“Wild Rose” Review by Melissa Sloter (SPOILERS)
July 10, 2019 4:21 pm |
**This review contains spoilers.**
Rose-Lynn, Jessie Buckley’s titular character in “Wild Rose”, may not have made her mark on the entertainment industry but Buckley herself most certainly has. If you missed her in 2018’s film “Beast” or 2019’s HBO mini-series “Chernobyl”, this is another do-not-miss entry in the Irish entertainer’s filmography to add to your list.
On the surface, Tom Harper’s “Wild Rose”, written by Nicole Taylor, feels like a retread of ideas we’ve seen before. Rose-Lynn is fresh out of prison with two young children at home and a dream of becoming a Nashville country star. Her mother, played sympathetically by Julie Walters, believes she should hang up her boots and focus on parenting her children. At times it’s difficult not to agree with her. Rose-Lynn is petulant and frustrating until she starts to sing and you feel in the depths of your soul exactly how she feels – that she belongs on stage.
It’s not just the audience and Rose-Lynn herself that believes she deserves a shot at country stardom. Susannah (Sophie Okonedo) who hires Rose-Lynn to clean her home and who shares the joy of Rose-Lynn’s talents with her children believes she can get Rose-Lynn to Nashville by showcasing her talents to her own rich friends. The juxtaposition of seeing Susannah’s children moved by Rose-Lynn’s singing while her own children remain outside of that part of her life is brought into sharp relief when Susannah’s husband Sam (Jamie Sives) tells Rose-Lynn he doesn’t want her anywhere near his kids.
When Rose-Lynn finally makes it to Nashville she realizes it’s not going to be so simple to make it in Nashville. Still, she finds her way to the Ryman Auditorium stage and Buckley delivers a breathtaking rendition of “When I Reach the Place I’m Goin’” by Wynnona to an empty audience. The lyrics say, “when I reach the place I’m going, I will surely know my way” and sure enough, once Rose-Lynn got to that stage she knew her way home to her family.
So often women are told to push their dreams aside to raise children, or to do what is expected, but Wild Rose is a film about letting those dreams evolve until they fit just right and following our own personal yellow roads until we reach home.
PCL Rating: High Taste It
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH 🍅
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Tags: Jessie Buckley, Melissa Sloter, pop culture leftovers, Wild Rose 2019, Wild Rose Movie
Categorised in: Movie Reviews
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