Sadie Flood (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is an aspiring singer. Her older sister Georgia Flood (Mare Winningham) is a successful country singer and the head of her family. Troubled addict Sadie's love for Georgia is tinged with a sense of inadequacy and jealousy. She's desperate to be Georgia but doesn't know how. She has more ambition than Georgia but with much less musical talent. She marries boyfriend Axel.
I love both JJL and Mare. I love Sadie and Georgia's complicated sibling relationship. Their first kitchen scene is amazing and I want more of that. This would be a super great character based film if Sadie stays at Georgia's home for the week ending with a reunion with their dad. The movie elevates everytime the sisters have a scene together. On the other hand, the music is problematic. I'm not a country fan and Georgia's music bores me. That's almost as bad as Sadie who is suppose to be a weak singer. I don't know why there is so much of her music if it's supposed to be inferior. At best, they are a bowling alley band. The music is begging to be cut out so that more character scenes can be added. The movie wastes half a hour with the band playing bad gigs. It could have represented all of that in much shorter time. It should be the movie's fifteen minute introductory first act. This is best as a family drama and less about the band. The sisters' simmering passive aggressive conflicts are the source of everything in this movie. Mare got an Oscar nomination although Jennifer did not.
I love both JJL and Mare. I love Sadie and Georgia's complicated sibling relationship. Their first kitchen scene is amazing and I want more of that. This would be a super great character based film if Sadie stays at Georgia's home for the week ending with a reunion with their dad. The movie elevates everytime the sisters have a scene together. On the other hand, the music is problematic. I'm not a country fan and Georgia's music bores me. That's almost as bad as Sadie who is suppose to be a weak singer. I don't know why there is so much of her music if it's supposed to be inferior. At best, they are a bowling alley band. The music is begging to be cut out so that more character scenes can be added. The movie wastes half a hour with the band playing bad gigs. It could have represented all of that in much shorter time. It should be the movie's fifteen minute introductory first act. This is best as a family drama and less about the band. The sisters' simmering passive aggressive conflicts are the source of everything in this movie. Mare got an Oscar nomination although Jennifer did not.