Gia [DVD] [1998]

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Product Description ------------------- TV movie based on the true life story of model Gia Marie Curangi. After leaving her troubled family background in Philadelphia for the bright lights, big city of New York, Gia (Angelina Jolie) is soon picked up as a model and immerses herself in the heady world of fashion and glamour as a distraction from her personal demons. But when her best friend and surrogate mother-figure Wilhemina Cooper (Faye Dunaway) dies, Gia is once again left unsupported and falls into heavy drug use, a move that will eventually destroy her at the age of 26. .co.uk Review ------------- There's a reason why Cindy Crawford was dubbed "Baby Gia" when she first hit the modeling scene. Indeed, Crawford, now the world's best-known supermodel, greatly resembled model Gia Carangi, who went from high school to the cover of British Vogue in less than two years. Carangi appeared on many more covers of Vogue (French, British, Italian, and American) and Cosmopolitan before dying of complications from AIDs (she was an IV heroin user) in 1986. Now most people recognise Carangi's name from this powerful HBO film that stars Golden Globe-winner Angelina Jolie, who comes by her talent honestly. Jolie is the daughter of veteran actor Jon Voight, and her own training as a model serves her well--she has the moves. Throughout, she's heartbreaking--as no doubt the real Carangi was--effective, and stunning. With good source material (Stephen Fried's A Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia), Jolie's stunning performance, and strong directing by Michael Cristofer, the movie goes beyond the merely sensational. The script was co-written by Cristofer and novelist Jay McInerney, whose Bright Lights, Big City covers similar territory. As a cautionary tale, Gia works. But to watch Jolie in her character's tragic self-destruction is utterly compelling. --N.F. Mendoza