Gia

View Date: 7/2/09

This is the story of the supermodel Gia Marie Carangi, supposedly through the words of her friends and her own diaries. This film originally aired on HBO in the late 1990's.

Gia shot to stardom out of nowhere, being discovered on the streets of Philadelphia. She was picked up by one of the huge modeling agencies in New York when she was 17, and was one of the favorite and most sought-after models in the world. She eventually became addicted to drugs. Once she began injecting heroin, her modeling career disintegrated. It got to the point that her tract marks couldn't be covered even with airbrushing.

Gia went through rehab several times to no avail. She became one of the first famous women to acquire and die of AIDS, back when the AIDS epidemic was thought to be mainly confined to gay men.

This film had a phenomenal cast that won several awards for their parts. Angelina Jolie, who played the grown Gia, won a Golden Globe for her part. This was the part that led to her role in her Oscar-winning role in Girl, Interrupted. Mercedes Reuhl plays Gia's mother, and Mila Kunis plays Gia as a young girl.

I had read several things about this movie and had been wanting to check it out. It did not disappoint. However, it was much more graphic than I expected. There was lots of Angelina Jolie nakedness, and a rather explicit lesbian sex scene. As most HBO originals, I thought that it was very well done.

10 words or less: Mila Kunis grows up to be Angelina Jolie. Perfect.