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Healthy Living 2019

<p>In the last year, the musical biopic has been remixed into a form of celebration for movie audiences, and the subject&#8217;s fans have jammed along with them. From &#8220;Bohemian Rhapsody&#8221; to &#8220;Rocketman,&#8221; these films have felt like concert events that gave hints of a story. &#8220;Judy,&#8221; starring Ren&#233;e Zellweger, brings back the traditional format of telling a figure&#8217;s life and singing the songs that made them.</p><p>&#8220;Judy&#8221; is a limited biopic focusing on two parts of superstar Judy Garland&#8217;s life &#8212; when she was a fledgling star (Darci Shaw) on the set of &#8220;The Wizard of Oz&#8221; and her 1969 residency on a London stage near the end of her short life (Zellweger). It links where Garland&#8217;s personal struggles started while growing up on the MGM lot to how she allowed herself to be a penniless and four-time divorced entertainer paralyzed by repeated failures. There is, of course, times where Garland&#8217;s charismatic stage presence is front and center.</p><p>What brings Garland to London is the need to end a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband Sidney Luft (Rufus Sewell) over their two children. The gigs would get her enough money to hire a lawyer. Meanwhile, her older daughter, Liza (Gemma-Leah Devereux), is starting to make her mark in Hollywood, and Garland finds new inspiration in a young love interest, Mickey Deans (Finn Wittrock). Under the guidance of her British agent, Bernard (Michael Gambon), and assistant Rosalyn (Jessie Buckley), Garland must put on spectacular shows for her British fans.</p><p>The less you know about Garland&#8217;s life, the better it is to appreciate some of the liberties director Rupert Goold takes with &#8220;Judy.&#8221; This film is very much through the British eyes who loved Garland as she was older, and not the American view that mostly saw her as Dorothy Gale, the girl in the ruby slippers. Garland is damaged, with a glass of liquor in one hand and several pills in the other. She is a woman who is unbalanced, but there are sparkles of that angelic voice audiences knew and loved.</p><p>The sets are limited to the stage, Garland&#8217;s spacious hotel room and the darkness in her mind, perhaps in tribute to the play on which &#8220;Judy&#8221; is based. The characters are just as sparse in personality and changes throughout as the villains like Luft and Deans are seen a mile away and allies like Roslyn and Garland&#8217;s band leader Burt (Royce Pierreson) are there to support the star. However, the costumes throughout the movie are stunning and reflective of the times. You&#8217;d want to go back to 1969 just to see the colorful, sparkling threads in person.</p><p>But the main winner is Zellweger. Although she proved to be a talented singer and dancer when she was Roxie Hart in &#8220;Chicago,&#8221; she transforms into a different performer as Garland. From the legend&#8217;s mannerisms and style of talking, Zellweger inhales it all and releases it into an emotional performance. The concert scenes are small in scale, especially if you compare them to the stadium performances Queen did as seen in last year&#8217;s &#8220;Bohemian Rhapsody.&#8221; And the songs aren&#8217;t completed in the chorus or sing-along style in the Elton John biopic &#8220;Rocketman.&#8221; Instead, it&#8217;s just Garland singing for her life, with Zellweger reminding the audience that she still has the talent that won many over for more than 20 years.</p><p>Zellweger disappears into the role, but the film relies on her to carry it on her shoulders. Beyond that, it feels more like a straight story with a lot of razzle dazzle. Sticking to traditional storytelling, however, feels a lot better when it&#8217;s compared to the recent reinventions the musical biopic has undergone.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">&#8216;Judy&#8217; is seen much through the British eyes who loved Garland as she was older, and not the American view that mostly saw her as Dorothy Gale, the girl in the ruby slippers. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_judy-featured.jpg</photo0><caption0>&#8216;Judy&#8217; is seen much through the British eyes who loved Garland as she was older, and not the American view that mostly saw her as Dorothy Gale, the girl in the ruby slippers. </caption0><photoCredit0>Roadside Attractions </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_judy2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Renee Zwelleger stars as Judy Garland in the musical biopic &#8216;Judy.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_judy2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Renee Zwelleger stars as Judy Garland in the musical biopic &#8216;Judy.&#8217; </caption1><photoCredit1>Roadside Attractions </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tamara Dunn</p><p>tdunn@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Tamara Dunn is the night news editor at the Times Leader. She is also a film lover who counts &#8220;Rear Window&#8221; and &#8220;Black Panther&#8221; as her favorites.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

That’s A Wrap: ‘Judy’ is return to traditional musicial biopic