Rating: 
Summary: This movie is okay but Jane Horrocks is Absolutely Fabulous
Review: "Little Voice" is a strange little film. It is based on the play "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice" which was written by Jim Cartwright specifically and most deservedly for the talented voice of actress Jane Horrocks. However, given what I have seen in this movie there must be some significant changes with the last act of the story from what appeared on stage. The story basically falls into three stages, which can aptly be described as the discovery, rise, and fall of Little Voice. This is the nickname of LV (Horrocks), the painfully shy daughter of human hurricane Mari (Brenda Blethyn), who takes refuge in her room upstairs listening to her father's record albums. On the few occasions when she actually utters words it is indeed in the littlest of voices and we are genuinely surprised when she actually makes eye contact with another human being. Trying to do more than that is young Billy (Ewan McGregor), who is smitten with the shy young woman. Meanwhile, Ray Say (Michael Caine), a seedy third-rate manager of fourth rate talent in the entertainment biz blows into town to have some good times with Mari and he proves to be more than her equal in terms of having a very good time. Then, in one of those scenes that delightfully catches us by surprise, both Ray and the audience learn that LV might not talk, but she can sing. More to the point, she can sing like the singers on the records she listens to, which means we are talking Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey, Billie Holiday, and other music icons. Ray has dollar signs in his eyes that blind him to the obvious amorous affections of Mari as the big question becomes how to get the timid LV upon on the stage at the club of Mr. Boo (Jim Broadhurst). The rise part of the story is the most enjoyable as our anticipation builds for the moment when LV is going to let loose with all those voices she keeps bottled up inside. Of course, once that happens there is nowhere to go but down. Ray coaxes LV into the big moment through dishonest means, which is a portent of what is to come. Caine's performance is marvelous from start until the final act of this film, at which point his character throws away all of the good grace he has developed over the course of the film. Our sympathy is totally with LV, who is always singing in her mind's eye to her long departed father (special mention to Graham Turner for the perfectly wonderful smile on his face), although young Billy's earnestness wins our admiration as well. By the end of the film LV's career and a whole lot of other things are in ashes. The ending of "Little Voice" is rather unsatisfying, but to paraphrase the Bard, I am not sure what satisfaction it could provide us from where it begins. Blethyn got a supporting actress nomination for her performance in this film and Caine's performance is what of his better efforts, but the reason to watch this film is Horrocks. In the end your biggest complaint with this film is going to be that Horrocks does not do a lot more singing. I understand the importance of the key line that LV finally gets to delivery to her mother, but I cannot help but feel that there should have been an equally important moment from the musical perspective. "Little Voice" is worth the watching, but if you find yourself only rewatching the middle section, do not be tremendously surprised.
Rating: 
Summary: The Adventures Of Little Voice Starring Jane Horrocks!!!
Review: Judy Garland, Marlena Deitrich, Shirley Bassey, and Marilyn Monroe are L.V.'s (short for Little Voice) best friends in the world! On 33 1/3 LP's, that is!
L.V. Hoff, played specactularly by Absolutely Fabulous' Miss Jane Horrocks, is a timid, shy, mousy young girl who cloisters herself in her bedroom day after day and plays her dear, dead father's record collection over and over again. You see, L.V. and her boisterous, overbearing, abusive pig of a mother, Mari played wonderfully by the great Brenda Blethyn live above the family business, Hoff Records.
Enter telephone men George and Billy, (Philip Jackson & Ewan McGregor). They install Mari's first phone in the Hoff's small flat. Billy is a backward chap himself with only his homing pigeons as friends but once he meets L.V., he is smitten and so is she.
Mari, always on the lookout for a new beau, finds one in talent producer, Ray Say, played by a great Michael Caine. So great, in fact that Michael was nominated for an Oscar for his performance of the producer/womanizer/lothario Mr. Ray Say. After Ray hears L.V. singing in her upstairs bedroom he knows he has found a star and pawns everything he owns to make money and exploit L.V.'s singing talent.
L.V. debuts at Mr. Boo's (Jim Broadbent) variety club but gets a terrible case of stage fright and ends up being "booed" off the stage.
Of course, Ray wants L.V. to try again so under the influence of Ray, Mari and her friend Sadie, played by Annette Badland, L.V. agrees to do one more show. L.V. is a HIT with her impersonations of all her and her father's favorite singers and actors. Ray makes a BOATLOAD of money, wants L.V. to come away with him, Mari gets jealous and lots of other crazy things happen with a shocker of an ending that you won't forget!
This movie was adapted from the stage play of the same name that was written especially for Jane Horrocks in mind as Little Voice. I don't understand how Miss Horrocks was passed over for an Oscar nomination herself. She is splendid in this film as is the whole cast of characters.
Highly Recommended and Happy Watching!
Rating: 
Summary: Tony of Stockport
Review: The most remarkable aspect of this movie is the great performance of all main actors: Jane Horrocks, Brenda Blethyn and Michael Caine, each one of them as impressive as possible and it is hard to say whose act is the best; is it the surprising wonderfully voiced Jane Horrocks, who makes this movie such a satisfying entertainment, Michael Caine who plays all nuances of the greedy agent (one who knows how to psychologically manipulate mother and daughter) or the great Brenda Blethyn whose every twist of face and body is an act of its own. Mari talks all the time, but in the few instances when she has no words - Brenda Blethyn's face says it all. I am not sure that Mari deserves all that she gets in this movie, but she is punished for all her doings in the unforgettable words she hears from both agent and daughter.
Throughout the movie I was expecting some sort of reconciliation between mother and daughter or some recognition from mother towards daughter, some kind words... appreciation...but none of this is here and there is no attempt to cover the real-life truth. This is even sharpened when one understands that yes, the mother is jealous of her daughter and no, the daughter is not just "naturally shy". All falls to place at the movie's climax moment and all is understood.
Although Mari's character is unpleasant, she is so wonderfully portrayed by Brenda Blethyn that I was unable to feel any contempt for her character because above all she is a human being to whom you feel a mixture of both anger and pity.
The second aspect of Little Voice is the music - Jane Horrocks honors the great singers (Shirley Bassey, Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland) with her performance that tries to bring them as they were and not to glorify herself. This is quite a contradictory statement as the film was built around Jane Horrocks unique talent - but this is only "behind the scenes" knowledge and not what you feel when you see her on screen. Not a "big" movie and does not intend to be one. The splendid perfomrance makes it worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: An emotional masterpiece!
Review: Astounding performances lift this movie and make it soar! Michael Caine portrays perhaps the most vile character of his career with a range of nuance and expression that would challenge even the most adept actors. It might well be his best work ever! But his sleazy Ray Say would be just another manipulative has-been were it not for the work of Jane Horrocks' Little Voice. Ms. Horrocks doesn't just recreate the voices of Judy Garland, Marlilyn Monroe and numerous other singers, she practically channels them in one of the most unique performances I've ever seen. Little Voice or LV for short is a severely withdrawn young woman whose response to an earlier trauma has rendered her mute but for an ability to sing in the voice of past stars. Her mother, Brenda Blethyn, is accepting of this until linking up with Caine's struggling agent, Ray. The two seek to exploit LV, albeit for differing reasons; Mom wants her to succeed at something, while Ray sees nothing but profit in a client with more potential than his current stable of strippers and hack comics. Ewan McGregor appears as an equally shy telephone repair man, with Jim Broadbent as a club owner that is every bit as low brow as his clientele. Beyond the marvelous characterizations, the film's setting in a northern England city makes for a setting of pathos and futility that has you rooting for LV to escape not only her emotional prison but the physical one of her family and environment. Horrocks will have your heart within the first five minutes and she never lets go.
Rating:
Summary: part comedy, part tragedy, part horror film
Review: This unusual film is difficult to characterize -- the characters are so well-developed, so unique, so interesting. Michael Caine is wonderful, but I thought that LV's mother & her tagalong friend, silent Sadie, stole the show. LV's mother is a loud, middle-aged floozy who wears pushup bras, micromini skirts, towering heels & lace tightsn and prattles on nonstop in a barely decipherable accent and odd syntax (I kept the subtitles on during the entire film -- a big help.) Her best friend Sadie is a chubby, funny-faced follower who never speaks -- the mother babbles nonstop & no one else has a chance to get a word in edgewise. LV is her mother's opposite -- a plain-jane, retiring type, silent, expressing herself only through the voices and words of the divas on her treasured record albums, finding solace in the framed portrait of her deceased father. The plot keeps you on edge, but all is resolved positively in the end. As an added bonus, Jane Horrocks (LV) is, in fact, an incredible performer, able to mimic everyone from Judy Garland in Wizard Oz to Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy Birthday."
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