Title: Wild Rose
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Tom Harper
Starring: Jessie Buckley, James Harkness, Julie Walters
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

What It Is: Recently released prisoner Rose-Lynn (Buckley) is a troubled woman. One with huge dreams of getting out of Glasgow and playing the Grand Ole Opry. But with her children missing the mother they haven’t seen and pressure mounting will life allow the young Glaswegian her shot at stardom? Is she instead relegated to an admittedly very nice (though chaotic) life of normalcy? Instead, will she get her chance to shine in the light of country music’s biggest stages?

What We Think: Jessie Buckley is an absolute revelation! She holds this entire film together from an onscreen perspective. This isn’t to take away from Harper, who does a great job of delivering the story. Narratively speaking it treads the familiar ground with enough new elements to hook you into what it’s doing. What it’s doing, for those that wanna know is telling an engaging story with well-crafted characters. This is one that could elicit either a fist pump or a cheer from the viewing audience. I found myself rooting for her because at the core she’s a flawed woman who’s made mistakes. Flawed as we all are. Mistaken prone as we all hope not to be.

Our Grade: A-, If you get a chance to see this please do. It is the type of film that demands that you check it out! As for me, I certainly recommend it. It is one of the year’s bright spots. Much like other music-centered films like Hearts Beat Loud this one has grabbed me by the heart strings and it won’t let go. I do hope this will do the same for whomever takes my suggestion on this! Buckley should be nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for this…I suppose I’ll cast one for her myself.