[Review] Judy (7.5/10)

Title - Judy
Studio - Roadside Attractions, LD Entertainment
Starring - Renee Zellweger, Finn Wittrock, Michael Gambon, Jesse Buckley, Rufus Sewell
Writer - Tom Edge
Director - Rupert Goold
Release - 27 September 2019

The one thing that this film has going for it was the performance by Renee Zellweger, who has not been in this kind of spotlight in many years.

Right from the first frame, we saw not the little girl from The Wizard Of Oz, but a weary performer that dragged her own prepubescent kids on stage to perform with her. The following sequence was even tougher to watch because we all fell in love with that little girl who followed the yellow brick road.

And the brilliance of Rupert Goold was to keep that tone throughout the movie so that we really got to experience the hardship Judy went through from ever since she started in Hollywood, and the kind of torture she endured - especially from Michael Gambon's character who became the main villain in this story.

I thought it was smart to keep the main focus of Judy at that time frame just before her passing, but at the same time there were flashbacks to when she was just starting out and tried to rebel. It was done so well that I wanted to see more of that period as well, or to see her becoming a young woman and what happened back then, too. But perhaps there weren't anything interesting to note during that period so it never made it to screen.

Zellweger truly brought Judy to life whenver she was performing on stage. And you could see her love for performing, as well as her love for the adoration she would receive. And Zellweger truly captured that distinction as compared to her "down" days, or how she was always lacking of sleep.

The tone of the movie throughout was quiet, deviated too far from the plateau that it moved along; but then again, never really had a reason to.

But then again, it also never felt like it truly encapsulated that period of her life in every aspect, and her interaction with her children never became more important. But perhaps such was her life. And it was truly sad to witness.