Part of SFFILM Festival
Wild Rose
Description
The classic star-is-born scenario is delightfully turned on its ear in Tom Harper’s rousing Glasgow-set story of the irrepressible Rose-Lynn, a mother of two, freshly released from a short stint in prison, dreaming of Nashville and raring to storm the mountain of fame as a country singer. Jessie Buckley’s (Beast, Festival 2018) performance as the charismatic but troubled Rose-Lynn galvanizes the film; her full-bodied singing and dramatic turn—full of hope, rage, uncertainty, and ambition—are equally impressive. Buckley receives strong support from Julie Walters as Rose-Lynn’s disapproving mother and Sophie Okonedo as a well-meaning woman for whom Rose-Lynn keeps house.
“[Wild Rose] is a happy-sad drama of starstruck fever that lifts you up and sweeps you along, touching you down in a puddle of well-earned tears … [The film] seduces you into thinking it’s going to be exactly the sort of cheeky inspirational fairy tale it turns out not to be. It’s not just that the movie gets better as it goes along — it actually knows it’s toying with you. The neat trick of Wild Rose is that the film seems to grow up before your eyes and find its glimmer of soul right along with its eager, talented, messed-up heroine.” – Owen Glieberman, Variety
Tom Harper was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Short Film and won the award Best British Short at the British Independent Film Awards for an early short, Cubs (2006). He has since become a prolific director of both TV and films. For TV, he has directed episodes of This is England ’86 (2010) and Peaky Blinders (2013-), as well as the mini-series War & Peace (2016). He made his feature directing debut with The Scouting Book for Boys (2009) and went on to make War Book (2014) and The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death (2014). His next film is The Aeronauts, which he wrote as well as directed.
Film Details
Year 2018
Language English
Runtime 101
Country UK
Director Tom Harper
Producer Faye Ward
Writer Nicole Taylor
Editor Mark Eckersley
Cinematographer George Steel
Music Jack Arnold
Cast Jessie Buckley, Julie Walters, Sophie Okonedo
Print Source NEONelissa@neonrated.comneonrated.com
