Grace of My Heart (1996)

Starring Illeana Douglas, John Turturro, Eric Stoltz, Matt Dillon, Patsy Kensit, Bruce Davison, Bridget Fonda, Chris Isaak, Richard Schiff and Peter Fonda / Directed by Allison Anders / From Gramercy Pictures

It’s the early Sixties and Edna Buxton (Douglas) is determined to be a singer. Problem is, there are many just like her and what she is is just not selling. The bright side is Edna is a talented songwriter. Downside? Her name. She meets producer Joel Milner (Turturro) who renames her Denise Waverly and sets her to work writing songs for others. After a few hits, she is teamed with Howard Caszatt (Stoltz) and the two write controversial songs that get banned from radio play. The two fall in love, marry, have a daughter and divorce. Denise moves out west and falls for Jay Phillips (Dillon), the visionary leader of a surf band, and the two marry. After a tragic end to their marriage, Denise finally – after ten years in the business – gets a chance to make her own album and it is a colossal success.

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Filmmaker Allison Anders conceived of Grace of My Heart as an homage to the music that came out of the Brill Building in New York City from the late 1950s until the mid-1960s. She wanted to pay tribute to the songwriters who crafted hits for the girl groups like the Shangri-Las, doo-wop acts like the Drifters and singers like Lesley Gore and Gene Pitney and so many others. The name that looms large over this film but one that is not mentioned is that of legendary songwriter Carole King and this leads us to our main talking point. No sense putting this off; this film fails miserably because it does not admit what and who exactly it is about. Having said that, I must add that it’s actually not that simple and that’s what we’re here to discuss. Let’s take it from the top.

I love this movie. It frustrates me so but I love it. I give major points for ambition and that is certainly what this project is; ambitious. And it is certainly a tale that needs to be told. There is so much story to the music of the 1960s, so many angles one could adopt to tell any number of stories and the Brill Building is certainly one avenue. But even more fascinating than that is the story specifically of Carole King. And it is the fact that that is who’s story is essentially being told here but it is not indicated as such that causes the movie to fail. In the end, the main character – and ALL of the artists presented in the film – are exact doppelgängers of real-life counterparts.

I cannot help but think of one of my favourite TV shows of modern times, one of the last shows I regularly watched before giving up on the television shows of today and that is Tina Fey’s 30 Rock. On that show, pretty Jane Krakowski expertly played narcissist Jenna Moroney. Moroney was a TV actress who got the chance to play Janis Joplin in a movie about the singer’s life. But Martin Scorsese put a Joplin biopic into production at the same time with major star Julia Roberts in the lead. Subsequently, the Joplin estate barred Jenna from using the Janis name and any of her songs in her version. The gag was Jenna’s unauthorized version becoming a joke and her being reduced to portraying a singer named “Janis Jopler” and singing a song that sounded awfully like “Piece of My Heart” but with different lyrics. Sadly, this joke on a sitcom is very similar to what Grace of My Heart looks like.

But “so what?”, you say and I tend to agree. Can we not have a fictional story based on real people – people we easily recognize – and be OK with it? I don’t think so. Maybe Anders’ story is too close, it’s too transparent. I feel like there is not enough originality on display here. The characters are taken straight from history only seemingly being tweaked for copyright reasons, legal reasons. It’s a wonder the Brill Building didn’t become the Hill Building. The look of the entire film is too close to cliché and the characters too easily mistaken for caricatures. Again, I give credit to Allison Anders for wanting to pay homage to these people but it is as if she made a list of who from history she wanted to feature and then created stand-ins, her own versions of these people which makes this more a fun exercise than a fine film. And it makes me wonder what Anders’ creative contribution was. The charm and attraction of the characters she presents is borrowed from the real people they represent. In Jay Phillips she hasn’t conjured a fascinating personage – she has simply reminded us of the career of Brian Wilson. She has created nothing, no characters of her own. This is just reporting; there was a Carole King, there was a Brill Building, there was a Phil Spector, there was a Brian Wilson, there was a Tapestry. We know all this.

Having said all this, the film still manages to be charming. A lot of this is down to the soundtrack. Larry Klein was a legit choice to produce the music for Grace of My Heart. The bassist and producer has enjoyed a long career and has worked with Joni Mitchell – to whom he was wed from 1982 until 1994 – Don Henley, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Robbie Robertson and he has produced Grammy-winning albums by his ex-wife, Joni and by Herbie Hancock (actually River: The Joni Letters, Herbie’s tribute to Mitchell).

As for the songs, I’m always fascinated to hear someone in the modern day fashion a tune that sounds like it could’ve been released in the golden age; think “That Thing You Do!” from the film of the same name. Actually, this movie does this very well; it is much better at making sounds like the old days than it is making images like the old days. I suppose the flagship tune on the soundtrack is “God Give Me Strength”. Written for the film by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach, it is used in the movie as the “comeback” single Denise records that has been written for her by Jay Phillips. It’s a dramatic tune if a little overwrought. I thought it was interesting that Jay Phillips who is supposed to be Brian Wilson writes for Denise a song with the word “God” in the title. Most will know that one of Brian’s most revered creations is “God Only Knows”, a song that was noted for the unusual use of the word “God” in the title. Illeana Douglas’ singing was dubbed by one Kristen Vigard.

There is a singing duo in the film who are obviously based on the Everlys and they are given the foolish name the Click Brothers. But here’s the thing; the Click Brothers are portrayed by the Williams Brothers, nephews of my man, Andy Williams. The twins had half-a-hit in 1992 called “Can’t Cry Hard Enough”. And the two songs they sing in the film are sublime and the boys sing them well. The first is “Heartbreak Kid” and the other is “Love Doesn’t Ever Fail Us”. Both are incredibly gentle and rendered in almost a dream-like fashion with some truly gorgeous vocals from Uncle Andy’s nephews.

“My Secret Love” is an appropriately grandiose coded song for Bridget Fonda to sing as Lesley Gore clone, Kelly Porter. Allison Anders wisely reached out to Gore and asked for her contribution and Lesley responded by co-writing this song. Anders then totally blew it by failing to invite Lesley Gore – a person perfectly representative of who this film is about – to the movie’s New York premiere. Bridget/Kelly’s vocals were provided by Miss Lily Banquette who sings with Combustible Edison.

“Take a Run at the Sun” is actually quite clever as a “Beach Boys-type” song. It was written and performed by J Mascis, a prolific and accomplished guitarist from the band Dinosaur Jr. Gerry Goffin was Carole King’s husband and songwriting partner. A song in his trunk that his daughter Louise brought into the film and had fleshed out was “Between Two Worlds”, sung in the movie by Shawn Colvin as a hippie girl in a commune. “I Do” was written by Carole Bayer Sager and Dave Stewart, “Born to Love That Boy” by Goffin and Klein and “Unwanted Number” by Elvis Costello. These three songs from exemplary songwriters are performed in the movie in great time-specific style by female R&B vocal group For Real.

As for the male vocal group sound, this is provided by the quartet Portrait. They sing “In Another World”, a song that was somehow written by the great Gerry Goffin…and Los Lobos. Throw in the cleverly titled “Truth is You Lied”, vocals by Jill Sobule (“I Kissed a Girl”), and you have a clutch a really authentic-sounding Sixties-type tunes. Quite impressive work here. And there is another element. The more significant numbers – “God Give Me Strength” and “A Boat on the Sea”, particularly – have a real density to them. It’s a focus on lyrics and the profusion of them puts one in mind of show tunes, the more substantial cousins of flimsier straight pop songs. Larry Klein and the songwriters have done particularly well with the music.

The acting is pretty good in Grace of My Heart though you can tell when the players fall into potholes created by either the script, the direction or both. Major points awarded to Illeana Douglas for carrying this picture and being the centrepiece of it; though, if I’m honest, she’s not great. But it’s a case of the picture not even being made – or at least looking really different – if Douglas didn’t exist. Of course there is likely something to the fact that this film’s producer, Martin Scorsese, and Douglas were in a relationship at the time. John Turturro is great fun to watch and looks spectacular in stylish suits and a bonkers-but-perfect wig. He adopts a wonderfully liquid speaking voice for his Spector-lite character. Eric Stoltz is the least convincing, Patsy Kensit is assured and Matt Dillon is always reliable. My main man Chris Isaak is decorative but criminally underused in this film.

There is a moment late in Grace of My Heart when Denise is laying down the piano track of “A Boat on the Sea”. We get a close-up of her hands on the keyboard and we see that the piano is a Steinway. Well, sort of. Two letters of the name are blacked out which made me chuckle as it was so symbolic of the whole film. Don’t even have the rights to depict a Steinway piano. Steinway? No way. Why not?

The final act of the film is emotional and carried out successfully. Denise’s motivations after the end of her marriage to Jay are sound and lead well to the recording of her hit album, Grace of My Heart. We get a good photo montage of Denise’s career and the ending is appropriately heartfelt. This woman has triumphed.

I love this film more for what it tried to be than what it is. This is a sincere effort from Allison Anders. It is a love letter. How can you be mad at a love letter even if it’s poorly conceived?