Wild Rose

Starring: Jessie Buckley, Julie Walters, Sophie Okonedo, James Harkness
Directed by: Tom Harper
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A Scottish woman (Jessie Buckley) fresh out of prison juggles raising her two kids, trying to find work, and moving forward with her dreams to be a country singer in Nashville.

Review:

Tim: Wild Rose is a movie that flew under most people's radar. Indeed, I watched it because I read about it on a list about the best movies of 2019 that you probably missed. It's interesting because I never loved the movie and I toggled back-and-forth on what I thought about it. In the end, it proved to be more intelligent than your average film about a struggling musician, but it took a long time to convince me of that.

Continuously throughout this movie, I script starts taking multiple steps down the most trodden, cliched paths. You're watching the film and you roll your eyes because you've seen this exact same thing dozens of times before. And yet, every single time, right before the movie commits to the cliche, it suddenly throws an unexpected twist and moves in a totally different direction. It was almost stunning to see how the movie did this. The audience doesn't quite catch on, either. Especially towards the end, I kept thinking, "Okay, I see what the movie is doing. This is when it all falls apart and the movie becomes generic and expected." And nearly every single time, I was wrong, It's super impressive how this script continually sets you up to expect the expected and then switches gears. That's one of the movie's biggest strengths. This obviously works from showing the movie's intelligence and delivering a unique experience. The downside is that for most of the film, I felt like it was a generic story that I'd seen before. The evidence is all right in front of you and it's not until the last minute that you realize the truth. So, watching the movie often feels generic until you get to those moments that surprise you. I'll give you an example and try to minimize SPOILERS, but there will be some. At one point in the film, the protagonist is getting ready for this concert and it's going to be her big break. How it all comes together feels a little too convenient, but we've seen this same thing before. You start to predict that this gig, filled with influence and wealthy people, will shoot her off to Nashville. She has the expected nerves and personal life challenges that create the necessary obstacles for her to overcome so she can walk out on the stage, perform from the heart, and her career takes off. We spend a lot of time building up to that (which isn't much fun because we've seen it all before) and then, at the critical moment, the story delivers an unexpected twist. It does this multiple times throughout the movie.

I have to give Jessie Buckley a ton of credit for the lead role here. I wasn't familiar with her at all before this movie. She gives a grounded, authentic performance that showcases a range of different emotions. She's a talented actress and this was a terrific opportunity for her to demonstrate that. Whether it's singing and performing, striving to be a better mother, or dealing with impossibly difficult decisions as she is pulled between her dreams and the reality of her life, Buckley is fantastic in the role. She manages to be aggravating when she makes poor decisions, yet never alienates the audience. We might often grow frustrated with her character, but we desperately want her to succeed. The rest of the cast is good, especially Sophie Okonedo and Julie Walters, but this movie is all about Buckley.

One other thing I loved about this movie is the exploration of the sacrifices that parents need to make. It's ramped up her due to the music industry tie, but most parents could relate to the themes. It's not easy having children and every real parent sacrifices a ton for their kid(s). That was poignantly displayed here.

Now, while I can now say that Wild Rose is a worthwhile film and takes a unique approach to the struggling musician subgenre, I have to admit it didn't always feel that way. You appreciate this movie most when it's over, when you can see the whole thing clearly. The film wasn't always fun to watch. If you added up all the breakdowns of time, I would have spent the majority of this movie thinking it was generic, redundant, and simply giving me things I've seen dozens of times before. That's not the case, but it felt like that. As a result, outside of those unexpected shifts, the film isn't as compelling or entertaining as it should have been. I can applaud the movie's sneakiness and the end result, but I didn't love watching the movie. It took a bit too much effort to get through.

As a result, Wild Rose is a movie I'd recommend to people, but not very aggressively. If someone loved movies about musicians, I'd probably ask if they'd ever seen Wild Rose and if not, encourage them to check it out because "it's pretty good". That's not a ringing endorsement, but it's deserving because this is a good movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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