LITTLE VOICE (1998) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1999 Ted Prigge
Director: Mark Herman Writer: Mark Herman (based on the play "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice" by Jim Cartwright) Starring: Jane Horrocks, Blenda Blethyn, Michael Caine, Ewan McGregor, Jim Broadbent, Annette Badland, Philip Jackson, Graham Turner, Alex Norton
About an hour or so into 'Little Voice,' there's the big concert sequence, which in the olden days of Astaire and Rogers was what came about every 20 minutes. In this, the lead character, who's been nearly silent and reserved for the entire movie, opens her eyes up wide, and does wonderful, show-stopping impersonations of all the great female singers, from Billie Holiday to Shirley Bassey, and man oh man is it worth the price of admission. We see snippets of only a couple of her numbers, but during those few minutes, it's one of the best films of the year: energetic and sit-up-in-your-seat entertaining. In fact, through the whole thing, I had this big silly grin plastered on my face, and low and behold, the actress playing her (Jane Horrocks) is not at all faking it. This movie, and the play before it, is based on her actual ability to do this mimics, and they are about the best mimics I've heard in, well, decades. They sound exactly like the actual artists, and when she does them, she has so much energy that I nearly applauded right along with the audience when she was finished. Hands down, it's one of the best sequences of last year.
Sadly enough, it's one of the only things I can recommend wholeheartedly about the rest of 'Little Voice,' which is a film that builds up entirely for this sequence and then goes downhill immediately afterwards, drowning in clichés and half-assed themes (the final moment, in fact, is so let's-just-end-here that the credits rolling made me jump in my seat). It's as if someone found out Horrocks has this great talent, decided to write a film dealing with her ability, and leapt to a pen and notepad at the first idea that went through their head, which is, basically, about an agoraphobic who learns to open up over the course of the film. It's your basic charming Brit comedy, not a lot unlike films like 'The Full Monty,' that win audiences over with their own unique brand of self-depricating ethnic wit, or at least it's supposed to be. In fact, looking at the rough outline, it has all the right ingredients for a terrific Brit import: a great cast (Michael Caine, Brenda Blethyn, Jim Broadbent, Ewan McGregor, and, of course, Horrocks), some great humor, a little bit of pathos, and a selling point that's just superb (in fact, I'd still like to see it again, just for the big number sequence).
The story is simple: LV (really Laura, but it stands for Little Voice) lives in a run-down part of London with her loudmouth, boozing, horny mum (Blethyn, which is pretty much perfect casting, after the whole 'Sweetheart' and 'Darling' spiel of 'Secrets and Lies') and never leaves her room as she perpetually listens to her dad's old records of Garland, Monroe, and the whole lot, of which she can do uncanny impersonations. One night, mum brings home run-down talent agent, Ray Say (Caine, basically playing him like an older, more decrepit version of Alfie), who hears her when the electricity goes out and she starts singing to replace the absence of music. He feels he's struck gold after all these years and plans a big event to be held at his friend's (Broadbent) seedy pub. Trouble is LV's, as I said, agoraphobic, so she basically has to be literally forced to do it. Meanwhile, she meets a shy electrician (Ewan McGregor) who takes a shine to her, and tries his darndest to open her up.
It's all great on paper, but there's something lost in the process. Nothing really comes together. Even the humor is all starts-and-stops (although I just loved Blethyn's otherwise unprintable description of Caine's convertible), and the actual structure sadly builds everything up to the big scene, making everything your basic filler. Throughout, there are many a funny thing to gawk at, but most of the time, I was just waiting for the promised show, and while I wasn't exactly let down, I do like my filler to be of the interesting kind, not the half-assed kind. What it basically comes down to is a lack of actual material for the story, and most of what happens prior to the show is entirely predictable and only minutely interesting (it even goofs up the metaphor of the McGregor character: see, he takes care of pigeons, and in a way, I guess, LV is a caged pigeon...right?). But it's still at least watchable because the entire time, you know you're gonna get a great show because, after all, if this is to showcase Horrocks' talents at mimicry, it has to allow her to sing a couple numbers.
Afterwards is the worst though: the entire rest of the film gets bogged down in what it perceives as drama, and it takes a questionable and entirely unnecessary turn for the mean. Ray becomes a total jerkoff, for plot purposes; the mum becomes a bit of one herself, but is subsequently told off by Ray; and LV becomes worse than ever. 'Little Voice,' as it turns out, believes in the basic principle that a more tragic streak a better movie makes, but here, this all seems horribly out of place and mishandled. In fact, LV The Character almost seems like a terribly selfish character by the film's end: her refusal to do her shtick has, by the end, ruined a couple people, and left her mother the target of harsh accusations and character assassinations, which she has, yes, brought on herself. And the film ends on such a distasteful note that I nearly wanted a short epilogue, just to see what happened to Ray, his friend, and her mum, all of whom lie in ruins by the finale. If this is supposed to be some kind of stark, Balsac-ish portrait of these people as greedy and deserving of destruction, it's in the wrong movie. 'Little Voice' needed to be more uplifting and more pleasant, and the dark streak across it seems to come from a deadly sense of self-importance on the part of the filmmakers, not from any real artistic intentions. It reduces Horrocks' shtick to merely a Vegas or talk show act, since it doesn't get a whole lot of notice in this film. If, however, it had a better story, a better character (really, is an agoraphobic with a secret talent just about the most cliched idea or what?), and a lack of that mean streak that plagues the final act, they really would have something. As it is, though, it's a weak Brit comedy, which to me is almost refreshing as I have been chastised by several of my friends for what seems like a predilection towards anything British, whether it be Monty Python or William Shakespeare (or Kenneth Branagh doing William Shakespeare).
But then again, there's Horrocks. Known for her great performance in Mike Leigh's wonderful 'Life is Sweet' (playing a similar character) and her supporting work on 'Absolutely Fabulous,' she makes a terrific leading woman despite the handicaps her character has infringed upon her. She's fragile but she can also come across with such strength, especially during the big show number and a couple scenes towards the end, and she's also instantly likable. And her talent is still better than a mere Vegas or talk show act; she could play Broadway and do extremely well. In fact, here's an idea for a show, or even a movie later on: Jane Horrocks doing these impersonations. No LV. No story of an agoraphobic in London, trying to deal with an overbearing mother. No run-down talent agent who turns asswholish. No plot-requiring love interest. Just Jane. In a dress. Singing like Bassey, Holiday, Monroe, Garland, and whomever else she wants to impersonate. She does it so well that this film hardly deserves her.
MY RATING (out of 4): **1/2
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