Gia

Gia Marie Carangi (Angelina Jolie, Mila Kunis) was born in 1960 Philadelphia and grew up in a broken home. Her mother (Mercedes Ruehl) left her combative relationship with her father. She's volatile and carries a switchblade. At 17, she meets top modeling agent Wilhelmina Cooper (Faye Dunaway). She moves to NYC with boyfriend T.J. but he goes back to Philly. She gets involved with straight-laced photo assistant Linda (Elizabeth Mitchell). She becomes a modeling star. However there is always a need in her that is eventually filled by drugs.

This is simply Angelina Jolie in all her glory. She solidifies herself as the most compelling sexually-volatile actress around at the time. The story isn't much and it doesn't have much drama. The movie has a little style but it is tethered to its TV roots. It is a showcase for Jolie and not much more.

This movie turned out to be a very unexpected favorite of mine. Angelina Jolie stars as the late Gia Marie Carangi, an Italian American woman who rose from a humble Philidephian beginning to worldwide fame as the first known "supermodel", and whose short-lived career spanned from the late seventies to the early to mid eighties. Jolie is super-impressive as she portrays the highs and lows of Gia's fame: strutting through a crowd of admirers, the look on her face saying, "I'm GIA, and you're nobody!"; endulging in glamour drug of the moment, cocaine; fiercely proclaiming her love for Linda (Elizabeth Mitchell), right in front of Linda's boyfriend; tearfully begging her visiting mother (Mercedes Ruehl) to stay with her, then hurling obscenities at her while throwing her baggage out of the apartment; and quietly and gracefully accepting the most tragic news about her health, just as she's finally getting her life on track. This movie deals very frankly with Gia's sexuality and there is some nudity and scenes of sexuality, but looking past the sex and the drugs and the tough exterior she displayed (especially when someone took her knife away from her), you see a very lost, fragile person. Gia is almost childlike in her disillusionment about the fashion industry, and you feel it in the way she fantasizes about a "normal" life with children, the way she feels like people regard her as a "piece of meat" with no brains, and the way she is so truly hurt by a fellow model calling her hateful names in a jealous rage. I think this movie is something that should be seen by people of all ages, regardless of its sexual content, because it carries a strong anti-drug message as well as a touching story we can all identify with even if a lot of us are not blessed with the kind of glorious physical beauty Gia was blessed with.

A tremendous biography of a supermodel, Gia Carangi. Her beauty graced magazines profusely in the late 70's. She knew as a little girl just how attractive she was. Her short life dealt with defiance of authority, lesbianism, love/hate relationships, drug addiction and AIDS.

Angelina Jolie was excellent as Gia. Her profanity, nudity and lesbian love scenes scorch the screen. Ranking among the best on film. Also in this eye opener is Elizabeth Mitchell, Mercedes Ruehl and Faye Dunaway.

With all the violence, nudity and profanity; can not believe this is rated R instead of X. But I am not complaining. This is a tragic story about a complicated life. A very interesting bio.

This movie is your typical "How deviant sex and drugs ruined a successful person's life" films we typically get out of television (shades of the Hayes office!). However, Angelina manages to do what many actors fail to do: take a basically unsympathetic character and make you feel sorry for her. I think the role of Mercedes Rhuel has also not been emphasized enough. Throughout the entire film she presented a highly sympathetic, charismatic persona as the mother who could not quick kick her gosling out of the nest. Gia was not a product of the times--she and others like her were the times.

When Cindy Crawford first entered the modeling world, she was dubbed, "Baby Gia." Her likeness to the model that was beyond perfection was what helped boost her career. Crawford, knew little about Carangi and her struggle.

When Stephen Fried published Thing of Beauty in 1993, he shed light on the exotic beauty known as Gia. He exposed the dark side of modeling, and showed the world the rise and fall of one of the most beautiful girls to ever live.

The movie Gia, is based of Fried's book. However, the movie takes several liberties. Gia's lover, "Linda", is based of Sandy Linter, a make-up artist in which Gia wooed and dated. Gia also dated a women by the name of Alyssa (she used the alias "Rochelle" in Fried's book). The writers combined these two loves, however, down played Alyssa's personality and character.

Gia's "journals" never existed. She did keep date books, too keep track of her appointments, and occasionally wrote things, but she never had an extensive amount of journals like the movie portrays. Gia's time in rehab is also downplayed.

Without a doubt, the movie is good, but if you want to know more about Gia, check out the book.