Little Voice (1998)

A reclusive young woman (Jane Horrocks) lives with her slutty mother (Brenda Blethyn) in a working class coastal town. She keeps to herself in her room listening to records by the great female performers and has the uncanny ability to mimic them. When a show biz hustler (Michael Caine) sleeping with her mother hears her, he coerces her into performing in public. Based on the play THE RISE AND FALL OF LITTLE VOICE by Jim Cartwright and directed by Mark Herman. I felt uncomfortable watching most of the movie. Horrock's character is clearly socially and emotionally stunted with an abusive mother and exploited by Caine's lounge lizard lothario. Horrocks' performance has been justifiably praised and she does all her own singing mimicking Garland, Bassey, Holliday, Monroe and Dietrich. But I was more impressed with Michael Caine's performance being both sympathetic to and repulsed by his character in equal measures. I found Blethyn's performance irritating and over the top yet inexplicably she received an Oscar nomination for it. Go figure! The contrivances of the movie's plot prevent it from being anything more than a one track gimmick. With Ewan McGregor, Jim Broadbent and Annette Badland.