Coming Up Roses

I ran across this film at a video store in Portland, Oregon in 1988 or '89. I'm passably familiar with Welsh, but I learned from a northerner and the southern (I assume) accents made it tricky for me to follow without the subtitles.

A depressed mining town seems like a strange setting for a comedy, and there's a strong strain of melancholy through the visuals, the music and the overall air of the cast. The actual storyline in which a projectionist and an ice-cream girl (American that I am, I'd never heard of ice cream in a theater) try to save their jobs is fairly clichéd, although the repeated setbacks aren't as predictable as they might have been. But the real joy is watching the two as they turn each other's lives around.

Trefor (Dafydd Hywel) has two boys who live with his ex-wife and her new husband. The pair are broker than he is and continually need money, which he always produces no matter the toll it takes on him. Mona (Iola Gregory) takes care of her irresponsible daughter's baby girl while Mama is out presumably entertaining herself. The low-key romance that develops between these two good-hearted, taken-advantage-of veterans of life is what really makes this film worth watching.

I watched this movie as it was made in my town where I grew up. My friend Debbie is not accredited to the movie, but plays a very small part in it. I was quite surprised to see that it was quite good. I now live in the US, but the Rex cinema was a place I had many a movie night with my mom, and dates while in my teens. I would recommend seeing it as it shows what a small town has to deal with when trying to accomplish something. This is no way a spoiler for the movie, but there was a challenge, and it was met in a very strange way. Enjoy! The store that is involved in the movie was one I shopped at, and worked at for a short time after leaving school. I hope the shop it is still in my town and growing strong. I wish I hadn't have read that the Rex cinema had been demolished, but I guess it wasn't making money any longer and needed to be taken down.

I saw this film in Paris, on a wet day when I'd seen almost every other film. The local listings guide described it as an English film, it is, however, a Welsh film. Not just a Welsh film, but a Welsh film in Welsh. When I realized I would be watching a film in Welsh with French sub-titles I nearly walked out. Luckily I didn't. It is a completely charming tale of a projectionist and an usherette's scheme to save a local cinema. A great little film.

I saw "Coming Up Roses" theatrically in 1990 at a nearby arts/revival house, with accompanying discussion, among a large group of appreciative other patrons. Today it's rather hard to locate, but I recommend tenacity in your search, as this film is reminiscent of the great Ealing and Frank Capra "community-pulling-together" comedy/dramas.

The concept here is one that holds special identification to those of us who frequent this film database ... a failing old movie theatre, and the efforts to breathe new life into it. Who among us has not felt a special sadness at seeing a once-grand but now-shuttered and darkened film palace? The proceedings here aren't as dreary, but are done with wit and style, and it's a memorable production that you'll like and remember.

On the evening I saw this, the discussion moderator announced that the real-life cinema used in "Coming Up Roses" was indeed up for a community-based restoration project, which I later heard had subsequently failed.