Wild Rose

Young Rose-Lynn Harlan (Jessie Buckley) from Glasgow lives for music. Her dream is to make a career as a country singer. But her temper often gets in the way. After serving a prison sentence, Rose-Lynn wants to get to Nashville as soon as possible and start over. Too bad she doesn't have the money and she's only out on parole. In addition, there are her two small children, who have grown up with their grandmother Marion (Julie Walters). And now Rose-Lynn is supposed to take responsibility for them, too. Being a mother and earning money - there is actually no time to make a career. But Rose-Lynn doesn't want to give up her dream that easily.

Wild Rose is a rousingly staged and superbly acted musical drama that scores points with a good soundtrack and a strong leading actress. The film, directed by Tom Harper (The Woman in Black 2), really only has one problem. The protagonist of the film is not exactly a great sympathetic character with her selfish and also self-destructive behavior. Of course - and this is not a spoiler - she will have learned her lesson by the end. But until then, she neglects her children, insults other people and always looks for others to blame for her success that hasn't happened yet. And at times, her behavior is just plain stupid.

It's damn hard to build compassion, understanding, or even sympathy, no matter how well this character is played by actress Jessie Buckley. What's more, it's also a shame that Harper builds up a fairly authentic-seeming dramedy, only for it to drift more towards a fairytale happy ending at the end. Granted, by the last act the film actually becomes something of a feel-good movie. But along the way, the director doesn't exactly make it easy for his audience to side with Rose-Lynn. Which is probably primarily because the sufferers of her behavior are her children.

Never-the-less, Wild Rose is in many ways a strong film that definitely works as a plea to follow your dreams. Only the addition . just not at any cost could perhaps have been emphasized a bit more. In any case, Tom Harper has succeeded in making a rousing drama with an interesting main character in her broken way and with really good music (provided you have a slight soft spot for country) - and for that then, despite some weaknesses, there is still a clear: worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp