Rosa Amarela

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!

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.

Finally, a film that legitimately makes you feel good without burying you in sugar. Rose (newcomer Eva Noblezada) in soulfully good Yellow Rose is a 17-year-old Filipina from rural Texas whose motel-maid mom Priscilla (Princess Punzalen) is about the be a guest of ICE, making Rose a figurative orphan without any backup.

Hidden in Rose's beautiful spirit is a hankering to sing country music although she first needs to sing for others, not just herself. After she avoids ICE herself, she meets some kind folk who will not only help her have a place to live but also give her a chance to sing.

The strength of this music/drama is that nothing is easy and nothing comes soon enough. When she meets real singer Dale Watson (a white-haired accomplished singer before the camera and in the vibrant world of honky-tonk Texas night life), her epiphany slowly begins.

However, in between meeting Dale, writing a song for him, and singing her first composition in front of a pleasant Dale-centered crowd, Rose has to struggle with mom's wish for her to come to Manila and her own sense of home already in Texas. The film is strong because it doesn't amplify the realities and the sentiment; it just lets Rose find her way on her own.

In a way, Jessie Buckley's Rose-Lynn in Wild Rose as a Grand 'Ol aspirant mirrors Rose in Yellow, only with more flamboyant songs and melodrama. Both films draw you in to the characters because of the actors' charm and talent. Yellow Rose has less music and conflict than Wild Rose but a sweeter take on the heroine's ambition: Although Rose barely registers on the emotion meter, her underlying passion is undeniable.

In Yellow Rose the music is sweet and low, especially when Dale sings (He steals the shot every time-now that's charisma). Like this gentle drama, Rose bubbles up to the top and stays with you like a simple country song.

I was really surprised by this movie and very entertained by the characters and music. Eva Noblezada is one hell of a singer and she did a very good acting in this movie which made her character very relatable. I look forward to see her in other films. Dale Watson is excellent as a mentor to the young girl and helping her with her budding music career and not being a prev. It was refreshing to see a younger person taking the advice from an older person about a career path and not be a smart ass know it all teenager. Which currently that is the only way Hollywood writers know how to portray a teenager these days.

The movie also highlights its not just Hispanic people that are illegals in the states but people from other countries too. It also humanize ICE agents and doesn't portray them as mindless robots.

Its a really good feel good movie and you should check it out.

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.