Grace of My Heart, Anders' latest film, stays true to her style. The film is an epic journey of one woman's drive to literally find her voice in the male-dominated music industry of the '60s and early '70s. Grace centers on Edna Buxton (Illeanna Douglas), who wins a singing contest and goes to New York to find that solo female singers are passé. She is taken under the wing of music producer Joel Milner (John Tuturro) who hires her to write snappy little pop songs that would make the likes of the Ronnettes famous. The magic takes place in that infamous music-publishing mecca, the Brill building, where Joel Milner's first order of business is changing Edna's name to Denise Waverly--Edna Buxton is simply too bourgeois for show business. Denise's character is modeled after singer/songwriter Carol King, who did her own tour of duty within the Brill building.

On her way to the top, Denise struggles through various relationships with the men in her life. She marries a music critic/wannabe songwriter (Eric Stoltz) only to find that he is draining all of her creative energy. She ends up a single mother in pursuit of other dead-end relationships. She has a brief affair with a married DJ (Bruce Davidson) and babysits what is supposed to be Brian Wilson (Matt Dillon) of the Beach Boys. As the men in her life fall apart, we see how astutely the women remain calm.

Grace of My Heart has some very strong points. The tempo of the film feels soft and comfortable. Nothing ever jumps out for shock value. Even the tragedies are dealt with using a certain finesse. When Matt Dillon's surfer-boy character takes his last walk into the ocean, the scene is edited with visions of Denise joyously watching her friend's band play at a club. It's a nice paradox--salty and sensuous. The film does, however, tend to drag to its bittersweet ending. Fortunately, the acting remains a strong focal point throughout. Illeana Douglas gives the film the strength and grace it needs, while John Tuturro should definitely be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar (or at least a Best Original Hairdo award). If only they had lost Matt Dillon. I can't for the life of me figure out why in every movie he still looks like he stepped off the set of Tex.

Denise Waverly is a woman's woman. I'm sure many women, regardless of position, can relate to the need to stick out in a man's world. They can relate to the struggle of being a single mother and having relationships go awry. Grace of My Heart is a meditative film. It's almost like looking back on a scrapbook and wondering how you could've worn this or acted like that. Though the film isn't autobiographical, it's easy to perhaps see a lot of Allison Anders' life in the film.