In a just world, someone might take notice of Deanté Gray in the same way that Damian Chazelle raised eyebrows with his scrappy debut feature “Guy and Madeleine on a Park Bench” where the raw talent on display couldn’t be denied. Like Chazelle, Gray and co-writers Sam Buckner III and Charlie T. Savage hardly made things easy on themselves by crafting an exuberant musical that could be made within obvious limitations, but “Voices,” the end result, makes it feel like pretty much anything is within reach for the filmmakers.
If Gray and Buckner are trying to just make a name for themselves, it’s a hustle they’ve shared with Jordan (Francis C. Edemobi), a Motown aspirant who finds no takers even to sing for his supper in 1967 Detroit, leading him to look for other work to stay afloat. A job at the Tropicana Motel provides a potential opportunity to be discovered when he hears of the Harmony Brothers passing through town on the strength of a hit single and Jordan sees a chance to make himself useful to their manager Reggie (Pedro Lewis), perhaps leading him to listen to his demo. The chances of that are slim, but Reggie could use the help with the high-maintenance Bubbles (Joe Maye) and his more reserved sibling Melvin (Jamal R. Averett). It isn’t long before Jordan puts forth his musical aspirations with the Harmony Brothers in the room when all he’s supposed to do is carry their luggage, but they aren’t too impressed by what they hear with Bubbles describing an original song Jordan sings as “Not bad, but not special.”
The quality of the song may not wow the brothers, but it’s a credible Motown tune and that’s not the only thing Gray gets right in the film, which builds a propulsive momentum and bears an agreeable lacquered hue that can look golden or burnt depending on what Jordan is feeling as he tries to make it through the night. He invites trouble in a couple different ways when he calls friends Derrick (Ezekiel Ajeigbe) and Mia (Raél Ba) to come by the motel without knowing what they’re walking into when they arrive, and the sense of surprise is passed along when things go crazy and Jordan decides, given the era in which few actually know what the Harmony Brothers look like, that he and Derrick should take the stage for them when they end up being indispose, with Mia, who’d love to kickstart her own singing career, serving as their opening act. Exactly why the Harmony Brothers can’t make it shouldn’t be spoiled, but the film is shy to draw on the same lurid appeal of something like R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet” while showing a bit more sophistication as Jordan attempts to maintain control over an increasingly volatile situation unfolding in the small hotel room and although the film can’t entirely hold things together itself, it is bursting at the seams with infectious energy and a true sense of fun.
Both the passion and the skill behind the execution make it easy to overlook the modern-day currency that’s pulled out of a wallet in the 1960s and the occasional jagged edge in the editing where there probably wasn’t enough footage for a more natural cut, but the performances particularly from Edemobi and Ba brim with confidence and while a more ambitious story than just someone trying to make it would likely be even more rewarding, the film wins you over with how much it wants to prove itself and mostly succeeds. Clearly, the filmmakers would like that to be part of the overall narrative as behind-the-scenes photos line the end credits (of which there are precious few when it is such a small production), but how difficult “Voices” was to make shouldn’t be a qualifier for how impressive it is as a real live wire act from start to finish.
“Voices” will screen again at the Toronto Film Festival at the Scotiabank on September 20th at 4:30 pm.