I can truly say I have never seen a better performance by an actress...ever. I was mesmerized from the very beginning and I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. The movie itself is not the greatest of all-time, but Jennifer Jason Leigh's performance is one for the ages.
shareWhat other performances are this good? Very few!
I absolutely agree with you - Jennifer Jason Leigh is one of my favourite actresses of all time, and her portrayal of Sadie Flood in Georgia is indeed a truly great performance for the ages. It annoys me no end that she wasn't even nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for her incredible acting here, especially when you consider that the likes of Catherine Zeta Jones, Halle Berry, Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kim Basinger and Helen Hunt have all won Oscars! It's a joke as far as I'm concerned.
If you haven't seen Jennifer Jason Leigh in many other films, you have to check out her similarly brilliant performance as a streetwise prostitute in 50s New York in Last Exit to Brooklyn, as well as her great work in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, Short Cuts, Miami Blues, Rush, Dolores Claiborne, The Hudsucker Proxy, Washington Square, Single White Female, The King is Alive and The Anniversary Party. She always gives it her all. But her role in Georgia is a hard one to beat!
Brilliant and powerful performance by Leigh. Even though Sadie isn't supposed to have a great singing voice, Leigh puts a lot of raw energy and feeling into the musical numbers. She gives it some of the ragged growl that Janis Joplin or Courtney Love have. I especially liked her singing of "Midnight Train to Georgia" and "Take Me Back" - powerful stuff.
To anyone who enjoyed Leigh's performance here, I'd also recommend you see Bette Midler in the excellent 1979 film The Rose, where she plays a tragic, self-destructive rock singer clearly based on Janis Joplin. Now I'm not normally a big fan of Midler, but she was outstanding in The Rose.
Great thread folks. It's a brilliant, harrowing performance that was unfairly robbed of an Oscar nomination.
shareA performance better than this? Jennifer Jason Leigh in Hateful Eight.
shareJJL has built her career on playing human wreckage, but even she outdoes herself here. What other performances are this good? Very few, but I'd also give some credit to Jennifer Connelly, another beautiful actress who specializes in playing ugly characters. I wish those two would work together!
shareOmg, I totally agree with you. Both of these actresses are so great at playing sad characters but they are both so good at it. Please hollywood cast them in a film soon!
shareI'm so glad you agree! Both JJL and Jennifer Connelly are exquisitely beautiful, which makes their talent and capacity to explore the dark side all that more astonishing. We can't be the only ones who would love to see them onscreen together.
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