Wild Rose

At its root, filmmaker Tom Harper’s Wild Rose is a formulaic story about a young singer with a dream, but it throws in enough narrative curveballs to avoid becoming a cookie-cutter tale. In a star-making turn, Jessie Buckley plays Rose-Lynn Harlan, a wannabe country-western performer in Scotland. Just released from jail after serving a stint for drug charges, and wearing an ankle bracelet under her high cowgirl boots, Rose-Lynn has sex with her boyfriend and gets into a fight at the Grand Old Opry of Glasgow before showing up at the apartment of her mother (Julie Walters), who has been taking care of her children Wynonna (Daisy Littlefield) and Lyle (Adam Mitchell). She takes a job as a housecleaner to Susannah (Sophie Okonedo), who encourages Rose-Lynn to go to Nashville and try to break into the music business there. Eventually, Rose-Lynn makes her way to Tennessee, even though it means leaving her children behind at a particularly difficult moment. Just when the film appears to be heading for a clichéd Star Is Born finale, the story takes a sudden turn that is satisfyingly redemptive. The pleasures of Wild Rose—in addition to the standout performances and genial music—lie in its refusal to succumb to the familiar feel-good fantasy ending. Despite a plot that is hardly innovative, the film is refreshingly quirky and unpredictable, an unabashed crowd-pleaser that, like its title character, also frequently breaks the rules. Recommended. (F. Swietek)