Gia (Unrated)
Based on the tragic life and times of America's first supermodel
It's the late 70's in New York - Studio 54, designer jeans, drugs and disco. One girl is living life in the fast lane. She can have any man - or any woman - she wants. Sex, money, glamour, fame...it's all within her reach. She walks toward you across the dance floor, struts toward you down the runway, stares at you from the cover of a magazine. She's a goddess. She's a star. Her name is Gia.
When Gia Carangi (Angelina Jolie) first arrives in New York, she's a beautiful drop-out from Philadelphia brashly bursting through the closed doors of top modeling agent Withelmina Cooper (Faye Dunaway.) Gia's electrifying personality and potent sexuality soon find their way onto the covers of America's top-selling magazines. But being love by the world isn't the same as being loved by one - an unfulfilled desire that can take Gia dangerous places. And for a beautiful woman at the top, one slip could lead to a terrifying fall.
Member Reviews
Thought Provoking - Nayma
Angelina can really portray raw emotion and does so tragically in this film. She could just have easily won the Oscar for her role in Gia in my opinion. The movie shows her start in modeling and success in both her personal and professional life. It doesn't take long for her need for more, for love, for drugs, to ruin her career and ultimately her life. This film really made me think about her life. Also what it must have been like in the 80's with the first supermodels and the start of HIV. Well done.100% Angelina: Beauty & brilliant - Bobbie
Unless you subscribed to Vogue or Cosmopolitan in the early 80's, you may not have known much about Gia Carangi and her short meteoric career as the quintessential 'Bad Girl' American supermodel.
Done in a sort-of-documentary style, this made-for-TV bio-pic is really a vehicle for Angelina Jolie to show us her ultra-feminine and often animal raw beauty. Better still, we get to see the admirable talent that won her the Best Supporting Oscar for Girl Interrupted.
Aside form the opportunity to see many sides of Ms. Jolie's incredible talent (and body), three other actresses make Gia work: Elizabeth Mitchell, well cast as her girlfriend and soft counterbalance to Gia's intensity; Mercedes Ruehl, perfect as Gia's mother; and Faye Dunaway as retired-model-cum-agency-director Wilhelmina Cooper.
Aside from the classic 'Icarus' tale of overnight success precipitating a quick descent into substance abuse, pathological behaviour, self-loathing, and auto-destruction, Gia addresses HIV/AIDS... an important issue that the world was just starting to grapple with.
The one element I found missing was any insight into the unique personal challenges associated with modelling... decidedly different from those associated with super-stardom in acting, sports or the music industry. At 120 minutes, they certainly had time to weave more of this into the backdrop of the story.
Bottom line: Well-done, well-paced, and well worth renting just to enjoy watching Angelina act.Jolie at her best - energizer_ani
I've seen many movies starring Jolie, and I have to say, her earlier stuff is way better. She portrays the "broken soul" very well. I was surprise to see where this story went, even though I'm not surprised. I have never heard of this model, and Jolie's performance made me feel close to the characters.
Member Reviews
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Thought Provoking - Nayma
Angelina can really portray raw emotion and does so tragically in this film. She could just have easily won the Oscar for her role in Gia in my opinion. The movie shows her start in modeling and success in both her personal and professional life. It doesn't ...100% Angelina: Beauty & brilliant - Bobbie
Unless you subscribed to Vogue or Cosmopolitan in the early 80's, you may not have known much about Gia Carangi and her short meteoric career as the quintessential 'Bad Girl' American supermodel.
Done in a sort-of-documentary style, this made-for-TV ...Jolie at her best - energizer_ani
I've seen many movies starring Jolie, and I have to say, her earlier stuff is way better. She portrays the "broken soul" very well. I was surprise to see where this story went, even though I'm not surprised. I have never heard of this model, and Jolie's ...