Reading some of the reviews here, and elsewhere, it is clear that the reviewers haven't actually seen this film - unless there are lots of different versions out there. They didn't see the film I did, for sure. There is no gratuitous or graphic violence or sex, and the only bit of nudity comes courtesy of David Morse's behind. If anything, a little more sex or violence might have enabled more of today's jaded audience to actually get the point of this movie.
As I understand it, the story they are trying to tell (in my opinion, unsuccessfully but more of that later) is of an adolescent girl who over a short period of time, due to a sequence of unfortunate events, goes from expressing herself through the voice of Elvis, to eventually being able to express her true self with her own voice, with help from Charles (Afemo Omilami).
As a story it holds water, is certainly - unfortunately - true to life and the central role is played with much maturity and sensitivity by Dakota Fanning (bar her mandatory screaming-for-no-reason scene) who may or may not have over-egged her performance (I don't know what was and wasn't said by her) but she is the one carrying this film, and it is not her fault that through clumsy editing and a weak screenplay the story kinda gets lost in the overall dullness.
None of the supporting characters are particularly well described and just when we do think we're getting to know them ... cut to a completely different scene. It's almost as if this was a vehicle for a 12-13 year old Dakota Fanning, which is not doing her, her co-stars or the film any favours. It perhaps should have been longer, and less time devoted to the relationship with her father which isn't particularly relevant to the story I think they're trying to tell.
My advice is watch it and make up your own mind, but don't expect to be shocked, disgusted, or entertained. The brief glimpses of humour and happiness are lost amongst the monotony of dull sound and scenery. Where's the rock'n'roll, where's the blues? Where are all the characters that surely must have been in the story, in the south, in the 1950s?
A worthy attempt to tell a powerful story, but lacking in flair and direction.
