'SONGCATCHER' A TUNEFUL 'O BROTHER' SOUND-ALIKE.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

``O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' and ``Songcatcher'' have absolutely nothing in common except what's best about them both: their shared love for traditional American music.

Maggie Greenwald's film is serious where the Coen brothers' opus was satiric, deliberate rather than antic, feminist and sensitive as opposed to an all-guys tall tale. ``Songcatcher'' takes place further in the past, too, in 1907, and mostly on a big, Carolina mountain. But with each new soul-stirring, ear-and-eye-opening number, the new release seems more and more like a kissin' cousin, something you might want to nickname ``Hey Sister, Let's Go There!''

``Songcatcher'' is eccentric, too, but in its own peculiar way. It's not every day that someone starts a movie by sending an Edwardian academic, frustrated about being passed over for university promotions because she's a woman, up into a high lonesome part of the Blue Ridge with a ridiculously bulky, turn-of-the-century recording device in tow.

But writer-director Greenwald, whose handful of films include the well-received drag western ``The Ballad of Little Jo,'' employs the concept as jumping-off point for a set of variations on modernity confronting tradition, pansexual politics and nature vs. education. It's smart, but would have all come off as dry as old textbooks (and still, sporadically, does) if not for somebody bursting into song every five minutes.

English actress Janet McTeer (``Tumbleweeds'') is Dr. Lily Penleric, a galumphing intellectual raptor who, having fled academia to chill out at her sweet, gay sister Elna's (Jane Adams) backwoods schoolhouse, discovers that the hills are alive with pure derivations of the English and Celtic folk tunes she's devoted her life to studying.

This is a revelation to Miss Ivory Tower, and she sets to recording the local practitioners whether they like it or not. The mountain folk are naturally suspicious of strangers, but also flattered that this smart, unmannered weirdo takes such an interest in their homegrown entertainment. Prime among these are the lovely, pure-voiced orphan gal Deladis (opera-trained Emmy Rossum) and the ancient porch-sitter Viney (a terrific Pat Carroll), whose sheer delight in hearing her voice played back to her is matched only by the relish with which she sings about chopping off heads and stabbing no-good men.

Viney also has a cranky grandson named Tom, who brought back a deep suspicion of outlanders and their exploitative ways from service in the Spanish-American War. He also returned with a newfangled instrument called a guitar, which he's learned to play right nicely. Tom and Lily initially butt heads, but it doesn't take a Ph.D. to figure out where this relationship will end up.

On her arduous rounds, Lily discovers the usual Appalachian woes: endemic poverty, abused but persevering women, a rapacious coal company. And being an educated progressive, she thinks she can straighten some of these messes out - and, sometimes, to some degree, she does.

Sounds like a lot going on in this movie, doesn't it? Maybe, but due to Greenwald's easygoing, discursive pacing, it doesn't feel like much of consequence occurs in the first two acts.

At one point, Greenwald's momentum-starved narrative almost gives out altogether, and the immediate effect is rather delightful. At a hoedown, a moonshined-up Lily finally kicks off her shoes and gets to dancing to the stuff she's been cataloging, and eventually everyone still sentient just picks away or sings improvisationally. Music, atmosphere and theme merge beautifully in the only really cinematic moment of this straightforwardly presented tale.

But then Greenwald panics and loads the final act with melodrama, as if sudden bursts of alarm and excitement will bring back the viewers lost to her earlier indulgence of relaxing mountain rhythms. The effect is kind of like what modern, overproduced Nashville product has done to the great, authentic sound of the Carter Family and Hank Williams.

Contributing to the film's authentic sound, which was overseen by the director's composer husband David Mansfield, are such Americana royalty as Emmylou Harris, Iris DeMent, Taj Mahal and Hazel Dickens. You've doubtless heard ``Barbara Allen,'' ``Fair and Tender Ladies,'' ``Soldier's Joy'' and their like before, but ``Songcatcher'' will joyfully remind you why they'll always be worth listening to again.

``SONGCATCHER''

(Rated PG-13: nudity, violence, graphic childbirth)

The stars: Janet McTeer, Aidan Quinn, Pat Carroll, Jane Adams, Greg Russell Cook, Emmy Rossum.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Maggie Greenwald. Produced by Ellen Rigas Venetis and Richard Miller. Released by Lions Gate Films.

Running time: One hour, 49 minutes.

Playing: Town Center 5, Encino; Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Sunset 5, West Hollywood; Westside Pavilion, West L.A.

Our rating: Three stars