The Christmas Bow

This is now my 8th Hallmark Christmas movie of the 2020 season. Overall, it is somewhere near the middle of the list thus far. That is, it was a pretty good Hallmark movie. The movie started strong; I enjoyed the first 5 minutes (the younger version of the leads); it was quite cute. Michael Rady is one of my favourite Hallmark leads; he does a great job in such roles. Again, here, he had a strong performance. Lucia Micarelli, on the other hand, had a mixed performance, at least that is what I thought. She had some real weak acting early on in the movie. To be fair, she did have some good moments and her chemistry with Michael was decent. But, overall, regarding her acting, I was not that impressed. Her musical performances, however, were excellent; I enjoyed this element of the film. The supporting cast was, for the most part, strong, though I wasn't a fan of Kate's parent early on. I did enjoy the grandfather and doctor (he was funny). The set and scenery were very polished (i.e., looked good), very festive - I liked the shop, for example. As usual, this Hallmark film was quite festive and provided a nice Christmas atmosphere. It is worth a watch this 2020 Christmas season, especially for fans of Hallmark.

If you suffer from insomnia, watching this movie might possibly be the cure. It's very quiet and slow moving. Music was nice.

This movie will probably be in my top 5 of the year. Lucia is so talented and it was a great idea to pair her with Michael. I was laughing, crying, and cheering them on the whole time. Amazing job, Hallmark.

While this is not one of my favorites, and I wouldn't watch it again, this is one of the better effort o the year for Hallmark. The characters were complex and the script was well done. I kept wondering if she was suppose to be adopted since she didn't look remotely to be the same ethnicity as her parents/grandparent. Hallmark has a ways to go on their inevitability for this sort of thing.

With a lot of time at home during the 2020 holiday season, my wife and I have watched nearly all of this year's Hallmark Christmas movies. In our experience, the ones that involve music can be cringe-inducing, so we were tempted to skip this one.

"The Christmas Bow" ended up being a terrific surprise, thanks mostly to Lucia Micarelli, whose considerable, multifaceted talents are on full display. Her character is given a believable backstory, and she plays her with quiet reserve and empathy. The director gives her some great moments to display her musical talent, and wisely frames the shots to show us that yes, she really is playing that amazing music!

All of the main cast is great in this, playing relatable characters whose motivations make sense. One scene in particular, with the main character's grandmother suffering from dementia, stands out for its sensitivity. It's a scene that ties the plot together and gives it much more weight than the usual Hallmark fare.

With this one, you can just tell that the creative team cared about the story. It almost feels like they wanted to give Lucia Micarelli a film worthy of her talent.