A cliche always works if its executed well. Like it’s hero, Wild Rose isn’t content to make life easy for itself, since it piles on ALL the cliches instead of just one. But thanks to the will power Jessie Buckley and Julie Walters, Wild Rose summons those feelings out of your body like a socerer. A beautiful, red headed sorcerer from Scotland. No, not that one.
I’d like to see someone try to top Nicole Taylor’s underdog screenplay. Rose-Lynn Harlan (Buckley), fresh off her year long stint in prison, looks to jump start her country music singing career again in hopes to move from Glasgow, Scotland to Nashville. This proves complicated, since she not only has no money, but she also has 2 kids, being raised by their grandmother, Rose’s mom Marion (Julie Walters). Being ankle braceleted, Rose also can’t sing for a while, so she takes a housekeeping job with Susannah (Sophie Okonedo), who discovers she’s got a voice, and tries to help get her foot in the door while Rose also works on growing up and becoming a mother.
Right from the get go this movie is trying to make you believe in the cowboy boot wearing, swash buckling, Patsy Cline listening Rose. Her biggest character flaw is that she hasn’t grown up yet, which is relatable for every audience member. Growing up is also a simple easy thing to show, with the cleaning of your apartment or actually caring for your kids. And the pay off is you get a kid to hug their mom! Manipulative, but always effective. Wild Rose is full of these pupeteer moments pushing your emotions one direction or another. Sometimes, more than once, the movie gets a little ridiculous, like a Grand Ole Opry sequence or a the myriad of running sequences, but more than not these scenes put you in a place that will make you root harder for our heroine to figure it out, and give you those tears of joy at the end. I definitely welled up.
You know what else is effective? Fixing a broken relationship while chasing a dream! Early and often, Rose shows she has the chops to be a great country singer, and a lifetime of experiences to live off of. So its really easy to set up Marion to be Rose’s foil: all wet blanket, ruined from her experiences raising Rose. When you hire a seasoned vet like Julie Walters though, you’re gonna get someone who finds the truth under the schmaltz. Walters nuances her performance scene to scene, appearing life hardened but still a mother, wanting the best for her daughter…AND her grandchildren. Her scenes with Jessie Buckley sound like a mother and daughter who reached an understanding of what their relationship is today, and feel as truthful as any relationship I have seen in the real world. Buckley is every bit Walters’s equal, proving her breakout last year, Beast, was no fluke. The talented redhead radiates ultra confident Scottish magnetism, but that magnetism is clearly disguising a wealth of feelings. Buckley’s electric on stage when she gets to singing those country ballads, but she’s equally great in a small scene when she realizes her daughter isn’t going to give her any affection at a dinner table. It’s a master class from what I hope will make her a household name in the future.
Wild Rose is banking on the fact that people go to movies to feel satisfied overcoming their limitations and living out a dream, which Jessie Buckley must be living right now. She’s so spectacular in Wild Rose it made me search “Scottish Country Singers” on Google. That search was a waste of time, but hopefully very soon “Who is Jessie Buckley”? will not be.