Film Review - Wild Rose (15)

Ain't no yellow brick road runnin' through Glasgow.

If A Star is Born tells the story of one woman's catapult-trajectory into musical fame, Wild Rose focuses on realities that are rather more mundane. Sure Lady Gaga's character Ally had to swallow some tough truths about life in the music industry, but the 'Rose' of Tom Harper's new film may never get a foot in the door to begin with - and it's not just the flaky nature of the X-Factor era that's keeping her back. Wild Rose doesn't have the glamour of the Gaga remake, but what and who it does have is impressive in its own right.

Jessie Buckley plays Rose-Lynn Harlan, singer since the age of fourteen at the Grand Ole Opry - not the one in Nashville, Tennessee, its namesake in Glasgow, Scotland. She's just completed a year-long prison sentence so stardom is scarcely beckoning, but then 'Johnny Cash was a convicted felon', as she reminds one detractor. A cleaning job at a well-to-do couple's townhouse provides her with an unexpected lead in her search for success, but a criminal record isn't the only thing holding her back. She's a mother of two young children, with her own mum (Julie Walters) constantly reminding her of her primary responsibilities in life and how incompatible they are with artistic strivings. Rose's dream of Nashville is fraught with real-life complications.

The Wild Rose story is familiar to anyone who's followed the travails of musical wannabes on reality TV. What it has in addition is a tough honesty that undercuts much of those shows' sentimentality. The sweary, funny, sometimes emotionally bruising screenplay gets to the heart of Rose, refusing to sugar-coat either her or her grim circumstances. Harper's direction is appropriately edgy, while the cinematography bleeds out colour to emphasise housing estate grey. The gulf between Rose's environment and her Americana fantasies couldn't be more clear.

Carrying the film on her shoulders and bearing it up nearer to greatness is Buckley. Already a star for those who've seen TV drama Taboo or the BBC's recent War and Peace saga (also directed by Harper), the girl from Killarney, Ireland is now on the cusp of global celebrity. Her Rose is mouthy and life-embracing, belligerent, damaged and vulnerable - instinctively honest in what she blurts out and yet simultaneously self-deluding. She's a mum who still acts like a child and who's most alive fronting a band on stage. To the credit of both actress and screenplay she's allowed to be a total train-wreck - barely likeable at points, as she stumbles from one disaster to the next. It's a strikingly real portrayal and thus all the more powerful when reality finally hits. As for her singing voice - it's as soulful as her Glaswegian speech is earthy, rivalling Gaga for her emotional richness and vocal control. It provides Rose with an undeniably special talent at odds with her drab surroundings. 

Buckley isn't alone in delivering first-rate work either. Julie Walters brings her customary realness, tempering Grandma's disapproval with warmth and making us feel the woman's despair. Two lovely child performances complete Rose's family (while acting as endearing obstacles to her showbiz greatness), and Sophie Okonedo is amusingly over-the-top as our heroine's social-climbing employer/number-one-fan Susannah.

To quote Tom Jones, however, this is all about the voice, and in this case the tempestuous personality behind it. Rose may not always be easy to like, but we understand her conflict and ultimately root for her - that she'll embrace her family like they need her to, and still get to share her gift with the world. Is that too much for a working-class Glasgow girl to ask?

Gut Reaction: An emotional gamut - laughter, irritation, sympathy, sadness - and a bit of joy (not least at the dramatic and musical craft on display).

Memorable Moment: No chords. Just the painful truth.

Ed's Verdict: 8/10. Wild Rose is a solidly told story of frustrated dreams, but it attains a whole other level due to a lead performance of gobsmacking awesomeness. World, time to meet Jessie Buckley.

Film Review - A Star is Born (15)

You don't tell the truth out there, you're f**ked. 

Some stories bear retelling. The original A Star is Born was released in 1937 and has now been remade three times, each version following markedly similar plot beats, while reworking the premise for a new era. It's a simple tale - one that simultaneously celebrates and critiques the entertainment industry, and one to which numerous generations can clearly relate. All that's required is an imaginative repackaging and some contemporary resonance. Bradley Cooper's 2018 version has both, with the formidable addition of Lady Gaga and her stunning vocals.

Cooper is Jackson Maine, a straggle-haired and hard-drinking country-rocker riding out the latter days of his fame. Gaga is Ally, a singer and song-writer whose talent, however striking, has been passed over by numerous shallow music executives. Their chance meeting is fateful in more ways than one. The connection between them, fuelled by a love of music and stage performance, sparks an intense romance along with Ally's career in the business. But Jackson's inner demons (which are legion) and the forces shaping Ally's musical future threaten to rip them apart, heartfelt love notwithstanding.

There's an undoubted power in the basic story - a love affair between two performers whose career trajectories are moving swiftly in opposite directions. First-time director Cooper does much to invigorate the material, giving it a raw sense of reality throughout and never letting things topple too far into melodrama. These characters are believable, whether in the bravura musical sequences or the quieter domestic moments. The first act takes its time to establish the central relationship, before sweeping us on an edgy but exhilarating journey with these two, much of it filtered through Jackson's faltering perception. It's all very 2018 as well - contemporary music, Youtube and the slick product-packaging of the modern recording industry all grounding a well-worn narrative in the now.

But it's the performances that you'll remember. Cooper is a growling, shambling version of himself, but he exudes boozy charisma. He also proves one hell of a country-blues performer, like he's been singing and playing all his life. Gaga meanwhile gives a strikingly truthful portrayal of Ally, divested as she is of her real-life chutzpah and all the crazy costumes that go with it. There's a simplicity and humility to her waitress-turned-singer, which result in the best kind of X-Factor chills when she cuts loose in front of a microphone. Put these two individuals together and there's chemistry - both on-stage and off - to rival that of Joaquin Phoenix and Reece Witherspoon in Walk the Line. Great too to see the magnificent Sam Elliott in a key role - strong, compassionate and with a voice that could now grate parmesan really fine.

As for the music, it turns the movie into this year's Greatest Showman - less family-friendly for sure, but full of memorable tunes and glorious performance moments, which compliment rather than distract from the drama. These are songs that (with one deliberate exception) come from the gut, conveying all the passion, pain and internal conflict of the leads. A Star is Born 2018 becomes much more than another retelling of the classic story. It's a modern fable of stardom - its glories and its pitfalls - and of the toll that fame threatens to take on two people's love for each other. And it works because it's told - on every level - in such an utterly convincing way.

Gut Reaction: A sense of sublime melancholy rather than some manipulated sob-fest. Two moments - Ally's first duet with Jackson and a night at the Emmys - got to me for very different reasons.

Where Are the Women?: Gaga exists in a very blokey world here, perhaps a commentary on how rock is still a resistantly male environment.

Ed's Verdict: 8.5/10. Cooper's triple-role (co-writer/director/co-star) provides a searing authenticity throughout, as does Gaga's star turn. We knew he could act and she could sing. Turns out the reverse is also true.