178. Little Voice

Song - Thank You for the Music (ABBA)

Movie: Little Voice (Mark Herman, 1998)

A Garland impersonator will never be a great artist, even in ideal circumstances, but bringing together an impoverished working-class town in commonly shared joy has value. So have shoddy bars, shady cars and kitschy overlit piers (Little Voice is set in Scarborough and I wondered at points if it had been influenced by The Fall's video clip for Hit the North, filmed in Blackpool, also a seaside town, but on the other side of England. Addendum here: I don't know much about The Fall and that is the only video of theirs I've seen). An early scene in which Mari Hoff (Brenda Blethyn) tells about her one night stand with local run-down talent scout Ray Say (Michael Caine in one of his more fun roles, playing "one of them lovable twat sort of types"), is a litmus test. If its full embrace of lowbrow style doesn't put a smile on your face, you are in trouble, as the film will build its story on the sights and sounds that someone like Mari would enjoy. And what it builds up to is much stranger and eerier than it apperas at first sight. 

You hear a lot these days about "elevated horror". It refers to horror films that are, or present themselves as, more "sophisticated" than the average slashers giving the poor unthinking audiences shocks, gore and nudity. These elevated horrors can supposedly be identified by their classier look, their more serious tone, or their concern with more mature themes. Now, I liked Midsommar quite a lot, but it's always worth being sceptical of art (and things in general!) that goes to great lengths to signify and sell its sophistication. The fact that 'elevated horror' has become such a popular marketing term does at least prove that more people should be familiar with the story about the Emperor's new clothes. One of the many remarkable things about Little Voice is that it goes to great lengths to present itself as less sophisticated than it is. This is a horror film in the guise of a typical 90's feel good British kitchen sink comedy drama about a reclusive girl, "Little Voice", (Jane Horrocks) whose special talent for singing finally brings her happiness. Hell, it even stars Ewan McGregor as the clean cut wholesome young man who falls in love with her! 

As far as I know neither the film nor the play it was based on had been either received or presented as horror. But I think it's impossible to look at Horrocks' performance, at the way the film uses lights and shadow and somewhat strange camera angles to make her bedroom seem more isolated and foreboding, the relationship with her dead father, the manic irrrationality of certain scenes, the climax and the way it is foreshadowed, and not come to the conclusion that it is at the very least horror-adjacent. The centerpice scene in the film is a 7-minute tour de force in which Horrocks' LV delights an audience performing classics by Shirley Bassey, Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe. She is presented as someone who is great at imitating these singers, but what happens goes far beyond imitation. She sings as if she is posssessed by them, and is only able to perform when she sees the ghost of her dead father. It's he who she mainly adresses with her flirty moves and songs. The film is very much aware of the connotations it brings up, while leaving the exact relationship between LV and her father ambiguous. That also makes her relationship with her trashy, domineering mom Mari more nuanced than it appears. 

Once her father's ghost dissapears, LV collapses on stage, completely unable to move. From that moment on the film completely abandons any sense of naturalism, yet this is not far from the usual condition LV is in. When she doesn't sing, she is a frighteningly withdrawn woman who barely eats, talks or moves, and these acts seem completely alien to her. It's a hugely impressive performance by Jane Horrocks, who, as the film notes at the end, sung all the songs herself. I am not greatly familiar with the voices and songs of Monroe, Garland and Bassey (the three favourite singers of her dad), but Horrocks clearly distinguishes between them. Whenever she is embodying one of them, there is no trace of the other, or of herself. This doesn't only happen when she is singing; when she's upset she starts reciting dialogue from her three favorites, and again does so at a moment's notice, seamlessly transitioning from one identity to another (I don't know if this is all Horrocks, or if she is playbacking real dialogue). Towards the end of the film she turns this 'talent' to her advantage, scaring away Ray who, hoping he finally found his pot of gold with LV puts all his manipulating skills at display to take advantage of her. Her mom and mr. Boo (Jim Broadbent) have similar ideas, until a cleansing menacing fire puts all their plans to rest and we finally hear LV's real voice and name.

LV's character development, what the happy ending is about, and how that happy ending comes are further arguments for seeing this film as horror. But the film doesn't insist on it, and most of the scenes that don't involve Horrocks would be familiar to anyone who's ever seen mainstream 90's British feel good romantic comedy drama. But it zags in this regard too. Firstly, by adding an occasional dash of magical realism when Billy (Ewan McGregor) is on screen. Secondly, the people it depicts are closer to Brad Pitt's buddies in Snatch than to Hugh Grant's buddies in Notting Hill, but they are treated with the respect of the latter. Mr. Boo and Ray Say are selfish, nasty producers of lowbrow entertainment with  'Take Fat' as one of their key acts. The film punishes them for their selfish nastiness, but doesn't condescend to the entertainment or to the audience that enjoys it. Much more than that, it presents itself as that kind of entertainment and employs its pleasures and aesthettics in its own style and storytelling.  Would relegated horror be the opposite of elevated horror? I dunno, but based on this film and Brassed Off (also about the relationship between working class communities and their entertainment), Mark Herman may be one of the most underrated and thoughtful filmmakers of the 90's.