# Little Voice (1998)

### reviewed by
Scott Renshaw

    LITTLE VOICE
    (Miramax)
    Starring:  Brenda Blethyn, Michael Caine, Jane Horrocks, Jim Broadbent,
    Ewan McGregor.
    Screenplay:  Mark Herman, based on the play by Jim Cartwright.
    Producer:  Elizabeth Karlsen.
    Director:  Mark Herman.
    MPAA Rating:  R (profanity, adult themes, brief nudity)
    Running Time:  96 minutes.
    Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.

Jane Horrocks delivers a show-stopping stage performance in LITTLE VOICE, the kind worthy of the divas she honors. In this adaptation of Jim Cartwright's play "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice," Horrocks reprises her stage role as L. V. (for Little Voice) Hoff, a timid young woman living in a small seaside town in the north of England. Still living with her brash, bawdy mother Mari (Brenda Blethyn), L. V. rarely speaks a word and even more rarely leaves the house. But when she sings, tearing into the classic Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey and Edith Piaf tunes beloved by her late father, she is transformed, taking on the pipes and the personality of whichever chanteuse she happens to be channeling at the moment.

The most astonishing element of Horrocks' performance is that she gets no assistance from the original vocalists. The actress truly can do frighteningly dead-on recreations of Garland, Dietrich, Holliday, Monroe and half a dozen others, and its a wonder to behold. The showcase for both Horrocks and her character is a performance at a run-down cabaret, set up by Mari's current flame, small-time talent scout Ray Say (Michael Caine). Recognizing L. V. as his ticket to the Big Time, Ray sinks everything he has into a one-night performance he finally coaxes out of the reluctant girl. And once she spots the visage of her dad in the crowd, encouraging her, away she goes.

In a live theater setting, you can imagine Horrocks' musical numbers being positively electrifying. Even on-screen her transformation from Minnie Mouse to mighty mouth is grand theater at its finest, and the renditions of standards like "Get Happy" and "I Wanna Be Loved By You" are extremely appealing. It doesn't take long, however, to realize that LITTLE VOICE is built entirely around Horrocks' admittedly impressive party trick. Once her centerpiece performance ends, the film starts working desperately to tie up loose ends -- L. V.'s infatuation with her father's memory, her relationships with her mother and an equally shy telephone technician (Ewan McGregor), the frustrations of Ray as his one shot at success seems about to pass him by. As flawed as Ray and Mari are, they deserve better than to vanish after receiving a comeuppance. It's frustrating watching them reduced to impediments to L. V.'s ability finally to spread her wings (and it's not as though the bird metaphor isn't beaten to an ugly death).

It's all the more disappointing because, for most of its running time, LITTLE VOICE doesn't seem headed that way at all. Its eccentric characters, while stagey, all have their goofy appeal, particularly Jim Broadbent as the nightclub's cheesy owner/emcee. Director Mark Herman develops his small-town atmosphere nicely, and his adapted screenplay keeps the humor fairly consistent. It's actually nearly half an hour into the film before L. V. breaks into song for the first time, allowing ample time to build the significance of the characters and their relationships. Then comes L. V.'s big debut, and it starts to seem that everyone else was just part of the warm-up act. L. V. emerges from her shell, she sings and she changes, and about as abruptly as you can imagine, the credits begin to roll. LITTLE VOICE is largely diverting in its way, and Horrocks is truly wonderful, but eventually it's somewhat disappointing. I didn't expect to leave the theater feeling that an ensemble story had been turned into a one-woman show of Judymania.

         On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 Christmas Garlands:  6.

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