Wild Rose

Director: Tom Harper
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Julie Walters, Sophie Okonedo, Jamie Sives, James Harkness
Time: 101 min
Country: UK
Year: 2019
Language: English

Rose-Lynn (Jessie Buckley) has all the trappings of a country star. A single mother and an ex-con with a name that just demands a Tennessee accent, she lives and breathes Country. Enamoured with the “three chords and the truth” found in true country songs, Rose-Lynn dreams of Nashville and stardom. Buckley utterly sells Rose’s sheer hunger, and when we see the way she comes alive onstage, it’s hard to begrudge her these dreams. The always-excellent Sophie Okonedo and Julie Walters give splendid supporting turns as Rose’s keen employer-turned-friend and long-suffering mother respectively. That Buckley is a talented singer/actress is no surprise but a quick glance at the film’s credits reveals her as a co-writer for many of Rose-Lynn’s tunes, adding a further, brilliant depth to this star-making performance. It’s a film that’s just as much about accepting your responsibilities as it is chasing your dreams at any cost – and inhabiting that funny middle ground that often exists between. Jessie Buckley’s soaring performance is an absolute must-see. Selfish, loveable, and at times heartbreaking, Rose-Lynn is a gift of a character and Wild Rose is a gift of a wildly entertaining film.

Sgaawaay K’uuna

(Edge of the Knife)

Director: Helen Haig-Brown, Gwaai Edenshaw
Cast: Tyler York, Willy Russ, Adeana Young, Greg Brown
Time: 100 min
Country: Canada
Year: 2018
Language: Haida, English subtitles

Sgaawaay K’uuna – a mesmerizing film crafted by true artists is concerned with family tradition, mythmaking, and legend, but also a unique glimpse into the rich history of the Haida, who’ve been keepers of their own land for over 14,000 years. In a 19th-century summer, two large families gather for their annual fishing retreat on the far-removed island of Haida Gwaii. Adiits’ii, a charming nobleman, accidentally causes the death of his best friend Kwa’s son and hastens into the wilderness. Adiits’ii is tormented by what he has done and spirals into insanity, becoming Gaagiixid, a supernatural being crazed by hunger. He unexpectedly survives the winter, and at next year’s gathering, the families try to convert Gaagiixid back to Adiitst’ii. Edge of the Knife is a film unlike any other and it deserves an undeniable amount of credit for playing a role in the preservation of indigenous culture on screen. Shot on the island of Haida Gwaii, on picturesque, largely untainted native land, Edge of the Knife’s status as a landmark work of cinema should be obvious, and not just because the actors are speaking in dialects that might never be heard in a film ever again. It’s place in Canadian cinematic history goes well beyond that.