Grace of My Heart (1996)

This is one of those films I was excited to see despite not knowing much about it, mostly due to the director and main star. The other Allison Anders works I'd seen- Gas, Food, Lodging, and the short "The Missing Ingredient" from Four Rooms- I liked, and I'm always ready to give female directors a chance. And Illeana Douglas was swell in the few films I'd seen her in (mainly The New Guy and Dummy). Unfortunately Grace of My Heart was not an especially good film. Set throughout the 60's and 70's, this pseudo-biopic of singer-songwriter Edna Buxton aka Denise Waverly (Illeana Douglas) begins with her winning a recording session in a singing contest, and therefore successfully escaping from her narrow-minded and overly-wealthy family. She has trouble making it as a singer (women voices are not in vogue), however, and instead winds up writing a hit single for a male doo-wop group. She is prompted by her new agent Joel Millner (John Turturro) to turn completely to songwriting, and helps spur the girl group craze by supplying her friend's band with songs.

She marries asshole beatnik-wannabe Howard Cazsat (Eric Stoltz) for some reason and collaborates with him, but a few months after their baby girl is born they divorce when Denise catches him cheating. She continues writing songs, releases her own record- which fails- and after a time (there is no clear timeline really), the agency closes down. She moves to California to be with popular experimental musician Jay Phillips (Matt Dillon), who encourages her to use her "gifts" in non-commercial/mainstream ways. His mood swings and drug use lead to disaster, of course, and she, her daughter, her babysitter, and her babysitter's son move to a hippie commune (I think?). Denise seems to have given up on relationships and creativity, never "finding her own voice", as it were. Perhaps someone from her past will show up to give her another chance to sing for herself. Who knows.

Like so many biopic-type films, this movie felt sooo looong. It's only about 2 hours, but the way the chronology and transitions worked out, it just dragged. That, and the story wasn't particularly interesting. I liked the recording sessions and discussions of musical and cultural trends during that time period, but for the most part it was just watching a capable and talented woman make lots of stupid relationship mistakes. It was annoying, really. Denise was sympathetic, but only to a point, due to how dumb she could be with her life decisions. It's too bad. Illeana Douglas did the best she could, but she couldn't change the plot. John Turturro put in the best performance, as expected, while the rest of the cast just sort of hung out.

There were things to like, though. The music was very good- mostly 60's-esque pop songs reminiscent of and often directly alluding to the likes of Ellie Greenwich and Carole King (the latter's own life shares some parallels with the film's story). There are a lot of references to and parodies of real people from that era, though I didn't always get them. It was also an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the creative musical process during this period, with various scenes dedicated to the writing or recording of specific songs. And it's always nice to see a strong female protagonist, even if it does take her forever to make a good decision. Overall, Grace of My Heart is ok, but definitely skippable. It has a good premise but drags due its structure.

3/5