Songcatcher Review

Early in this century musicologist Dr. Lily Penleric - Janet McTeer - is overlooked for promotion at the university where she teaches and overlooked by her married lover. She leaves the city in disgust and heads for West Tennessee where hersister Elna - Jane Adams - is trying to maintain a school in the poverty strickenAppalachians. It`s there Lily hears that lost ancient Irish and Scots ballads havebeen preserved almost intact. She becomes an obsessive collector of themusic, helped by a young orphan - Emmy Rossum - and in her travels she learns to admire the stoicism and talent of the people of the region......This is a strange but rewarding film, its strength is the music, there`s a purity in it that`s cleansing. Janet McTeer is such a fine performer, she actually makes us believe in Lily although there`s quite a lot working against that credibility. Where story elements seem imposed - like a romance between Lily and local war veteran and musician Tom - Aiden Quinn, like a lesbian denouement -although E.Katherine Kerr is really excellent as Elna`s lover Harriet - and like the proposed commercial exploitation of the region - that`s where the film fails to convince. And visually it looks as if it has been shot for television, there`s not a lot of grandeur here. But it`s a very different and weirdly nourishing cinemaexperience I found.Comments from David StrattonAn interesting theme, ratherly flatly handled. Lovers of folk music may respond to this muted and, in the inevitable love story, not especially convincing film. Janet McTeer`s solemnity gets a bit dull - but the location photography and the folk singers are wonderful.