Review of Little Voice (1998) by Theta S — 01 Jun 2011

LV is an introverted young woman who finds it difficult to communicate with people. She also has the added problem of a mother, Mari, who only thinks of herself and whichever unfortunate person is her latest gentleman friend.

But LV has a talent which nobody knows of except for her mother - LV has a knack of being able to impersonate legendary singers such as Shirley Bassey, Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland... that is until, Mari's latest fella, local talent scout Ray Say, hears her sing.

Once Ray hears LV, he decides that he will do anything in his power to make her top of the bill. The questions are will the reluctant LV play ball and will there be consequences that Ray and Mari haven't figured for?

SPOILERS.

Little Voice is based upon the stage play "The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice" and as somebody who has seen the stage version, this film is a faithful conversion to the big screen.

Jane Horrocks is fantastic as LV. She embodies the two aspects of the character perfectly - out of her comfort zone, Horrocks is believable as the shrinking violet whilst on stage she has a fantastic voice when impersonating the songstresses required within the film.

Brenda Blethyn is perfectly cast in the role of LV's mother, Mari Hoff. The character is vicious, shallow, self serving and a slave to her need to think that's she still a hit with the men and Blethyn pulls off the role.

Michael Caine stars as Ray Say. He takes on the role with gusto as the agent who sees Pound Signs when he hears LV sing for the first time. The character is very much the male equivalent of Mari - equally shallow, vicious and self serving.

As much as Caine compliments Blethyn, Ewan McGregor compliments Jane Horrocks in the role of Billy, the shy telephone engineer who treats LV as a person and not a nuisance or a commodity.

Support comes from Annette Badland who portrays Mari's friend Sadie, Philip Jackson as Billy's work colleague George and Jim Broadbent as local club compere Mr Boo.

With the small main cast, this film has the feel of the stage show that inspired it. A Comedy Drama which has a tinge of the Musical, this is a heartwarming film about a woman who wants to find her own voice and finds it in the most surprising of ways.