The Grass Harp (1996) – DVD

*½/**** Image B Sound A
starring Joe Don Baker, Nell Carter, Charles Durning, Sean Patrick Flannery
screenplay by Stirling Silliphant and Kirk Ellis, based on the novel by Truman Capote
directed by Charles Matthau

by Travis Mackenzie Hoover A movie for people who think eccentrics are just a rumour, The Grass Harp's rendering of the same-named Truman Capote novel is so crammed full of unhinged folk that you expect a little lyrical madness in the filmmaking itself. Sadly, Charles Matthau's direction treats its outsiders and weirdoes in an objectifying manner, as if he's building models for a museum exhibit–and since there's nothing interior about the film's bland, stodgy technique, one can't really understand the bonds between its characters, who seem totally unrelated to each other beyond the demands of the script. All Matthau can do is look benignly upon people he doesn't really understand and hope that we'll follow his lead. I didn't, and I doubt that you will, either.

One would expect the death of young Collin Fenwick's mother to resonate beyond mere set-up: after all, it sends his father into a downward spiral of depression that drives him to deposit Collin (Grayson Fricke) in the care of stern cousin Verena (Sissy Spacek) before finally committing suicide. But even this feels rushed and phony, because nobody considers the events beyond their function of wedging Collin between the controlling Verena and Verena's gentle, timid sister Dolly (Piper Laurie). Perhaps that relationship will be more potent? Alas, Spacek's nasty-librarian portrayal doesn't lend itself to subtlety, while Laurie's quiet restraint has nowhere to go. Thus when Verena, commencing sisterly anguish, tries to colonize Dolly's home dropsy-cure business, it registers as more Neil Simon than Truman Capote.

Eventually, Verena expresses disdain for Dolly and her black maid, Catherine (Nell Carter), prompting Dolly's exodus from the house with Collin (now played by Edward Furlong) in tow. Once they move into an abandoned treehouse, the "being different" jamboree begins, attracting the attention of widowed Judge Charlie Cool (Walter Matthau) and, later, a sexed-up revivalist (Mary Steenburgen) with a massive brood of children. Which would be liberating, I guess, were it not for the fact that Matthau the younger is pitifully unfamiliar with the angst of outsiderness: to him, the heroic trio is gently humorous, not bewildered and sad. And the disapproval of much of their small town is similarly no big thing, as pain is not high on Matthau's hit list–leaving the various plot points to register with a whimper instead of a sock to the gut.

So external is Charles Matthau's approach that we can't appreciate any human character in the movie. The Southern small-town setting is ripped out of some kind of cornpone TV movie, without real social nuance: everybody has a hospitable smile and a kindly witty word that in real life would tip you off to his or her death-defying insincerity. Further, the '40s milieu is meticulously reconstructed to the point that it lacks any sense of the individuals it surrounds–it's meant to show off articles of the period rather than the personalities of the owners. Chalk the film up to one more literary adaptation for the vaults, designed for classy folks apt to respond to empty signifiers and evade the disquieting revelations of true art.

THE DVD
New Line's DVD presentation of The Grass Harp is slightly sub-par. The 1.85:1, 16×9-enhanced image is oversaturated–colours are strangely sticky for a film with such a muted palette, and fine detail pays the price. Audio is another matter: for reasons known only to the participants, 5.1 tracks in Dolby Digital and DTS are included; although I can't say this is necessary, the mix itself is potent, atmospheric, and surprisingly creative with the surround channels. As usual, the DTS configuration sounds more harmonious than the harshly-separated Dolby option, but it's a photo finish as to which is objectively the better-sounding of the two. The film's trailer plus trailers for An Awfully Big Adventure and Widow's Peak complete the package.

107 minutes; NR; 1.85:1 (16×9-enhanced); English DD 5.1, English DTS 5.1, English Dolby Surround; CC; English, Spanish subtitles; DVD-9; Region One; New Line