“Judy” Ranks Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Release Date：Oct/4/2019
Genre：Biography/Drama/Romance
Director：Rupert Goold
Cast：Renee Zellweger、Jessie Buckley、Rufus Sewell

Viola's Rating：7.7







This summer marked the 80^th anniversary of the classic musical fantasy feature film “Wizard of Oz”, in which the leading actress Judy Garland is best remembered. Behind the camera, Garland experienced unimaginable inhumane childhood, and she spent her whole life battling against her addiction to alcohol and drugs. The film named after her “Judy” was released on October 4, 2019.

Based on the true story of Judy Garland (Renée Zellweger), this dramatic, biographical romance depicts the period of the legendary performer Judy Garland arriving in London during the winter in 1968 to perform a series of sold-out concerts.

As a stage performer, Garland lives for her aficionados and audience. She developed a large fan base in the gay community and became a gay icon, and throughout the years of her struggling, they’ve empathized her ever since. Unlike authorities and representatives from her flick company, Garland’s enthusiasts are those who really care about her. And even when Garland’s not in favor anymore, and she thinks that she doesn’t have charisma to attract audience, the love from her supporters really encouraged her and gave her power to keep going.

Signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayor (MGM) as a teenager, Garland constantly dieted to maintain her weight although her weight was always within a healthy range. Forced to follow a harsh diet during filming, Garland was given tobacco to suppress her appetite, and despite she didn’t have anorexia, she didn’t really get to enjoy food and life very much, considering such a big success she had.

Spending her entire childhood shooting for MGM, Garland was identified as a triple threat as a result of her acting, dancing and singing ability. Not only leading in motion pictures, she had to take a bunch of alternative classes to secure her position as the “girl next-door” with different skills and talents. However, it turned out that even after she had grown up, Garland’s like the baby elephant raised in a circus that she doesn’t know how to escape from the constraint even if there’s no one imposing it on her.

Not only did Garland follow rigid diet and have a catastrophic childhood, she also suffered from lifelong drug addiction because MGM would give young performers barbiturates to help them sleep and prescribe amphetamines in order to get them stay awake. On the other hand, co-founder of MGM, Louis Mayer claimed that the studio has never given any drug to Garland. No matter how she got her addiction, it is true that she went through difficult personal struggles due to drugs.

Although “Over the Rainbow” is a song full of hope and has inspired a host of people the past 80 years, its original singer Judy Garland has gone through tough situations until the movie takes us to somewhere over the rainbow.

Picture Credit: IMDb