GRACE OF MY HEART
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1996 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
GRACE OF MY HEART is a happy and delightful show that celebrates the creative process of song writing. Mainly set in the 60s, it tells the story of wannabe singer Edna Buxton (Illeana Douglas). After being rejected as a singer, she discovers her better talent which is composing the music and lyrics for a host of marvelous songs. GRACE OF MY HEART is her fictional autobiography.
I read that most of the people in the film are loosely based on real stars, but that is a distraction that I ignored while watching the film. Better to concentrate on the sweet little story at hand.
It is 1958 and at a big white mansion, gawky looking Edna Buxton is trying on a strapless and low cut gown for her singing contest. She complains, "Mother, the dress doesn't fit." Her mother puts her down with, "the dress fits the occasion. It's you that doesn't fit."
In her first starring role, normally supporting actress, Douglas is perfectly cast and performs flawlessly. You may remember her as the ice skater Janice from TO DIE FOR and the woman who gets disfigured in CAPE FEAR. She has none of the normal Hollywood glamorous looks. She is somewhat attractive, but her eyes and mouth seem a size too large for her face giving her a natural look unlike the typical fashion model appearance so popular in actresses today. She gives a compelling and always believable performance. As she tries hard to succeed she has all of the audience rooting for her.
When she attempts to sell herself in New York as a singer, she gets rejection after rejection. Typical is the record producer who tells her, "Nice voice, toots. The thing is we already have someone just like you." If that is not enough, he goes on, "I don't want to burst your bubble, but not only do we have someone like you. We are trying to get rid of the someone like you." Just then the record buying public had decided that female soloist were out, and male voices were in. Bad gender timing.
She gets introduced to record producer Joel Millner (John Turturro) who likes her songs, but only for his black singing group, not for her. Unstoppable Edna turns to song writing only until her singing career can take off. Joel fixes her lousy name and image problem. He christens her Denise Waverly and tells the world she is a struggling song writer from a Philly tenement.
Turturro demonstrates for the first time, at least to me, his tremendous comedic abilities. He is terrific as Denise's ever domineering boss and mentor, and it is one of my favorite roles of his. It is worth the price of admission just to see the chemistry between them and their artistry.
Denise forms a romantic attachment to fellow song writer and pseudo-intellectual Howard Cazsatt (Eric Stoltz). Her career goes south fast with him. Their first song together is a true story about a twelve year old girl who gets pregnant. It and their next four songs all get band by the church and the record distributors.
Her career takes off again when she starts collaborating with Cheryl Steed (Patsy Kensit). They are even successful in creating songs for TV star and ingenue Kelly Porter (Bridget Fonda) whom they figure has more hairspray than brains.
Bruce Davison plays the part of married DJ John Murray who falls for Denise. Given Douglas's charisma, the audience feels like complaining, take a number since they are enchanted with her too. Denise eventually ends up with the lead, Jay Phillips (Matt Dillon), of the Beach Boy look-alike group The Rip Tides. Dillon gives a space out performance of a spaced out guy, but it is so ethereal that his acting left me cold.
The first two thirds of the show is set in New York and is by far and away the best part. When Denise leaves in the late 60s to live on the beach in Malibu, she starts to lose creative energy and interest and so does the film itself. If writer and director Allison Anders had just stopped with the NYC part, she would have had made a brilliant picture. Like a pitcher who stays on the mound too long, Anders loses her touch and the film goes astray on the California coast.
Once in Surf City Denise gets down on herself declaring "maybe I put too much of myself into my songs." When she starts back on her career, Jay declares opposition with, "the only thing I wish for you, and I wish it most sincerely, I wish you would get fired." Still she protects Jay later by telling his equally spaced out doctor, "he smokes some grass. He uses some psychedelics. He uses peyote, but he is down on hard drugs."
Her crutch throughout is Millner. When she gets thin and despondent, he shows up with food and little homilies like, "You look like a vampire. Eat your hamburger. All that health food stuff will kill you."
This is an extremely rewarding film, flawed only by the plodding last part on the West Coast. There are twenty-eight songs in it, and most of them were made just for the film. All of the songs are full of high energy and reminiscent of the period. I left feeling I just had my batteries recharged.
My favorite part of the film, other than the mesmerizing performances by Douglas and Turturro, is the insights the film provides into the hard work required to produce a hit single. Many scenes take place in the recording studio where the rapport between the song writers, the performers, and the record producer is a key to success. I learned a lot by watching this fascinating bit of collaboration.
The script is a gem. When Denise first meets Howard, he is pompous towards her but claims to have liked her first hit. She asks him, "What exactly did you like about my record? The thickness of the vinyl?" When Cheryl is coaching a group of lethargic singers, she barks at them, "come on girls. This is supposed to be upbeat, not uptight. Get happy."
The technical aspects of the production are also meritorious. The cinematography by Jan Yves Escoffier reminded me almost of the colorful work by Jean Rabier in THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG. My favorite image is of the streets of New York at dusk with the neon lights glowing. The costumes (Susan Bertram), make-up, hair styling, and sets (Francois Seguin) all contribute to the authenticity of the film.
Finally, my favorite small touch in the picture is the use of the Theremin musical instrument by The Rip Tides. As documented in the engrossing film THEREMIN: AN ELECTRONIC ODYSSEY, this little instrument was used in everything from science fiction movies to Beach Boy music. Check out my review of the movie in the Internet Movie Data Base and then rent the video if you can find it.
GRACE OF MY HEART runs 1:55. It is rated R for some bad language and a couple of scenes of dope smoking. There is no violence, no sex and a single very brief nude scene at a commune. The show would be fine for most teenagers with only the brief drug usage scenes to be a possible concern. This is an easy show to watch and to enjoy, and hence one definitely worth a recommendation. The languid and atypically morose last part of the show detracted from my rating, but it still gets *** from me.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: September 20, 1996
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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