L'armonia del Natale

The Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel offers a different kind of movie that the other channel, including, maybe especially Christmas movies.

There are a lot of levels in this movie. Like Two Turtle Doves, there is a lot in here about loss.

This movies adds to the little girl's loss the element of being different. Yes it chooses to use the race issue for that complexity. Unfortunately, right now in this country, a certain approach to racial issues is highly controversial. Two sides of that issue are deeply divided, and extremely emotional. As a result, when a movie like this comes along, some people will choose to totally reject it, without giving it a chance, without listening to the messages contained in it. Isn't doing that just proving the bigotry some people are accused of? Don't judge this movie as a (sneaky) tool of the opposition. Judge this movie on how well it's presented, and on whether it contains any truth, regardless of how that truth may challenge beliefs. This country should be about open discussion of values and beliefs, not censorship. Rejecting a movie without truly listening to the message is as bad as censorship.

I want to see more movies that freely and honestly discuss problems that real people face. This movie does that. First it discusses loss and on top of that it adds being different. No matter what our origins, don't we all deal with those things in one way or another?

I happen to think this movie did it all pretty well and I think it does it while evoking some positive feelings.

The conflict leading into the climax started to tick me off because I thought it was going to be the same cliché done in so many other Christmas movies. I was pleased to see that there was just enough of a twist to turn it into a very nice ending.

Sean's daughter, Katie, has a concert at school, so they hire Beth, a violinist to help her practice for 3 weeks.

At first, I didn't realise this was a HM&M movie, so I was confused about what was going on. You know how their movies tend to be a little more complex. This is no exception. They deal with grief, and something that really surprised me, racial identity. Music is, of course, the main thing going on. And I discovered that Hallmark movies that base their plot around music are not my thing.

In my opinion, it was okay. At the beginning, there is no much going on, and it can be quite boring. The exciting things happen at the end. At the beginning they deal with the topics I mentioned before. I was more interested in the secondary relationships (Beth and Katie, Sean and Katie, Sean and his mother in law, Katie and her grandma) that in the main one. I want to point out one particular scene at the beginning with Katie and her grandma, that just filled my heart with love.

I would love to see Heather in a more cheerful character. But good performances by the whole cast. I do not think there is chemistry between the leads, which is a bummer because I love Luke.

Anyway, not a fave, but it touches very important themes.

I always enjoy it when Hallmark holiday movies include musicians and music. This one stars a country music star (Macfarlane) and classical violinist (Hemmens). There are a few musical numbers, which were terrific. I could have listened to a lot more of that.

Macfarlane also has a daughter he's raising alone, which introduces a nice family vibe to the romance. Grief is a theme as both the country music star and the violinist recently lost someone important. Both main characters are in multi-racial families, and the script actually brought up issues of racial identity (in a very light way) which I appreciated.

A really solid Hallmark movie worth keeping.

One con - Luke Macfarlane has a scene where he sings--there's a reason why he's an actor not a singer. But points to him for putting his heart into it.

The leads were fine, but dudemans solo at her house was cringe. Movie was okay, but some things were overkill. I'd still recommend it overall. Hallmark knows how to get it done 8/10 times.

Much deeper story than the typical Hallmark fare. I thought the race issues it tackled were done incredibly well and aided the connection between the characters. I appreciated that it was Luke voice and I had no issues with his singing. Lovely story and romance. My only issue at all was with the editing. Note to Hallmark or Dish - the cuts to commercial were the most awkward ever and really distracted from this wonderful movie.