Child of Grace

I was expecting the typical Lifetime flick when I came across this film. Boy was I wrong and quite pleasantly surprised. I actually enjoyed this film more than some of the higher budget, A list star cast films I've seen within the last few months.

It's obvious to me that a great deal of care went into this movie. The screenplay was well done, it was not at all predicable, the movie was well cast, the acting was solid and believable, particularly from the three leading actors, Ted Levine, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, and Tom Hildreth. Even the soundtrack was well chosen, not cheesy or distracting, just an appropriate accompaniment to the drama. The messages of the film are profound, yet subtle and gives you plenty to contemplate long after the movie is over.

It's encouraging to be reminded that quality movies don't have to rely on enormous budgets and a big star line up to be successful.

Well done.

This movie unfolds very slowly with a bit of confusion in the beginning when the movie goes back and forth between a father and young daughter traveling through California in an RV, to a sheriff in Maine who's trying to unravel an old crime, where new evidence has been discovered. The movie is awkwardly paced and the acting is not the best, but there is beautiful scenery and it kept me interested enough to watch till the end, to see what would transpire and find out what really happened to this family. Each time you think you might have guessed what's going on, there is more to the story. I just wish the pace and acting had been better.

The little girl, played by Maggie Elizabeth Jones was the best of the bunch. The more famous actor Ted Levine (Silence of the Lambs) who plays the sheriff, and Tom Hildreth who plays the father/John, were both annoying in the way they spoke and their mannerisms. There is a very light Christian theme in parts of the movie and it has a touching conclusion, which wraps it all up nicely at the end. A typical Lifetime drama in my humble opinion. 12/2015

I can't remember what brought me to this title. Probably, the "More like I'm addicted to them. I've found so many great movies (and duds as well) that way. Anyway, like other reviewers, I expected a 'Lifetime' style formula movie, but even from the description, I felt there might be something different. I'm so glad I watched it. Right from the beginning, it felt 'off' for the genre. I'm a fan of foreign and indie films that eschew the Hollywood formula and this fits right in there.

SPOILER: Just my imagination working overtime here, probably because I didn't like the ending. I imagine the grandparents and kidnapper/Dad/John end up with a shared custody situation and he is given full custody as the grandparents age and health deteriorates.

This film deserves a lot more publicity and praise than it has. A well paced, perfectly acted film that knows how to build up suspense and emotion, making it well worth your time and money. I wasn't expecting much starting the film, but I must say, this film has passed my small expectations and has crafted a really well-made film. Tom Hildreth, Maggie Elizabeth Jones and Ted Levine have all proved to be really good, underrated actors and I'm glad that they got to star in this film to show people their talent in acting. The acting was so good, that I think I'm going to watch out for the main casts future work.

The direction of this is superb. Ian McCrudden, a director I had never heard of until now, directed this film with talent, knowing what to do with his script and how to keep it stable. The film flows as one should, which is a very big achievement, because a lot of films sometimes lose that sort of smooth flow in films and feel a bit bumpy and jumpy on the way. Mr McCrudden knows how to capture the tone and theme of a film, and that is a very rare gift that cannot be made even by some of the greats, so I applaud him for that, and I cannot wait to watch some of his older work.

Now, these positive things I'm about to say are small things, but they are really important things to contribute to the experience of a film. This film has good sound and good camera quality, making the film feel non-low-budget. A lot of low-budget films have bad sound design and poor camera work, however this film , despite the small budget, triumphs and still succeeds in quality despite not being funded fifty million dollars. In fact, I'd say that the quality of this film's sound design and camera work is on par with modern blockbusters.

The music in this was a bit over-the-top (if you've read my other reviews, you'll know how much I hate this), however it didn't really bother me much in this film because of how well this film was handled. It ruined the experience a bit for sure, but barely, and I am actually a little surprised myself that I didn't despise the over-the-top music as much as I usually would of. So, there's a flaw and a pro.

The reason why I'm afraid I'll have to give this a 7/10 instead of an 8/10 is because of an unfortunate thing called cliché. There was a bit too much of that in this film, and because of those I felt myself occasionally twiddle my fingers in my seat. But otherwise, it's a good film that deserves a lot more publicity, and I give it a 7.2/10.

I acquired this movie because of Maggie Elizabeth Jones being a lead actress as she was in two other movies I loved: We Bought a Zoo and Away and Back. The plot of a young girl with an apparently loving daddy on an endless road trip seeing a missing child poster with what looks like herself, even down to the birthmark, intrigued me. What does a child think when she is abruptly confronted with what appears to be a new reality that her Dad may or may not be her real Dad, but a kidnapper? The script writer should be congratulated and the novelist Chris Fabry, author of June Bug (highly recommended) on which the movie is based should be congratulated for a touching cliffhanger.

The opening credits, as both of her previous movies, was brilliant with lovely views of her and her father sharing adventures in the western USA, but with a barely noticeable foreboding at the same time. From the opening credits onward there is not a moment where I wasn't on the edge of my chair wondering how the whole thing is going to work out.

Its strange that in the past few years girls have been playing different roles in American culture. The victim role is an old cliché by now. For awhile there were two other common roles for girls: horror and fantasy. I never liked the horror any better than the victim. Fantasy? I wish they'd make the Golden Compass series into a TV series. Girl heroes, love it. Lately girls are starring in Christian redemption movies. these can be icky but better than horror or victim, only if it isn't preaching into my face. Child of Grace, in spite of the title, gets by with a minimalist amount of victim-hood, horror and preaching.

Philosophically there are three things I object to. The first is depicting God as forgiving the most atrocious of behavior. I myself am not forgiving. The second is the complete lack of rights of the child to be anything but property by blood and excusing toxic behavior because it is the law. The third is treating men worse than dogs. Child of Grace deals with these issues. How successfully it does is up to the viewer in accordance with their ideology and belief.

An excellent movie. Ten stars.