Songcatcher

A turn-of-the-century music professor (Janet McTeer), while visiting her schoolteacher sister in the Carolina backwoods, discovers a rich vein of folk-music tradition that can be traced back almost directly to 18th-century England. Writer/director Maggie Greenwald seems at time to be working to rack up brownie points for political correctness—the professor is denied a job because of her gender, her sister is a closeted lesbian, mining interests are exploiting the locals, etc.—but the novelty of her premise, and its essential humanity, shine through the sermonizing. The cast is a mix of reliable veterans (Aidan Quinn and Taj Mahal as local musicians, Pat Carroll as a hillbilly matriarch) and talented newcomers (Emmy Rossum as McTeer’s assistant, Greg Cook as a mean-spirited hired hand).