Grace of my Heart, looooosely based on the life of Carol King, feels like a made-for-television production for the Lifetime Channel.
That is not to say that there wasn't a tremendous amount of work that went into this movie. It is easy to see that the people that made it cared about the subject matter. But the awkward line that the film walks between fact and fiction never allowed me to sink into the story. I was always trying to pin down the characters (Don Kirshner? Leslie Gore? Cindy Weil?) instead of being engrossed in the story. And while the music tries to capture the magic, (Goffin even penned a few tunes) it ain't the original. No song in the film comes close to King/Goffin's `Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?'
Illeana Douglas does a credible turn in the title role, John Turturro struggles a little with the schizophrenic record-producer, cut-throat businessman, creative visionary, but-friend-in-the-end role he's tasked with.
I would have rather seen a film that was free enough to be pure fiction, or honest enough to be more factual.
That is not to say that there wasn't a tremendous amount of work that went into this movie. It is easy to see that the people that made it cared about the subject matter. But the awkward line that the film walks between fact and fiction never allowed me to sink into the story. I was always trying to pin down the characters (Don Kirshner? Leslie Gore? Cindy Weil?) instead of being engrossed in the story. And while the music tries to capture the magic, (Goffin even penned a few tunes) it ain't the original. No song in the film comes close to King/Goffin's `Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?'
Illeana Douglas does a credible turn in the title role, John Turturro struggles a little with the schizophrenic record-producer, cut-throat businessman, creative visionary, but-friend-in-the-end role he's tasked with.
I would have rather seen a film that was free enough to be pure fiction, or honest enough to be more factual.