Yellow Rose movie review & film summary (2020)

Stakes are immensely higher here than say for the young women in comparable journeys to break into the entertainment business like in “Wild Rose,” a closely akin example, or “A Star is Born,” since neither of those characters face the looming threat of racial discrimination or of being deported to a country they barely remember. For Rose, the dream is not only the fulfillment of her talent’s promise but a chance at salvation—and a disheartening one at that because she can’t be with her mother. The uncertainty of her status and how she’s embraced Americana make for a fascinatingly ironic contrast.

Paragas makes the urgency of Rose’s plight clear in the way cinematographer August Thurmer’s camera briskly chases after her every time an ally falls through. She finds herself constantly on the run. Admittedly, some of the messaging and most dramatic beats (a second ICE raid) suffer from heavy-handedness, but there are still admirable choices among the crowded landscape of “Yellow Rose.” One of the filmmaker's wisest emotional moves is to create spaces for tender instances where Rose sings mournfully, or like a Filipino lullaby, is moved by a song she hears. 

Rose’s unpredictable living arrangements give Paragas room to introduce a wide array of secondary characters that include a fellow immigrant, a kindhearted bar owner, and singer Dale Watson playing himself (without much success in the acting department). Yet, the one encounter that deserves further examination is that with her aunt (Lea Salonga), who’s married to a wealthy white man uninterested in helping Rose. The aunt’s regret for having disappeared from her Filipino’s family’s life in exchange for a comfortable existence in the suburbs speaks to the cost of assimilation as a pathway to socioeconomic prosperity. 

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