Friday, April 26, 2019

wild rose...

Another trip to the Watershed – this time to see Tom Harper’s “Wild Rose”. The cinema’s blurb described it as “a heartfelt drama about a Glaswegian single mum who dreams of leaving her dreary life for the bright lights of Nashville”. Why on earth would I want to watch such a film? I don’t even like country music!
The film features Jessie Buckley (as Rose-Lynn) and Julie Walters (as her mother). I’d never heard of Buckley (she apparently won a television talent contest about 10 years ago) but, hats off to her, she was exceptionally good – both as an actor and a singer.
Rose-Lynn’s life is complicated: she’s just come out of prison (after serving a year’s sentence for drug-related misdeeds); she’s a single parent (with 5 and 8 year-old kids); she has very little sense of responsibility when it comes to living her life; and it seems she’s totally dependent on her mother’s help to survive.
She gets a cleaning job for a posh lady with money (played by Sophie Okenedo) who soon becomes an unlikely champion for Rose-Lynn’s dreams of stardom.
There were times when I really regretted the absence of sub-titles due to the almost unfathomable Glaswegian accents, but hey! Oh, and DJ Bob Harris also features!

It really shouldn’t have been my kind of film - it has a somewhat contrived, sentimental, predictably uplifting storyline (which includes Rose-Lynn transforming herself into a caring mother and house-proud adult!) – but I ended up finding it all quite refreshing (and Buckley does have a very good voice!).
A surprisingly good film!

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