A second before becoming famous and a star of the glamor magazines herself Angelina Jolie acted in this role of a young super-model being projected on the big scenes of high fashion of the 80s, cracking down and having her life destroyed under the pressure. Her acting is the best thing in this movie - she succeeds to bring to life a character which is rebellious at the start, fights for her place, tries to make a difference and succeeds in the world of high fashion, but at the same time seems unable to control her personal life. Jolie's Gia is a vulnerable person, she craves for love but when she reaches it cannot keep it, she is insecure and immature, and her sliding into drugs is only too predictable. The tragic ending (she was one of the first female AIDS victims) seems to be almost logical.
Not everything around Jolie's acting is so successful. The film is OK at the level of the HBO TV drama, but not more. The documentary scenes with characters retelling Gia's story do not succeed to say much more than the conventional things we all know about drugs, fame, pressure. The characters in the fashion world are too conventional, although Faye Dunaway tries her best in the role of Gia's mentor. Elizabeth Mitchell is fine as Gia's girlfriend and I wonder why this popular TV actress does not get more and better roles on the big screen. However when the melodrama slides far from the real life trauma and improvises around it simply becomes less credible. The power of the movie lies in the tough truth it tells about the real world behind the glamor on the cover of the magazines and the fine acting of Jolie.
Not everything around Jolie's acting is so successful. The film is OK at the level of the HBO TV drama, but not more. The documentary scenes with characters retelling Gia's story do not succeed to say much more than the conventional things we all know about drugs, fame, pressure. The characters in the fashion world are too conventional, although Faye Dunaway tries her best in the role of Gia's mentor. Elizabeth Mitchell is fine as Gia's girlfriend and I wonder why this popular TV actress does not get more and better roles on the big screen. However when the melodrama slides far from the real life trauma and improvises around it simply becomes less credible. The power of the movie lies in the tough truth it tells about the real world behind the glamor on the cover of the magazines and the fine acting of Jolie.