who's winning.
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Georgia''
Cast: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mare Winningham, Ted Levine, Max
Perlich, John Doe
Director: Ulu Grosbard
Screenplay: Barbara Turner
Music: Steven Soles
MPAA rating: R (language, drug use, sex)
Mal's rating: Two 1/2 stars
Location: Naro Expanded Cinema in Norfolk.
by CNB