POZitive Attitudes

If someone ever decides to make a biopic about Chrissie Hynde (and by God, they should), we now have the perfect actress to play her: Jessie Buckley. The resemblance is remarkable (the sharp nose and distinctive slanted-tooth smile, the surly sparkle), and Buckley has a set of pipes that can sing just about anything. She’s also a tremendous actress, and maybe a born star. In “Wild Rose,” she plays Rose-Lynn, a brazen young ne’er-do-well from Glasgow who is fixated on going to Nashville to become a country singer.

When she gets up on stage at a local pub and lets loose, time melts away (we’re in the zone of incandescent tradition that is country), and so does every trace of her Scottishness. She becomes country, and her gift is transporting. Yet Rose-Lynn is also a spectacular screw-up. “Wild Rose,” the closest thing to a sleeper I’ve seen at Toronto this year, is a happy-sad drama of starstruck fever that lifts you up and sweeps you along, touching you down in a puddle of well-earned tears.