Rambling Rose

Buddy recalls the Great Depression when Rose (Laura Dern) came to work for his family. She escaped prostitution in Birmingham to be the domestic servant. Kindly mother Hillyer (Diane Ladd) is partly deaf and was orphaned young. Rose flirts with father Hillyer (Robert Duvall) but he rebuffs her. Young Buddy (Lukas Haas) has a sexual encounter with Rose. She is desperate to stay and convinces him to keep it a secret. She continues to be flirtatious with the town's men. Father wants to send Rose away while mother argues to keep her.

This is a nostalgic jazzy rambling reminiscence of a compelling character. My only problem is that this movie takes a light tone making this almost a fable. Despite the childhood point of view, it needs to go for a darker mood to fit this sexualized tragedy. Director Martha Coolidge is caught between making a kid's coming of age journey and a young woman's walk on a dangerous tight rope. The light airy mood keeps the darker material at a distance.

I got a chance to see this film accidentally while glancing through the channels on my TV. I was instantly hooked and watched the whole film. This film is about a young, restless and free-spirited orphan girl, who is in search of affection. She's also sexually overactive, well that's what the people around her in the 30s feel. She's sheltered by a family who are just like an ordinary family down the road, but when she needs them stand up for her, never caring about the so called caretakers of morals and virtues. A very intersting study if deep rooted charcters, played equally well by the actors. 2 characters stand apart in the film, one of the girl Rose played brilliantly by Laura Dern, and of the mother, played by Laura's real mom, Diane Ladd. Robert Duvall is very believable as the head of the family in the southern in the 1930s. I liked the gentle pace of the movie, and its buildup towards the end, where Diane garners herself for a confrontation with the self proclaimed keepers of the virtues, including her own husband. I like the way their Diane's and Robert's characters undergo transformations, small ones but enough to keep the audience attached to the film at an emotional level. Even days after watching the movie, you'd have the images of the cheerful, sometimes confused, lively and lovely Rose, flashing in front of your eyes. And that's makes the use of a narrative, which some people didn't like about this movie, so appropriate. If I had known someone like Rose in my lifetime, I would definately told this story to everybody I knew, many times over.

I haven't seen this film in quite a while but I have pretty good memories about it. It's an intriguing film, something different and appealing even though some of the subject matter is "inappropriate."

I saw the last word because it involves a 13-year-old boy whose hormones are raging and his brief relationship with a grown woman. There is one sex scene that may make people squirm a bit, so be forewarned. Other than that, I don't remember anything else objectionable.

I like the photography and always enjoy seeing the old days - here it's the 1920s and 1930s - portrayed on today's films with the great cameramen and directors of today. Also, the South has some beautiful scenery that is eloquently on display here.

The story is well-acted with real-life mother-daughter Diane Ladd and Laura Dern, along with Robert Duvall and Lukas Haas. The latter plays the young man and was already somewhat of a star after playing the young Amish boy in the 1985 film "Witness." Duvall is one of the finest actors of his generation so you always get a good performance out of him.

This is a pretty low-key story but never puts you to sleep. Modern day feminists might like this film was Ladd plays that role to the hilt. Dern also delivered, making a very believable "Rose."

This film is essentially character-driven and features excellent performances throughout, particularly the four principals-Laura Dern, Diane Ladd, Robert Duvall and Lukas Haas. Ladd and Dern mother and daughter in real life) give especially fine performances and deservedly received nominatins for the Academy Awards In the Actress and Supporting Actress categories. The film has a good script and is well done technically. But it is first and foremost an actor's movie and the acting carries the movie along. Well worth your time. Recommended.

I feel like there's a really great film hidden somewhere inside here. If not great, at least good. I don't think it really develops into anything too interesting, even if it's never outright bad. The performances are good enough to sustain some interest in what is going on, and the initial premise of it really does seem intriguing enough. Maybe it's just where the film went that it all seems sort of disappointing, and because of that I do think that the first half is noticeably stronger. Laura Dern really is brilliant in this though, as is both Duvall and Ladd. I can't really say I disliked, but I wouldn't really recommend it either. Seek it out if you must.