A Second Chance at Christmas

A nice short film, charming for simplicity, unrealistic for turn of behavior of lady in red but sweet for few pieces - the great-grandmother picture, the performance of John Reily interpreter, the comfortable end and the portrait of many from us in the behavior of lady in red from the first part of film. A Christmas film absolutely nice.

A hearty dish of Holiday joy from Seraph Films and Director Gene Blalock. I am fast becoming a fan of this production company and its servings of strong, intelligent and professional approach to film making.

This is the second film I have discovered from Seraph films. Like the first, I enjoyed it very much but rated it a bit lower than the 7 I gave The House. Though the process of making the film shines, there are areas of it that kept pulling me away from the story and for that I gave an honest reflection when I chose the rating.

The good. The almost flawless directing of Mr. Blalock. His vision is so well played out from the direction given to the actors to the use of lighting and scenery to bring out the story within his minds eye. I really enjoy his work and his dedication shows.

And more good. The acting. Fantastic job done by this cast. Though some a little over the top I felt the cast as a whole made each believable and watchable.

Now the final good. The story itself. Well written and just the right flavors to pull at your heart and leave you with that warm tingle and maybe even a tear in your eye. A film being able to pull that from a viewer is a testament to the overall cast, crew and use of the genre of holiday films.

Now for the bad. As many know, I am a professional actor that has dedicated the majority of my career to the realistic portrayal of homeless men. I must say that Greg Jackson pulled off a very believable character and I have no issues with his performance. My contention is the level of realistic overall look of the character itself. I started portraying homeless men for a number of reasons but the main reason was that Hollywood seems to have a blind eye on what a true homeless man would look like. This causes a MAJOR issue to the viewer when watching the film. A homeless man should appear…homeless. If the viewer even notices one small detail that is not indicative of homeless then their attention is snapped away and for a split second they are pulled away from the story. They may not even consciously know that they noticed something but their minds interpretation of the character before them somehow no longer fits the mold of being…homeless.

Let me point out the examples. With the many years spent with the homeless I have seen very few that have a precision cut mustache revealing their upper lip. Mr Jackson looked as if he just walked out of the barber shop having a perfectly coiffed beard. the second item would be the fingernails. Dirt gets encased in them so much that it forms a permanent stain. His nails were very clean. No hint of homeless in them, maybe even recently manicured… Small details, I think not. Details like this strike the viewers senses and they fall away from the story just a sleight bit. His clothes also were a bit too clean to have so many holes and duct tape on them. I might also add his knee in the pants were torn but he knee itself pristine as if just coming from the shower.

OK, am I being to critical. Yes, possibly so. However it really is vitally important that small details not affect the viewer. I started my niche to correct this in Hollywood and have done well. I applaud Mt Jackson for his work as a homeless man. I applaud the story and its message.

I really liked the film and cant wait to see more from Seraph films.

www.IMDb.me/IamHollywoodHomeless