Movie Review: The “Yellow Rose” Blooms To Redefine Assimilation
When you think of American, do you think of an immigrant? What skin or features do you see or voice and accent do you hear? What story do you imagine? In America, even natives are treated as foreign because there is a concept of whiteness that has historically and presently defined what “American” looks like, and country music is highly emblematic of this “look” and dynamic. Last year, there was a MAJOR controversy because Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” was isolated from Country Music Awards and billboard recognition; claiming it wasn’t “country” enough. Ironically, that statement, “You are not country enough,” or “American enough” feels interchangeable in the story of Yellow Rose: out October 9 in theaters.
Eva Noblezada plays Rose Garcia; a 17 year old girl dreaming of becoming a country music star as she watches her mother, Princess Punzalan as Priscilla, clean hotel rooms in Austin. Though here “illegally,” Rose was raised in America, and, in some ways, so was her mother. Through sacrifice and hard work she was able to give Rose a life where teenaged dilemmas like “fitting in” are the most felt issues facing her. Yet, it is this very issue, “fitting in” that makes Rose wonder when the American dream kicks in, an immigrant truly becomes a citizen, and the life you live to survive becomes the life you live to thrive. Unfortunately, for Rose’s mother, ICE cruelly takes her into custody. Enter her aunt Gail, played by Lea Salonga, whom also struggles to see if “American” life is truly better when you are not considered “American.”
YELLOW ROSE – Official Trailer (HD) – Only In Theaters 10/9
Salonga’s Gail symbolizes the rather “toxic” side of assimilation; married to a white, racist man that finds Rose’s presence a nuisance because she is “too Filipino.” It is as if he does not see the family he created with Gail is part Filipino, but it is Gail’s bowing to him and her own struggle to hold on to her roots that makes her the opposing side to Rose. Both are women that, whether the like it or not, are seen as Filipino- American, and are surrounded by white people that see the dash as a reason to treat them differently. Yet, these real-life, Broadway stars connect in music, and the film soars when it uses song as an act of resistance. For Rose, when life gets worse at least a song can get better, and she fuses her Filipino roots with “country” music and her idea of a “home country” or being “native.” For her, you don’t just adapt to world that refuses to adapt to you; instead, you build a new one.
“Yellow Rose” stars Lea Salonga and Eva Noblezada on the Filipino American immigration experience
Directed and written by Diane Paragas, Yellow Rose tries to innovate “immigrant tropes” by showing the humanity of really wanting to live your best life in a world that doesn’t think you should have a life: let alone a dream. Noblezada and Salonga are unsurprisingly magnificent; playing two embattled women trying to turn their heartbreaks into resilience. Being an immigrant and of color, in America, means your emotional and even physical boundaries will be crossed because you exist and have the “wrong look.” Luckily, Noblezada is so persistent, sweet, and charismatically raw that you thank God she finds some good people to protect her like, Liam Booth as her classmate crush Elliot, Libby Valeri as maternal, bar owner Jolene, and Dale Watson as a country singer who believes in her. Together they show the key to finding your path in America is truly making one of your own. Yellow Rose Comes Out, In Theaters, October 9.
