I've definitely tired of the glut of films about a recording artist who lets fame ruin them, so I guess I have to hand it to Wild Rose, because it takes a somewhat different path. Instead of watching her career drive her to drugs, alcohol, and irresponsibility, she starts out hooked on all that stuff. That's right, she is already a frustrating character that you kind of dislike from the first scene (when she's being released from jail.) Needless to say her career takes a somewhat different path as she seeks a career as a country singer, which isn't exactly the most common genre of music in Scotland. It took a long time for this movie to get me on the side of Rose, which I think is a problem when you're trying to center the entire film on her life. Even when she starts to get things right, it seems she is still misguided and making terrible decisions.
The final act of Wild Rose is what won me over. It is here that I saw the kind of story about a singer that I'd like to see more often. Instead of being completely torn down by the career in making music, she finds strength in it, and a balance in her life. I also appreciated the way reality struck in Wild Rose. There were a couple opportunities to head towards a storybook ending, but this movie shows how difficult making it in the real world can be. I was emotionally invested in this journey late in the film, and suddenly I cared, where before I was indifferent towards the character. It certainly helped that Jessie Buckley has an amazing singing voice. Any time she opened up and sang I was excited. She has a true talent for singing that might be even better than her acting skill. While Wild Rose might not be the greatest movie I've seen in this genre, at least it took a different path than all the others.
The final act of Wild Rose is what won me over. It is here that I saw the kind of story about a singer that I'd like to see more often. Instead of being completely torn down by the career in making music, she finds strength in it, and a balance in her life. I also appreciated the way reality struck in Wild Rose. There were a couple opportunities to head towards a storybook ending, but this movie shows how difficult making it in the real world can be. I was emotionally invested in this journey late in the film, and suddenly I cared, where before I was indifferent towards the character. It certainly helped that Jessie Buckley has an amazing singing voice. Any time she opened up and sang I was excited. She has a true talent for singing that might be even better than her acting skill. While Wild Rose might not be the greatest movie I've seen in this genre, at least it took a different path than all the others.