Movie reviews

JUDY

Recommended. The director did his best to portray the famous Judy Garland, clearly loving her warts and all. As for the lead actress... contact lenses, wigs, prosthetics but it's still unequivocally Renée Zellweger acting distraught which, strangely, actually works for this character. In one scene, she plays with her children using a bunny toy - I wonder if it's from Judy Garland's biography or a reference to Renée Zellweger's earlier role of Beatrix Potter. The actress aside, it's a compelling biography of the woman who became famous as a teenager playing Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz". She grew famous to the point when she just decided to perform whenever she needed to make an extra buck. At the same time, her first birthday cake was in her 40s, judging from the movie, since she was refused it in childhood. The most masterful scene is the one where teenage Judy at the table with the nasty producer in a blink of an eye turns into adult Judy sitting with a much more benevolent producer. The film becomes quite moving and, towards the end, there's a point when it grabs you by the throat. I shed some tears. She died at just 47.