The Grass Harp (1996)
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 6.0 Alternative Scale: **1/2 out of ****
United States, 1996 U.S. Release Date: 10/11/96 (limited) Running Length: 1:47 MPAA Classification: PG (Mature themes) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Piper Laurie, Sissy Spacek, Walter Matthau, Edward Furlong, Nell Carter, Joe Don Baker, Charles Durning, Sean Patrick Flannery, Jack Lemmon, Mary Steenburgen, Roddy McDowall, Mia Kirshner Director: Charles Matthau Producers: Charles Matthau, Jim Davis, and Jerry Tokofsky Screenplay: Kirk Ellis and Stirling Silliphant based on the novel by Truman Capote Cinematography: John Alonzo Music: Patrick Williams U.S. Distributor: Fine Line Features
THE GRASS HARP is a truly inoffensive picture, and that's part of its problem. Here, as is often the case, "inoffensive" equals "ineffectual" -- at least something that offends rarely provokes yawns. With a raft of bland characters and situations, it's difficult to summon up much feeling regarding anything that happens on screen. So, when director Charles Matthau turns on the shameless manipulation near the end, his attempts to wring tears result in dry eyes and bored expressions.
Choppy editing has something to do with it -- THE GRASS HARP is not put together with much concern for elegance or coherence. The irritating, all-pervasive voiceover narrative (spoken by Boyd Gaines) shares equal blame. In fact, there are times when the movie demands the latter because of the former. Ultimately, however, most of the information imparted by Gaines is redundant and pretentious. He says things like "Nothing mattered to her so much as the owning of things and people" and "I tried to look pitiful because I knew it pleased people."
THE GRASS HARP is told from the point of view of 16-year old Collin Fenwick (Edward Furlong), an orphaned boy who began living with his fathers' cousins when he was 11. He is the lone male in a house of three women. There's Verena (Sissy Spacek), a humorless, mousy woman whose entire life is devoted to making money; Dolly (Piper Laurie), an insecure dreamer who is intimidated by her sister, Verena; and Catherine (Nell Carter), Dolly's devoted friend.
A crisis brews when Verena and Dolly argue, and Dolly decides to leave home. Collin and Catherine accompany her, and the small group decides to hide out in a nearby tree house. It doesn't take long for word to get around town that they're there, and soon outcasts from the area seek out their companionship. Judge Cool (Walter Matthau), regarded as senile by his family, is the first to join the gang. He is followed by a rootless young man named Riley (Sean Patrick Flannery) and an unmarried, itinerant woman with fifteen children (Mary Steenburgen). When the sheriff (Joe Don Baker), instigated by Verena, arrives to disband the company, things turn ugly.
THE GRASS HARP, which takes place in rural Georgia during 1940, tries for the feel of FRIED GREEN TOMATOES. Much like this year's THE SPITFIRE GRILL, it succeeds only on a superficial level, failing to harness the deeper emotional currents of Jon Avnet's 1992 picture. And, although THE SPITFIRE GRILL is clearly flawed, it promotes better character identification than THE GRASS HARP. Here, when the inevitable death occurs, it's not as painful as it could, or should, be.
THE GRASS HARP is far more effective at delivering light humor than drama. The brief exchange between old screen buddies Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon is delightful, as are almost all of the scenes featuring Mary Steenburgen. Aside from Steenburgen's promiscuous revivalist and Matthau's judge, however, none of the characters are especially interesting. Dolly, whose transformation from meekness to self- sufficiency represents the story's fulcrum, is played with such reserve by Piper Laurie that she often fades into the background. Sissy Spacek isn't given much to do other than look pinched and act crotchety, and Edward Furlong is his usual one-note picture of surliness. Only Walter Matthau, acting under his son's direction, exudes life and energy. I would have enjoyed seeing more of the judge; everyone else is forgettable.
The story related by THE GRASS HARP is nice enough, but it doesn't amount to much. For this kind of drama to succeed, we need to develop more powerful feelings than those engendered by Dolly, Verena, and Collin. The title is said to refer to the sound made by the wind rustling through fields of uncut grass -- "a harp of voices telling stories." I just wish the story related here had been about a more compelling group of characters.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
"We go away from our parents in youth and then we gradually come back to them; and in that moment, we have grown up." -- Ingmar Bergman
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