Rose Plays Julie

A young woman seeks her birth mother and discovers a secret past which is revealed fairly early and leads to some unpleasant encounters for young Rose. The lead actresses are quite good as the mother and daughter attempting to repair a tragedy. I found the film to move a bit too slow for my taste but the story is a good one until an ending which left too many questions unanswered. I can still recommend Rose Plays Julie.

Are you ever at home on a Thursday afternoon when you happen upon a story of a woman being convicted of murder after an unintended miscarriage? And then the algorithm reminds you that yet another woman has been killed by a (very nice) man? And then suddenly (or perhaps slowly) you feel the deep, primal rage of thousands of years of women rising up inside of you threatening to escape in a guttural scream of injustice and absurdity to the point you wonder if you could quit your day job and moonlight as one of The Furies?

Then yeah, you've found your movie.

Well-crafted drama thriller. The acting is all-around stellar.

The twists were actual twists that I didn't see coming. I was a little worried there would be too many, and they'd just be twists for the sake of twists. But I think they were all beneficial. Their pacing was intelligently embedded in the plot and characters.

Excellent ending, too. I started off sarcastically thinking "way to be human" of Orla Brady's character. Then, ended up thinking "way to be human" of her character, but with all sincerity.

I didn't expect this film to be so powerful. It's emotionally gripping and intense. It's well worth watching.

Although the theme of this film is so dark and intense that it's impossible to use the words 'I enjoyed it'. Having said that for the bravery of the story, the acting and filming it is worth seeing. I was at the Irish Premiere during the Virgin Dublin International Film Festival at the weekend and was present for the all too brief Q&A afterwards featuring the directors, producer and stars Ann Skelly, Aidan Gillen & Orla Brady. The amount of effort it takes to get a good quality Irish movie made is unreal so get behind this movie, go see it even if it makes you uncomfortable.