REVIEW: Yellow Rose

It’s quite refreshing to see a Filipino-American film that is now showing in theaters commercially in the US. With the issue of immigration still a huge problem with many Filipino-Americans, it really has become a real life villain for many. Yellow Rose comes in as an interesting tale revolving around immigration and country music.

Written and directed by Diane Paragas, the movie premiered in the LAAPFF in 2019 and was supposed to be released commercially however was delayed due to the pandemic. However through partnership with KTX and Cinexpress, it will now be available for streaming in the country.

The movie stars Eva Noblezada as Rose Garcia, Lea Salonga as Gail Garcia, Dale Watson as himself, Princess Punzalan as Priscilla Garcia, Gustavo Gomez as Jose, Libby Villari as Jolene, Liam Booth as Elliot Blatnik. 

The film features great songs, especially country music as it also features a real-life country singer Dale Watson. I particularly liked the song “Square Peg” which made me like country music again. It’s also a great choice to cast Eva Noblezada who received a 2017 Tony Award nomination for Miss Saigon. 

Filipinos and country music don’t usually mix, but this was a great gamble to bring us an emotional, and relatable story of Rose who went through a lot. Eva Noblezada delivers an astounding performance along with Filipino actresses Princess Punzalan and Lea Salonga. The unique elements does bring spice to plot that also shows the current struggle of undocumented non-citizens.

YELLOW ROSE will be available for streaming in the Philippines on January 29 via KTX.ph, iWant TFC, Sky Cable pay-per-view and Cignal Pay-per-view for only PHp150.00 per ticket. You can also check out their social media pages and also interact with the hashtag #YellowRose film.