Yellow Rose

I just screened this movie at the 2019 San Diego Asian Film Festival to a packed house! The audience, although made up of many with a Filipino background - was still quite diverse with other ethnic backgrounds.

This movie depicted what many undocumented families are facing in America today. We don't quite often hear of the Filipino experience, so this was very eye opening and emotional, as our fellow neighbors/friends may be going through this personally and we may not be aware.

Once this movie is widely released, I encourage you to bring your family and friends to watch! This is such a relevant story! Kudos to the director for bringing Filipino perspectives to the big screen. Filipinos are not only great singers or produce beauty queens, but they have Important stories to tell, especially in this film with a fantastic cinematic debut by Eva Noblezada and backed by the supporting actors and a great soundtrack!

Great acting, casting, direction, locations. Everything but an actual story.

"Yellow Rose" is such a touching and beautiful piece that narrates the story of identity, family, and following your dreams against all odds. Helmed by Diane Paragas, the film goes through the journey of Eva Noblezada as Rose, a talented, young Filipina immigrant living for the purpose of being able to shortly become a country music star. It's a movie that is both a testament to resilience and belonging's cumbersomeness; it's set against all of the vibrant music scenes in Texas. Noblezada is soulful, supported by powerful work from Lea Salonga as her protective aunt and by country musician Dale Watson. Threaded with sincere storytelling, "Yellow Rose" makes the musical score evocative, alive after the credits roll, casting a new light on the American dream and on the power of music to bridge cultures.

This movie was a refreshing change from the last movie I watched, which was Save Yourselves. The biggest problem with that movie was the lack of likeable characters. At least with this movie, you felt a connection to the main character and her plight. Sure, there were some moments that make feel she's just being unreasonable, like when she storms off from Dale Watson. But otherwise, she's just acting like a teen would put in such a situation. Another part I liked about this movie is that even though it feature a teen lead character, and the guy who she befriends from the music store (who actually isn't in it that much), the movie doesn't come across as a Disney channel teen movie. It's a mature film. It stays away from anything dark or disturbing, but it doesn't pull punches when it shows the ICE agents doing their raids to grab undocumented immigrants. And we get to see Rose go through the writing process and finding inspiration from her surroundings and even with help from Dale Watson. Not to say, this movie is about 'how to write and record a song'. But it does show how she takes her real life situation and is inspired to turn it into lyrics. Now, the ending is cliched, and typical of many of these kinds of films, hence dropping a point. And it's somewhat open-ended, because it's basically the new beginning of Rose's journey. Maybe if there's a sequel, it will play out like A Star Is Born? Haha, I don't think there will be a sequel. So, I was glad to be able to see this on the big screen. I imagine a lot of people will only get to experience this on their TV sets. I think if you can see it on the screen, do it. It's shot very well, and the sound is terrific.

Before I watched this movie I had no idea who Eva Noblezada was. I was so impressed with her performance, both her acting and her truly marvelous singing voice, I had to look her up. Even though she plays a 17-yr-old high school student living with her mom, she in fact was about 22 during filming. Earlier in her career she starred in the Broadway musical "Miss Saigon" and was nominated for the 2017 Tony Award for best actress in a musical. Her performance at the 2017 Tonys is easy to find on U-tube, it is worth looking up.

So here she is Rose Garcia, her mom works at the Bastrop Inn and they live there, both undocumented. Rose plays guitar and writes songs for herself but she has a lot of budding talent. When her mom gets taken away she has to seek places to stay and one big help is a local Austin country music star. He puts her up for a while and helps her find her voice and be brave enough to sing in front of people.

This is a good movie and Eva Noblezada is very good. There has to be a singing arc and because she is such an accomplished singer she must sing initially with much restraint. Only as the movie is ending do we witness her full vocal abilities.

I like Eva Noblezada, I hope we see her in future movies. To me there is a parallel with Jessie Buckley, the Irish actress who is so good in "Wild Rose", also an aspiring country singer in that movie.

My wife and I watched it on DVD from our public library.