I thought the widely praised Beast was one of the more overrated films of last year. It felt too much like it was recycled from parts of other British films. What is undeniable though, was the brilliant lead performance from Jessie Buckley. Her follow up is the story of Rose-Lynn, a struggling, young country singer in Glasgow. Released from prison, her dreams of stardom look like never being realised as she has to face up to the reality of being a single mother of two young kids and working as a cleaner at a private house.
Glasgow is probably the most vibrant city in the world for innovative and creative music, so it may seem strange that a singer would feel that they need to leave to further their career, but it does make perfect sense as it is presented here. Once again, Buckley is mesmerising; totally convincing as the rough-edged but talented singer. There is no need to give a lot of expository back story, as Buckley can convey so much with the smallest of gestures and her delivery of an excellent, earthy script, written by Nicole Taylor.
Director Tom Harper and his cinematographer George Steel make the most of the gritty Glasgow settings which are nicely juxtaposed to the bright lights of Nashville when Rose-Lynn unexpectedly gets to visit the country music mecca. There is also a joyous sequence of Rose-Lynn dancing through the house she is meant to be cleaning, whilst her backing band start to appear behind her. As well as Buckley, there are good supporting roles for Julie Walters as her long suffering mum, and Sophie Okenedo – who also featured in the director’s excellent and overlooked War Bok in 2014 – as the boss who befriends the young singer.
There is a moment towards the end that I feared that the film was going to end in the most cheesy way. Thankfully, that was avoided and it concludes in a most appropriate and pleasing way as Rose-Lynn starts to find her true voice, and shows that she has finally understood what she needs to do to fulfil her potential.
Buckley proves that as well as a great actress she is a talented singer as she performs all of the pleasing soundtrack. A contender for British film of the year.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10