Voices

I saw this in 1979 and still remember some scenes vividly. Viveka Lindfors. What a 'fors' to be reckoned with! Alex Rocco superb. Michael Ontkean never better. And then Amy Irving. What an underrated underused actress. Such versatility and nuance. Loved her in Yentl. Adored her in this. Her dance sequences are unforgettable. Words are superfluous about a movie where one voice is the monotone of a deaf person, yet filled with so much light and shade and transition it leaves an indelible memory. Moreover, the subtle use of music adds to a general feel of compassion and insight. Both scriptwriter and director, as well as the photographer and composer deserve accolades. Nothing superfluous, nothing pretentious, simply damn good storytelling with great and touching performances.

I admit that I'm an Amy Irving fan, but this movie is one of the reasons why. Playing a young woman who lost her hearing at age 6 from a severe illness, she acts with just her eyes, subtle facial expressions, sign language, and body language. She inhabits this role from the inside out so convincingly that you forget you are watching someone who actually isn't deaf. Thankfully 'Voices' is available on a well produced DVD.

The basic story is that Rosemary Lemon (Irving) lives with her mother in an ordinary suburban house and works as a teacher in an inner-city school for the deaf. Her life seems comfortable enough, but outside her daily comfort zone she's shy and vulnerable. Drew Rothman (Michael Ontkean) plays something of a complete opposite as an outgoing young guy from the wrong side of the tracks. He leads a small band that plays for peanuts in cheap nightclubs and is struggling to move up to better opportunities. He's great at talking his way through difficult situations, which turns out to be critically important in the key dance-audition scene at the end of the film. At home (a run-down tenement) he lives with his father, grandfather, and younger brother; the father (Alex Rocco) runs a drycleaning shop but is also a small-time gambler always hoping to score big at the racetrack. And if it weren't for Drew's steadying influence on his whole family, his younger brother (Barry Miller) would have drifted into delinquency and petty crime.

Drew and Rosemary's lives take a sharp turn when a chance meeting brings them together. It's love at first sight (at least for him), and from then on he's devoted to her and especially to getting over the communication barrier faced by someone trapped in a world without sound. They get to know each other slowly with some ups and downs, but the big turning point, when Rosemary finally realizes he really does love her, comes about halfway along. When they're out alone in the evening he urges her to talk a bit to him (and to this point she hasn't spoken a word). She haltingly replies 'I don't - sound - good' (Irving nails a deaf-speech intonation too) and Drew comes back with 'I don't care how you sound. I just care about you.' Corny? yes, if that's the word you want to use. Effective? yes. Scenes like this go straight to the heart. Does absolutely everything we watch now have to be snarky or dystopian to be credible?

The cast is all good. Viveca Lindfors plays a nicely crafted role as Rosemary's overprotective mother who thinks Drew is likely just out for a fling. By contrast, Rosemary gets quite a different reception when she meets Drew's family in a long, chaotic, funny scene. They have no trouble at all accepting her -- they may be a dysfunctional mess, but they're essentially good-hearted and free of prejudice.

At important points in the plot, the soundtrack cuts out completely to make us feel Rosemary's silent world more directly. It's a simple trick, and it works. It's worth noting too that 'Voices' was made 7 years *before* 'Children of a Lesser God', the more famous film that launched Marlee Matlin's career.

Curses on the film studios for not using Amy Irving more! She's someone who can produce Oscar-level performances. I know the supposed reasons for her neglect -- the divorce from Steven Spielberg, the fact that Hollywood suddenly loses interest in actresses over the age of 40 -- but these are nothing more than disgraceful excuses. In the end, everybody loses.

Michael Ontkean and Amy Irving are simply splendid in this marvelous, old fashioned love story, This is the kind of film that is just not made anymore! A touching love story about an up and coming singer, who one day meets and falls in love with the girl of his dreams. However, he must come to terms with the fact that she is deaf. Wonderful soundtrack , with one of the most beautiful theme songs from a film. Great ending too!

So here I'm writing a review on yet another film in a category I rarely watch, drama. Not only that, it's a love drama, and I must say that I hardly think it can get any better than this. Since i'm a sucker for the grittiness of the 70's (aah, sweet childhood memories), the time which this plays out, just makes it even better.

Amy Irving is just terrific as the deaf teacher. This is by far the best role I've seen her in. I really liked her in "Carrie" and "Alias" but her performance here is pure gold. Michael Ontkean is also great as the struggling musician, earning his living at the family laundry to pursue his career. There is a clear contrast between him, being street smart, living in the rougher part of town sharing his apartment with his family and her, cared for, living in a nice apartment in the finer parts. Love don't care about the circumstances, it just happens.

We get to follow these two personalities from the first time their paths cross and to the finale(i won't tell you how it ends). Spliced in between are his family issues and his problems to making it work out with her. We get to see her struggle with an over protective mother and feeling the hardship of making a relationship work with a non handicapped boyfriend.

The story is really sweet and innocent. If you don't get touched by this movie some way it would really surprise me. Add to this some of the most memorable and beautiful songs found in a movie, hands down. 'On A Stage', 'The Children's Song', 'Rosemarie's Theme' and 'I Will Always Wait For You' are songs that will stick with me forever. Too bad the soundtrack is not yet available on CD.

If you like a really good love story you should absolutely check this one out. Seeing the few reviews here, it must be one of the most overlooked movies out there.

Now why isn't this gem transferred to DVD or BluRay?

A dry cleaner's son in New Jersey has an offbeat meet-cute with a pretty girl: he's making a record of his singing voice in a phonograph booth while she's using a name-plate machine to put her name on a good luck charm (she runs off but conveniently leaves the charm behind, so that the singer will at least know her name the next time they have a meet-cute). Turns out the girl, a teacher at a school for the hearing impaired, is deaf herself, and her imperious mama doesn't want her hanging around with a would-be singer from Hoboken. Fraudulent 'feel good' romantic-drama from an almost intolerable genre: the handicapped love story. Arriving in theatres just two months after the slightly more-popular "Ice Castles" (in which a blind ice-skater made her dreams come true), "Voices" was written off as an also-ran. It doesn't really deserve a higher status, either, although Amy Irving has a plaintive beauty that is beguiling (her character is made to be too shy, however, with the eventual warm-up arriving too late). As her paramour, Michael Ontkean must enunciate his words so she can read his lips, but that doesn't excuse him shouting all his dialogue (which isn't worth deciphering, anyway, especially when he begins sentences with "Listen..."). Alex Rocco, Herbert Berghof and Barry Miller are a lively bunch as Ontkean's combative family, but the romance between the young lovers fails to bloom. As such, the happily-ever-after finale feels like quite a stretch, indeed. *1/2 from ****