Retro Film Review: Grace of My Heart (1996)

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drax5 years agoeSteem3 min read

(source: tmdb.org)

Most of the music scholars would agree that 1960s represent the most interesting period in the history of pop music. Those who pay attention to Hollywood music would also agree, since the songs from those years constitute soundtrack in many contemporary films, regardless of their period setting. On the other hand, Hollywood, while exploiting that cultural treasure, paid very little attention to the very people who had created it and the creative processes itself. Grace of My Heart, 1996 drama written and directed by Allison Anders, tries to correct that omission.

The plot of this, loosely inspired by the life and times of Carole King, begins in 1958. Edna Buxton (played by Illeana Douglas) is an heiress to the Philadelphia steel fortune, but she sacrifices her safe yet boring future in order to pursue career of a singer. When she comes to New York, it turns out that music producers have little appreciation for her singing abilities. One of them, Joel Millner (played by John Turturro), discovers her song-writing talent and uses it to create instant hit. Edna changes name into "Denise Waverly" and begins brilliant career as song-writer. Her personal life is getting better when Millner introduces her to lyrics writer Howard Cazsatt (played by Eric Stoltz), man to whom she would get married and have child only to suffer numerous disappointments later.

The most valuable thing about Grace of My Heart is in the way 1960s were recreated - not in terms of production design or costumes, but in music. In order to make the story about 1960s songwriters believable, producers had to enlist their help in creating music with style indistinguishable from great hits that had marked that particular period. Creative effort (which included names like Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello) resulted with some impressive songs. That doesn't mean that the acting in the film was inferior - Illeana Douglas, actress whose specific looks used to condemn her to character roles, was more than eager to display her abilities in lead role of a woman having to experience a lot in more than a decade. However, even all that creative effort couldn't compensate for Allison Anders' inability to compress twelve years of most intense cultural evolution into mere two hours of running time. The last segment of the film, in which heroine is married to the eccentric leader of "Beach Boys-like group (played by Matt Dillon), is weakest of them all - film focuses on husband instead on wife. The triumphant ending, in which heroine finally gets recognised as singer, is anti-cathartic and disappointing. All that doesn't mean that Grace of My Heart shouldn't be recommended - this is film which could appreciated even by those who care little about modern world's cultural history.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on November 6th 2003)