When LV, "laura", (Jane Horrocks) gets on the stage and really does her stuff, we see talent that she seems to have hidden in all her other roles. Such a pity? Playing the funny but very silly Bubble in Ab- Fab is a distraction? (Mo, in "Born Romantic" is much better?)Here it is hard to believe this is the same Jane! And then she retreats into the strange fantasy world. With such a flimsy story, the movie has to include various trivial scenes just to fill out the time, ie, Billy (Ewan McGregor) and his pigeons, and then there was the blousy, brassy mother, Mari who is awful - gosh it must take really good skills to act that stuff? They get a telephone installed. Great, that fills up a few minutes and provides a few feeble laughs. "You must be the famous Phone Bill". yerss. The house has appalling electrical wiring, cue sparks, blackouts, and later a fire. The dead father gets a few minutes too.Michael Caine's role is sleazy show promoter. Nothing special there. Same for all the others?

This movie baffles me. First, it seems to be several different movies. It begins with some laugh-out-loud humor from LV's bizarre mum. I was all set for a very weird comedy. Then LV is introduced. I did not react to her the way other reviewers seem to react. To me, she bordered on mental illness -- refusing to speak, refusing to react, hiding herself away in her room like a recluse with only her records and the memory of her dead father as company, afraid of the world. If I hadn't already read the plot, I probably would've stopped watching, but of course I knew that Jane Horrocks ("LV") would eventually sing, so I kept watching and waiting. (And waiting, and waiting, and waiting...) The movie quickly became a rather morbid drama. Michael Caine was way over the top as the guy who decides that LV's voice is his ticket to wealth, and suddenly the plot becomes his desperate effort to force LV out of her isolation and into the glare of a stage. It was totally unbelievable to me that a girl who panicked at the mere thought of leaving her little cave would suddenly agree to step in front of an audience and sing. Then the movie becomes yet another movie, a story about an almost autistic but hugely talented girl who abruptly breaks free of her fears and performs like a pro, belting out this song and that (yes, Jane Horrocks did sing all those songs herself), in a "bring down the house" performance that was, I'll admit, thrilling and wonderful. But what does she do then? Does she use this sudden great talent to escape from her miserable life? Does she at last become happy and successful, or even try? No. She mumbles and mutters something about "they told me once, they said one time," and throws her career away at the snap of a finger, preferring (according to the movie) to help a strange young man exercise his pigeons, so that the movie ends as a third kind of movie, some sort of deep literary exercise that's neither entertaining nor satisfying, just baffling.

One of those little Miramax trifles from Britain that dominated the art-house back in the mid-to-late '90s. It stars Jane Horrocks as the title character, a painfully shy young woman who barely speaks at all, but has an outrageously good singing voice. Michael Caine plays a man from the music business who accidentally discovers her while he's visiting her abusive, skanky mother (Brenda Blethyn). Caine's attentions turn wholly to Horrocks, and Blethyn becomes even more wicked to her. Ewan MacGregor co-stars as Horrocks' pigeon-raising love interest and Jim Broadbent appears as Caine's friend, a night club owner. Brenda Blethyn received an Oscar nomination for her work, but she probably didn't deserve it. It's like she reprises her Secrets & Lies character and cranks up her obnoxiousness to 11. Horrocks is the entire show here, really (though I did like Caine's work). She's quite adorable in her shy mode, and when she does sing, man, does she nail it. The original play (directed by Sam Mendes) was written specifically for her to showcase her talents. I'd probably give the film a passing grade, but, really, there's only one sequence where Horrocks gets to show off in full force. It's exquisite, but I really wanted more. A lot more.

This film could be entitled the meek and the mild v the vulgar and wild.In one camp, you've got Little Voice (Jane Horrocks) and her 'friend', Billy, (Ewan McGregor), a thoroughly sweet pigeon breeder. Two shy characters who wouldn't say boo! to a goose. In the other camp - how do I put it? Well, if paint stripper could talk and sulphuric acid could walk, they would be Ray Say (Michael Caine) and Mari Hoff (Brenda Blethyn). Two contrasting camps and some very powerful performances.Brenda Blethyn is monstrously good in this. So much so, it's painful to watch. She is so nasty, my heart sank as I realised this over the top and brilliant performance was not going to spare me. The first scene was shocking as I took in the appearance and demeanour of her character. She is the true embodiment of vulgarity: Fag Ash Lil meets Motor Mouth.As her character develops, you realise there are no spiteful depths that she will not plummet to belittle and berate her daughter who is far more talented, beautiful and gentle than she could ever hope to be. Little Voice's talent awakens the envious beast that's inside her mother. It's no wonder LV doesn't speak a word.Enter Ray Say, the small-time music manager who's chunky jewellery, flash car and underworld contacts can't hide the fact that he's one of life's losers. He never quite hit the big time. He's Delboy but without a sense of humour. And that's tragic. Like Mari, he tries to cover up his desperation but it seeps through the cracks like mud through broken concrete.When Ray realises the range of talent that Little Voice casually displays, he can't contain his excitement. He soon realises that he'll have to put up with her mother if he's going to groom the star that's living under the same roof as her. But Mari doesn't take kindly to being second best to her daughter and the open display of vitriol that she unleashes on LV is nothing short of the vilest verbal abuse.So that's it in a northern nutshell. Will Ray pluck LV out of obscurity? How will he do it? How much longer will he put up with Mari, the acid-tongued witch? A tongue with a life all of its own - when it's not lunging for Ray's throat, it's creating mayhem - two beasts, one woman. That in itself is a dilemma.Caine's performance is nothing short of stunning. He makes sleazy look so easy. What can't he do? He is 'Red Hot Ray' with his tacky clothes and car. His expletive-ridden karaoke at the end of the film is raw and powerful and the most memorable part of the film: a goggle-eyed, seething, drunk desperado, the like I've never seen on film.Jane Horrocks is wonderful. She is clearly a fantastic mimic and is able to capture perfectly the voices of Shirley Bassey, Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland. Jim Broadbent is also fantastic (no surprises there) as the nightclub host. Ewan McGregor is the sweet shy love interest and plays it well. With a line up like this, it's hard for Little Voice to be anything other than brilliant. But, there's no question about it, no amount of perfect mimicry can outshine Blethyn and Caine in this film. It belongs to them. The casting director deserves a place in heaven for this pairing.