Wild Rose

If I were to tell you that one of 2019's most exhilarating movie moments happens in a country music bar in Glasgow you'd scoff wouldn't you. A room full of inner city cowboy wannabes with an average age of 50 dancing to a song called Outlaw State Of Mind doesn't exactly sound like the best of times does it? Well it is and it's all down to the happy woman with the red hair giving it absolute welly.

Rose-Lynn Harlan (Jessie Buckley) is just out of jail and she's trying to find her way in life. Her wayward behaviour has alienated her from her kids and her mother Marion (Julie Walters) and it's lost her her job as the headlining singer at Glasgow's Grand Ole Opry. She's on a downward spiral, destined to fall back into her bad habits until she takes a cleaning job and meets her kind employer Susannah (Sophie Okenodo) who shows her there's a way out of the mire.

I loved this. Loved it. It's a story that's been done a thousand times before but Jessie Buckley as Rose-Lynn just brings it all to life. She's a force of nature, a woman who always acts before she thinks. A walking disaster, prone to bouts of rage, immaturity, naivety. Buckley plays her perfectly, bringing pain and sadness and humanity to what could be a very cliched character and turning her into someone very recognisable. We all know a Rose-Lynn but not many of us know someone with a gift like hers. She's a hard character to warm to but the second she lets loose with that voice everything goes out the window. She's that good that she even manages to make country (not western btw) music sound appealing. That's no mean feat.

She's surrounded by two women who want her to do well in life. Her mother Marion who's been burned by her so many times but who's still hanging in there and her boss Susannah, the woman who's nothing but encouraging to her. Susannah is one of those character's who only seems to exist in the movies but Sophie Okenodo embues her with such warmth that you'll overlook that her part in the story feels like a sprinkle of fairydust amongst the grit. Grit. There's plenty of it. Tom Harper directed this but it feels like Ken Loach was looking over his shoulder in places. The film isn't afraid to show us the effect Rose-Lynn has had on her kids, repeated broken promises that lead to alienation and roars of hatred. How the lure of drink and drugs and quick fun might seem preferable to the drain of real life. It's a life Rose-Lynn wants to get away from, the dream of a career in Nashville filling her head. But about 2/3's of the way into the film Harper's treats us to a beautifully crafted overhead shot of Rose-Lynn leaving a party that shows us just how hard that dream is going to be to achieve if she keeps going the same way.

Julie Walters as Marion is fantastic. She's always is tbh but here she underplays her part perfectly. A woman who keeps her emotions in check even when she wants to scream, everything is tied down, compartmentalised. Until the day is all comes tumbling out and we get to see, during a dinner table heart to heart just why she's one of Britain's most celebrated actors. The film is Buckley's though. She'll blow you away. Her pitch perfect Glasgow accent. Her broken heart shining through the armour she's built up around herself. Her absolute joy when she's singing is infectious, whether it's during a whisky fuelled cleaning session, a webcam introduction or a quiet moment of serenity onstage in the place of her dreams. I'll genuinely be thinking about the character she's created for weeks. She blew me away.

Go see this of you get the chance. It's tough in places, upsetting in others but I guarantee you'll leave the cinema smiling and maybe even with a happy tear in your eye. It's a fine film but a phenomenal performance from Killarney's own Jessie Buckley will pin you to your chair and demand your attention while kicking you and calling you a fanny (her words). A star is born indeed.