Movie #1755 ........................."Judy"

Movie #1755 "Judy"  was a movie that will probably get nominated for an academy award (and perhaps win it! esp. for lead actress, Renee Zellweger)  This was a very good story to me mainly because it concerns one of the most talented human beings that ever graced the earth, but someone I lost track of in her later years so I wasn't that familiar with her story.  I liked the way the director went back and forth from her life in 1969 (the year she died) and 1939, the year she was cast in "Wizard of Oz," the movie that catapulted her into stardom.  So it's kind of the rise and fall of the star --- no new territory for a film to cover, I realize, but this had so many emotions attached to it, considering some important revelations that come out as the story unfolds.  I don't want to go into too many of them, but one most of us know is that the film industry itself in an effort to control the young female in the major role, started her on the drug problem she was to be plagued with throughout her life ---- and the cause of her death.  Also  considering that the men in her life were mostly manipulative money grubbing sycophants who left her in the financial jams she is in toward the end of her life.  And her children.  Well, there is one scene in particular in the film where she talks to Lorna on the phone that reminded me of the "Stella Dallas" moment when the mother realizes that her daughter would be better off without her --- the most bitter pill of all to have to take when you love your daughter so much and you only want to give her the best life possible!  The film is so sad on so many levels, yet Ms Zellweger treats her with as much dignity as she can ---- and we always feel compassion towards her  to the very end.  Bring kleenex --- maybe you won't need it, but I did because of how dear I hold the Oz movie, the main theme song, and this bigger than life and so talented film icon Judy Garland.  And a special shout out to a gay fan in the film who steals a lot of the scenes ---- he's so good, and real and funny.  He breaks into tears when Judy has spent time with him in his home after a concert, and he elevated that moment to such universal heights that he draws us all in to what he fells --- and that's what films should do!  I give this a 4.8 --- a little long in a few scenes, but what a powerful punch at the end.  Well worth the time, for sure!

This was based on a play entitled "End of the Rainbow" that played on Broadway in 2012.  I wish I would have seen it.   The critic Ben Brantley went on and on about how magical the lead performance was!

Judy

 2019 PG-13 1h 58m 

Set in 1968, this dramatized biopic recounts singer Judy Garland's last concerts in London, where the fragile and weary star prepares for a run of sold-out shows while beginning a courtship with her soon-to-be-fifth spouse.

Cast 

Renée Zellweger, Jessie Buckley, Finn Wittrock, Rufus Sewell, Michael Gambon, Gemma-Leah Devereux, Bella Ramsey, Andy Nyman, Fenella Woolgar, John Dagleish, Phil Dunster, Tim Ahern, John MacKay, David Rubin

Director 

Rupert Goold

Genres 

Music & Musicals, Musicals, Biographies, Showbiz Dramas, Period Pieces, 20th Century Period Pieces, Indie Dramas

Moods 

Emotional, Romantic