Tag: Jessie Buckley

WILD ROSE – Review

How about some music in your movie this weekend? Yes, it’s a comedy/drama all about an unknown talent ready for their turn in the spotlight (and the recording studio). Sure, we just had a musical fantasy a couple of weeks ago with YESTERDAY (though it has a solid footing in the real world). And earlier this Summer we were treated to the musical biography of Sir Elton John in ROCKETMAN, just a few months after the story of the band Queen, BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, nabbed a quartet of Oscars. Yes, those flicks are really set in the rock and roll/pop world. So how about some other music genres like country/western (whoops, more about that term later)? Here’s a sweet fiction film about a young woman chasing her Nashville dream. Now, here’s the unique twist: it’s set across the pond, too! The film’s lead is an aspiring singer from the poor side of Glasgow, Scotland. But here’s another curve, her tale is closer to WALK THE LINE than COAL MINER’S DAUGHTER (two terrific country music “biopics”). Alright folks, let’s give a listen to the song stylings of WILD ROSE….make her feel welcome…

Rose-Lynn (Jessie Buckley) is feeling especially wild when we meet her on the day of her release from a woman’s correctional facility (a nicer name for the big house, the joint, etc.). Before she gets her envelope of personal effects, she is fitted with an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet (tough to wear her white leather cowgirl boots over that). From 7 PM to 7 AM she has to be home, near the router that signals the police. Ah, but she’s thrilled to be out. First, it’s a quick “talk” with the ole’ boyfriend. Then it’s back to her “flat” (a public housing complex) where her dutiful mum Marion (Julie Walters) is tending to Rose’s kids, five-year-old Lyle (Adam Mitchell) and eight-year-old Wynonna (Daisy Littlefield) during their mom’s year-long absence. Lyle’s a hyper lil’ chatterbox that’s attached to his gran, while Wynonna barely says a word as she stares at Rose. After Marion goes over the kids’ schedules and organizes the bills, Rose has to get a job. She can’t go back to singing at the Glasgow “Grand Ole’ Opry'”, so she scores a house cleaning gig. But it’s at a plush mansion run by Susannah (Sophie Okonedo). While she’s out shopping, Rose vacuums while wearing headphones and belting out country (not country/western, she will insist vehemently) tunes near the top of her lungs. As she finishes her “set” Rose looks up to see the delighted faces of her employer and her two young kids. Susannah’s praise prompts Rose to “flat-out” ask her for money to travel to Nashville USA (um, that’s a “hard” no). But she has some connections to the BBC and records a video file of Rose-Lynn singing a tune, then sends it to their resident country DJ Bob Harris. Soon Rose-Lynn becomes a “project” for Susannah, who wants to organize a fund-raising concert. But as Rose-Lynn begins to see her dreams come true she relies too much on Marion and takes too much time away from her own kids. Can Rose-Lynn find a balance or must she compromise, and forget those hopes before she falls into her old bad habits?

This engaging tale hits all the right notes mainly due to the star-making turn by the titanic talents of Ms. Buckley. It’s quite a showcase, one that presents her wide range of musical and dramatic skills. Buckley gives us a heroine to roots for but doesn’t sugarcoat her. Though we get no flashbacks, it’s understood that Rose-Lynn led a very wild, irresponsible young life, with little regard for her family nor future. She’s got a tough outer shell, but Buckley shows us that her desire to be worthy of her beautiful children (and her mum) inspires her to really embrace the realities and responsibilities of adulthood. Still, she can frustrate us as she knowingly begins down the wrong path. With subtlety Buckley shows us that turmoil, as Rose-Lynn can’t ignore Lyle’s heart-wrenching pleas and Winonna’s disgusted blank glare. And then there’s that powerhouse singing voice, squeezing every bit of emotion from the lyrics that originated almost in another world. The sequence of her singing to the computer camera is as compelling as any CGI blockbuster battle. I’ll be very interested to see where this takes her career, one with many more great performances, no doubt. And she’s got two wonderful screen partners, first with Walters who is a true force of nature as mother Marion. We can see that Rose-Lynn has put her through the emotional wringer, so Marion has formed her own protective barrier against her daughter’s pleading and excuses. She’s quick to push Rose back to reality, tiring of being the “safety net” that accommodates her whims. But as the film winds down, Walters shows us her softer side as Marion might hope for a more fulfilling life for her offspring. On the “flip” side (ah, music recordings), there’s the lovely Ms. Okonedo as Rose-Lynn’s boss turned promoter/producer. She’s charmed by the crude crooner but doesn’t want to become the “fairy godmother” by granting every monetary wish. Okonedo shows us that Susannah was in a pampered unchallenging routine, one that needed a swift kick from those worn but shiny boots. This impressive trio gives the story wings, enabling it to soar.


At the controls of this high-flying fable is director Tom Harper, guided by the screenplay from Nicole Taylor. They create great bits of whimsy, as when members of her back-up band start to suddenly appear around the house as Rose-Lynn croons during her daily chores. But then they pull us back to reality as Rose-Lynn awakens during the pre-dawn hours to clean her own dingy apartment, and then keeping up to date on the kids’ schoolwork (even suppressing a “belly laugh” as she reads an essay, no doubt from the precocious Lyle). This sharpens the impact of those scenes of her letting those lovely kids down (Lyle’s cries of “I hate you!” cut deeper than any blade). The same is true of a brutal exchange between Rose-Lynn and Susanne’s hubby (he’s not a fan). Kudos to them for not giving us another standard rags to riches, “you can have it all” parable. They show us the harsh realities of chasing a dream, that sacrifices are made, and the past can’t be swept away. Even more important is the realization that your goals are not unique, that many others with even more talent are even closer to “grabbing that big brass ring”. Luckily these themes are balanced with the joyous musical sequences, even ending with a powerful “story summation” anthem that’s written by Oscar-winner Mary Steenbergen. Simply put WILD ROSE is wonderful. Tis’ a shame it’s not been on the air since 1997. I’d love to see Jessie Buckley pop up out of the cornfield on TV’s “Hee Haw”. Glasgow…saaluuute!

3.5 Out of 4 Stars

WILD ROSE opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas and Tivoli Theatre

BEAST Arrives on Blu-ray and DVD September 4th

Experience the “unexpected and terrifying” (Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com) when Beast arrives on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD September 4 from Lionsgate. From exciting new writer/director Michael Pearce (Rite, Keeping Up with the Joneses) comes a thrilling and dark modern-day fairy tale starring newcomer Jessie Buckley in a breakout role that critics are calling “a star-making performance” (Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly). The film was nominated for multiple categories of filmmaking and acting at prestigious film festivals including the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, 2017 London Film Festival, and 2018 Miami Film Festival. The Beast Blu-ray and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $21.99 and $19.98, respectively.

Moll is a troubled woman, still living at home, stifled by the small island community around her. When she meets Pascal, a free-spirited stranger, a whole new world opens up to her and she begins to feel alive for the first time, falling madly in love. Finally breaking free from her family, Moll moves in with Pascal to start a new life. But when Pascal is arrested as the key suspect in a series of brutal murders, Moll is left isolated and afraid and finds herself forced to make choices that will impact her life forever.

BLU-RAY/DVD/DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES

  • “The Making of Beast” Featurette
  • “A Look at Beast” Photo Gallery

BEAST – Review

(l-r) Jessie Buckley as Moll and Johnny Flynn as Pascal, in BEAST. Photo: Kerry Brown, courtesy of Roadside Attractions.

BEAST is a gripping, suspenseful film that mixes forbidden love, rebellion and murder, set on the English Channel island of Jersey, a place of natural beauty with a dark history, a stormy drama with a star-making performance by Jessie Buckley as the young woman at its center.

Moll Huntsford (Jessie Buckley) is a 27-year-old woman living with her parents in a stiflingly restrictive but affluent home on the island of Jersey. Her stern mother Hilary (Geraldine James) watches Moll like a hawk, and Moll spends her days is either supervising her mentally-confused father or working as a tour guide for the busloads of retirees who visit the picaresque island. By chance, she meets a stranger named Pascal Renouf (Johnny Flynn), a handsome, enigmatic man who makes his living as hunter and handyman. Pascal comes to Moll’s rescue after her night at the pub but the way he does it suggests he might be as much a danger as the man he drives off. With a mix of fear and fascination, she accepts a ride home from the mysterious stranger. Pascal is hard to read and has a whiff of menace to him but he also has a compelling mix of rough charm and sly humor, which sparks something long-buried within Moll.

When Pascal turns up at her family home the next day, Moll’s mother Hilary is hostile and clearly disdainful of this work-class character on her doorstep, yet Moll impulsively invites him to join them for dinner. At dinner, her mother asks Pascal if he is new to the island, to which he replies that no, he is a native whose ancestors have been on the island since the Norman conquest. He then adds, with a sly smile, “what are you doing on my land?”

The scene reveals something of Pascal’s nature, and also underscores the social gap between Moll’s family and him, establishing the tension between their two very different worlds. Meeting him reveals a wildness already within Moll that has been suppressed by her stifling family. Like Pascal, she has a history of violence, and they are drawn to each other like tamed and wild versions of the same species. While she recognizes they are kindred spirits, Moll is tore between her “dark side” and Pascal, and her family and a wish to “be good.”

BEAST is as brooding and haunting as the island it is set on, and powerful suspenseful tale that showcases some outstanding new talent.

One might wonder who is the “beast” of the title? Is it the raw, wild Pascal, a hunter who nearly blends into the landscape? Or is it Moll, tightly controlled by her family but with a hidden caged animal aspect? Or is it the killer stalking the island’s small rural community?

When Moll and Pascal meet, the island is gripped with fear and actively searching for a missing girl, the fourth one to have vanished. When her body is found buried near a farmer’s field, suspicion falls on Pascal, Moll is torn between defending the man she has fallen in love with or standing with her family and community.

There was a real Beast of Jersey in the 1960s, a child molester who evaded authorities for ten years. In his first feature film, writer/director Michael Pearce drew on his own experiences growing up on Jersey. The writer/director wanted to contrast the island’s wild natural beauty with its stifling small town conservative culture. Pearce describes Jersey as a place of stunning natural beauty where people feel safe but a place with a dark side, with legends of ghosts and witches, and a history of Nazi occupation and the Beast.

What fires up this film most is the riveting performance by Buckley, an Irish-born, stage-trained young actress with wild curly red hair and the capacity to morph from a shy innocent to a woman who might be capable of murder. Her chemistry with Johnny Flynn, an equally gifted actor, is electric yet it is Buckley who often dominates the screen.

Pearce wields his camera with impressive skill, offering formally composed and cramped scenes of Moll’s restrictive family gatherings and community events, and loose, impressionistic hand-held camera shot for scenes between Moll and Pascal. Among the most striking is a scene where Moll’s family gathers at the country club to celebrate her more-conventional sister’s engagement. The family is upset by Pascal’s slightly less formal attire. Pascal shrugs off their objections with a wry smile, as if he was aware he was pushing the limits, but Moll’s reaction is more emotional. A couple of other scenes where she engages with the community suggest that Moll is not always grounded in reality.

The film is not just about the murder mystery or the love story, but has layers of meaning about the balance between conforming to community expectations versus the impulse towards freedom, between an orderly built world and the wild natural environment. Pearce shot partly on Jersey itself, taking advantage of the island’s striking wild landscapes. That nature beauty was then contrasted against scenes of Moll giving the same scripted spiel about those landscapes to tour buses of retirees. While the story has a touch of “Wuthering Heights” at times, with the lovers and the landscape, this is its own unique tale.

The powerful performances of Buckley and Flynn keep us engrossed in this tale as it unfolds, although the ending is a bit of a let- down. Still, Pearce gets some much right in his atmospheric debut film, that one can look forward to more from him. Almost certainly, we will see more of the extremely-watchable and gifted Jessie Buckley,

BEAST opens Friday, May 25, at the Tivoli and Plaza Frontenac theaters.

RATING: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars