Georgia (1995)

Jennifer Jason Leigh is an incredible actress, climbing into a character and making you feel what the character feels. She accomplishes that to an intense degree as Sadie Flood in "Georgia." The problem is that I didn't really want to feel what Sadie felt. She scared and disgusted me. Mare Winningham (who knew she had such a clear, sweet singing voice?!?) matches Leigh's believable portrayal, but had a more sympathetic character with which to work. The stand-out, though, is Max Perlich as Sadie's worshipful husband/doormat. My heart broke for him.

While the acting was strong, I found this film exhausting and kept checking to see how much time was left - it felt more like an assignment than entertainment.

C

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

Cecilia doesn’t have a whole lot of joy in her life. It’s the Depression; her husband is an unemployed loser with an eye for other women; she waitresses during the day and takes in laundry at night. But, Cecilia has a passion: movies. She’d rather be munching popcorn in the dark than doing anything else. And when she’s not at the local movie house where everyone knows her by name, she’s daydreaming about the beautiful people on the screen and planning her next viewing. Well, she finally gets noticed by someone other than the popcorn lady. Tom Baxter (adventurer, explorer, movie character) walks right off the screen to meet her. As Cecilia says, “I just met a wonderful new man. He’s fictional, but you can’t have everything.”

This is such a clever and satisfying film. I marvel at its ability to charm me still, even though I’ve seen it more than a dozen times.

A