The Movie: Yellow Rose
The Director: Diane Paragas
The Cast: Eva Noblezada, Princess Punzalan, Dale Watson, Libby Villari and
Lea Salonga
The Story: Rose, an undocumented 17 year old Filipina, dreams of one day
leaving her small Texas town to pursue her country music dreams. Her world
is shattered when her mom suddenly gets picked up by Immigration and Customs
Enforcement.
The Verdict:
Yellow Rose is a beautiful movie that has a ton of heart, is filled
with memorable songs, and features a knock out performance from Eva
Noblezada. Diane Paragas' message of hope and resilience strikes right
into the heart of our current political climate while taking nothing away
from the experience of great cinematic storytelling.
The Review:
This is one of those movies that pulls every single one of your heart
strings, even ones you didn't know you ever had, and brings up a swirl of
emotions that will leave you heartbroken, inspired, angered, and filled with
love all at the same time. Diane Paragas has made a film about Filipino
people for Filipino people and runs headfirst straight through the doors
that had been busted open by the success of movies like
Crazy Rich Asians
and
The Farewell.
At the core of this movie is a star making performance from Eva Noblezada
who plays 17 year old undocumented immigrant Rose Garcia, an up and coming
actress who has been praised for her recent work on the Broadway production
of Miss Saigon. She is so talented and displays all of it in this movie both
as an actress and as a singer. She has the star power and charisma that
Hollywood casting directors would die for and the 23 year old easily holds
her own with co-stars Lea Salonga who she also performed with on Miss Saigon
and long time singer-songwriter Dale Watson whose character becomes a mentor
to Rose.
This isn't just a coming of age story for Rose, it's a commentary on current
events that are affecting people right now here in the United States. At the
beginning of the movie, Rose's mom is arrested and detained by ICE and is
eventually scheduled for deportation bringing to the forefront that the
young woman herself has been living in the country illegally. This
complicates things in so many ways just as Rose is going into her final year
of high school, has a budding relationship, and is being encouraged to
pursue a musical career.
Paragas, who has been working on this film in some fashion for over 15
years, handles all of these swirling topics beautifully and with an
emotional persistence that never goes over the top and keeps you firmly
engaged with the interwoven plot threads. The songs in the movie are
perfectly on topic and performed beautifully by Noblezada making me think
that this movie is everything
A Star is Born
has ever wanted to be and so much more.
This interview with Diane Paragas was really fun and we packed in a ton of
topics into just under 30 minutes. Some of the fun things Diane and I
discussed are the love we both have for drive in theaters, how to hire a
Broadway star for your movie, and her high school days as a punk rock band
member. Of course, we also go in depth into the making of
Yellow Rose and also how the pandemic and the recent surge of
activism has affected what it means to make movies.
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