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 ****

'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.

Georgia is a stark and harrowing exposition into the relationship of two sisters, Sadie played by Jennifer Jason Leigh and the eponymous Georgia played by Mare Winningham (best supporting actress nominee 1996). The film follows Sadie, a young woman trapped within her envy and aspirations to achieve the success, and more importantly recognition, of her older sister Georgia, a revered folk and country singer in the pacific north west of America. In her pursuit of these desires however, she tears at her tenuous relationship with her sister and all those around her. It seems only her contagious beauty and vulnerability keep the people she hurts close to her, as we follow her through smoky clubs and bars, cheap motels and onwards into oblivion.

Georgia is often a trying film on the viewer, as its director, the Belgium born Ulu Grosbard pushes mainstream codes of cinematic language, and at the same time, deals with a central character who is often caustic, abrasive and unredeeming. That said, Jennifer Jason Leigh's visceral portrayal of Sadie Flood is utterly compelling and inspired. Indeed, her performance truly brings alive a disaffected character wrought by insecurity, isolation, depression and self-loathing; all culminating in an itinerant and bohemian lifestyle of club singing, alcoholism, heroin addiction and disillusionment.

Worthy of note also are the stellar performances of the support cast, notably Georgia's loving husband played by Ted Levine, Sadie's doting and tortured partner played by Max Perlich and Herman the drug-addled band-mate of Sadie's, performed by the ubiquitous character actor John C Reilly. Another great feature of this film is the soundtrack, and in many ways this film could be considered a musical. Contributions come from Van Morrison, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, Eric Clapton, Tom Waits and Otis Redding, many of whom were active in the music to the film. John Doe and the late Jimmy Witherspoon for example, both acclaimed recording artists in their own right, act and sing in the film. Indicative of the soundtrack's integral contribution to the overall film, please note the cover of 'this magical place is more than it seems' from the Wizard of Oz score, as Sadie more so than anything wants to click her heels together and get back to the old house, back home.

In summation, this film will appeal to people who drink too much, people who tell me that it's a sin to know and feel too much within, which according to Bob Dylan many claim to live by and i concur; those with a penchant for '90s Seattle, rock and roll and dark character studies into alcoholism, thwarted ambition and pervasive despair.