Little Voice (1998)

Just so...so bad

Good start, but then it gets ruined

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

'Little Voice' began as a play at London's National Theatre in the summer of 1992, directed by Sam Mendes and featuring Jane Horrocks and Alison Steadman.At 95 minutes in length, there isn't a wasted scene in Mark Herman's 1998 film version. It's rare to find a film which doesn't outstay its welcome and is uniformly well-acted by an impossible to better cast.The 'Little Voice' (LV) of the title is Jane Horrocks, a shy girl in a Yorkshire coastal town. She's often mute and introverted to the point of rarely leaving her room. Since the death of her father, she's had no real conversation with anyone - her only company being the show tunes from her father's LP collection of(Judy Garland, mostly). Horrocks sounds astonishingly like the real things - she belts out 'Big Spender' as if Shirley Bassey was there on the soundtrack. Her blank look is touching. If she rarely speaks it's because she can't get a word in edge ways because of her loud and monstrous mother played by Brenda Blethyn - who is best described as a pantomime dame crossed with a tart.Then there's Michael Caine as Ray Say, the has-been agent who puts LV on the stage of Boo's Nightclub for one-night only. He begins as a boozy and lovable rouge - manipulative and not without charm. But he's ultimately self-serving and unpleasant. At the end of the movie he's on stage giving a drunken, foul-mouthed and aggressive rendering of the Roy Orbison song 'It's Over' (a song about his showbiz career) whilst his creditors wait in the wings.In the end, LV speaks, is saved from a house fire by a BT engineer (a charming Ewan McGregor) and finds a life outside of vinyl and her mother. We even get to know her real name - it's Laura.Everyone in this film is terrific (especially Jom Broadbent as nightclub owner Boo whose acts include the sumo-like tribute band Take Fat). But the film belongs to Caine, in a Golden-Globe winning performance that I think is a career-best. Just watch the scene where he gently coaxes LV into performing live on stage -he even takes us in.

This film could be entitled the meek and the mild v the vulgar and wild.In one camp, you've got Little Voice (Jane Horrocks) and her 'friend', Billy, (Ewan McGregor), a thoroughly sweet pigeon breeder. Two shy characters who wouldn't say boo! to a goose. In the other camp - how do I put it? Well, if paint stripper could talk and sulphuric acid could walk, they would be Ray Say (Michael Caine) and Mari Hoff (Brenda Blethyn). Two contrasting camps and some very powerful performances.Brenda Blethyn is monstrously good in this. So much so, it's painful to watch. She is so nasty, my heart sank as I realised this over the top and brilliant performance was not going to spare me. The first scene was shocking as I took in the appearance and demeanour of her character. She is the true embodiment of vulgarity: Fag Ash Lil meets Motor Mouth.As her character develops, you realise there are no spiteful depths that she will not plummet to belittle and berate her daughter who is far more talented, beautiful and gentle than she could ever hope to be. Little Voice's talent awakens the envious beast that's inside her mother. It's no wonder LV doesn't speak a word.Enter Ray Say, the small-time music manager who's chunky jewellery, flash car and underworld contacts can't hide the fact that he's one of life's losers. He never quite hit the big time. He's Delboy but without a sense of humour. And that's tragic. Like Mari, he tries to cover up his desperation but it seeps through the cracks like mud through broken concrete.When Ray realises the range of talent that Little Voice casually displays, he can't contain his excitement. He soon realises that he'll have to put up with her mother if he's going to groom the star that's living under the same roof as her. But Mari doesn't take kindly to being second best to her daughter and the open display of vitriol that she unleashes on LV is nothing short of the vilest verbal abuse.So that's it in a northern nutshell. Will Ray pluck LV out of obscurity? How will he do it? How much longer will he put up with Mari, the acid-tongued witch? A tongue with a life all of its own - when it's not lunging for Ray's throat, it's creating mayhem - two beasts, one woman. That in itself is a dilemma.Caine's performance is nothing short of stunning. He makes sleazy look so easy. What can't he do? He is 'Red Hot Ray' with his tacky clothes and car. His expletive-ridden karaoke at the end of the film is raw and powerful and the most memorable part of the film: a goggle-eyed, seething, drunk desperado, the like I've never seen on film.Jane Horrocks is wonderful. She is clearly a fantastic mimic and is able to capture perfectly the voices of Shirley Bassey, Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland. Jim Broadbent is also fantastic (no surprises there) as the nightclub host. Ewan McGregor is the sweet shy love interest and plays it well. With a line up like this, it's hard for Little Voice to be anything other than brilliant. But, there's no question about it, no amount of perfect mimicry can outshine Blethyn and Caine in this film. It belongs to them. The casting director deserves a place in heaven for this pairing.

This film by Mark Herman has enough interesting characters that it really keeps your interest.Brenda Blethyn received an Oscar nomination for her performance, and she deserved it. As the brassy mom who yelled and philandered her husband into an early grave, she is hilarious.I have to say that this is one of the best performances I have seen from Michael Caine as a loser who sees all his dreams go up in smoke.Jim Broadbent was also good as Mr. Boo, a failed comic and nightclub owner.Jane Horrocks was mesmerizing when she sang, especially doing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Ewan McGregor was great as a perfect match for her.The music was beautiful nostalgia and there performances were first rate.

I didn't really want to see this film in the first place - that's why it's taken 8 years . You need to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate many films, otherwise they just don't "click". But it was quid pro quo for the crappy sci-fi and horror and offbeat "arty-type" films I like to watch occasionally. From all I'd heard about the singing, I thought this film was going to be a musical. So when I realised this wasn't a musical, had Jane Horrocks, Michael Cane and Jim Broadbent in it, I thought it couldn't be all bad. The film seems to have been accepted as a real peach. Sadly it's not, but instead more of a curates egg - good in parts. The singing is good - but not exceptional enough to carry the film on it's own. Michael Cane puts in a very classy performance, and Jane Horrocks certainly does a job with the lines she was given. Jim Broadbent has a marginal, but significant role. Ewan McGregor, does OK with his 5 minutes but his character's involvement after the first 10 minutes seems to be a bit of an afterthought. Annette Badland, is a really excellent actress with a wide range(Archers and Dr Who fans will know this), and was wasted on this part, though she plays it well. Brenda Blethyn must have been told "play an actress who is hamming up a performance as a busty irritating Hilda Ogden on speed". If so, she did a very good job. Somehow it just felt as if they had rehearsed their roles separately, and the director has then taken the first cut on every shoot to get it over with as quickly as possible. Even though I wasn't expecting much from this, it feels like this film could have been so much better than it turned out to be. All in all not a bad film, but somehow it's much less good than the sum of the performances - frustratingly disappointing.