Wild Rose (15)
Directed by Tom Harper
 

Irish singer and actress Jessie Buckley literally explodes onto the big screen as a ballsy Glaswegian working-class, single mother whose lifelong dream is to become a Nashville country singing star in this powerful and uplifting drama.

Fresh out of prison Rose-Lynn Harlan (Buckley) is determined to follow her mantra, borrowed from songwriter Harlan Howard, that it only takes “three chords and the truth” to write a country song.

Her mother Marion (a magnificent Julie Walters), who has been taking care of her two young kids while she has been in jail, reminds her of her parental responsibilities when Rose-Lynn insists “this is me trying to make something of myself. Surely that’s a good thing for them.”

“Not letting them down, that would be a good thing for them,” her mum fires back.

Walters is sublime as Rose-Lynn’s no nonsense, gritty working-class Glaswegian mum who tells it as it is to her dreamer daughter who is convinced she can only triumph in Nashville.

The film explores the thorny question which haunts a lot of women today – whether it is possible and right to follow your dream when you are a mother and in this case working class to boot.

Taking a job as a cleaner Rose-Lynn is soon befriended and championed by her wealthy middle-class employer and lady of the house Susannah (Sophie Okonedo) who seems like someone who is in search of her next charity project to give meaning to her life.

Directed by Tom Harper (War and Peace, War Book) and with a cracking and nuanced debut film screenplay by TV writer Nicole Taylor (Three Girls, Scott Bailey) Wild Rose is a captivating music-based drama driven by a mesmerising performance by Buckley as the raw, uncompromising, sharp-tongued and force of nature Rose-Lynn whose country singing will blow you away. Her star is definitely set to soar to new heights.
If you don’t know the difference between country and country and western music you will do after seeing this glorious gem of a film.