2012, Rachel Lee Goldenberg (Z Nation) -- Amazon
HERstory: Definitely more His Story. Voiceover. Sam Reid back to his PST on Xmas Eve, the first time in five years. Sam's voice introduces EB, the owner of the house and a queen of Xmas, and then he bumps into Kat, who is holding a tree, and immediately caught up in the swirl of a house under the Xmas influence. He has plans, a ring in his pocket, but they are being disrupted. The ring box falls out.
Cut back to 1984, and we are filling in the details between Sam and Kat. Kat's mom has passed recently, and both their dads have started a furniture making business together. Their first product is a small table, the kid's table for the Xmas Dinner at EB's.
I admit, in my Asylum shock haze, I was confused here. Why is Xmas at EB's house? What is her relationship to the others? She's NOT Kat's mom? Why are we doing flashbacks? Wait, is that dialogue actually cute? What's going on here?!?!
The movie then flows through the year by year Xmas Dinner at EB's, year by year as Kat & Sam, always relegated to the Kid's Table, grow up as friends & neighbours, They move from kids to awkward adolescents, sometimes liking each other, sometimes not, but you can see the emotional connection between the two.
As they grow, the fail to connect romantically, despite the two seeking to do so, albeit separately. Instead, being friends, they set each other up, or against each other. Feelings are hurt, and never acknowledged. And in their late teens, Sam is encouraged by his dad to pursue something outside complacency, and moves away for college and then eventually a job. From then, the relationship between Kat and Sam is about once a year meets. But that tension, where he has left, and she never has is always present.
The sequences are actually, surprisingly, quite charming. Its Asylum so many are ... stilted, but as someone who grew up on the pre-Hallmark Canadian TV Xmas specials, this was pretty much the par. And there are quite a few, even more surprisingly, extremely touching scenes, though often marred by the lack of skill the whole production displays. For example, there is a moment where Sam interrupts some awkwardness by dragging Kat into a dance they must be known for, as it is far too choreographed, and it lands as a sweet, everyone dancing on the snowy front lawn scene, but is never explained. Great scene, no continuity.
Eventually we catch up to the beginning of the movie. Sam's five year absence is explained by a blow-up between the two where they both had had enough with their own unstated love. Sam wanted to pursue it, Kat had the opposite plans and they both yell regrettable things. When Sam returns these many years later, he has not just shown up with a ring but also has become quite the artist & architect in cardboard, setting a scene up a Grand Romantic Gesture for him to propose to Kat. Sure, they have never actually ever been a couple, so naturally they should be married. Grand Romantic Gestures! BUT that is interrupted by Kat with own GRG, but for her dad and EB. Kat's mom died all those years ago, and since then EB has played the part of her distant mom, and Kat's dad really has loved the woman all these years, while never stating it. Kat pushes them together. Its sweet. But Sam misinterprets Kat having her own ring to give to someone and.... GRG ruined.
But it isn't. And they push through it. Kat finds Sam's GRG setting, Sam realizes he cannot help but commit and chases off after her. And they connect, and they kiss, and hopefully they will live Happily Ever After in the non-cardboard house he has bought for the two of them. He will be a blogger and she can build furniture.
The Formulae: Not. At. All. Now, as our Hallmarkies are Xmas Movies, a large number of the tropes are Xmas, so they are also present in generic Xmas movies, which is the genre this fits into. Also, Hallmarkies are romantic movies, so a large number of the tropes are romance, so they are also present in this movie. But none are presented in the stereotypical Hallmarkie fashion.
Unformulae: The Entire Movie.
True Calling? I would have liked it better if it was called Love at the Kid's Table but I guess they had to keep the connection to this happening only at Xmas. But yeah, a bunch of the movie happens at, and under, this table even long after Sam and Kat would have graduated to the Adult Table.
The Rewind: Was there one? Maybe a couple of times to pause & rewind to hear the nerdy reference being used again.
The Regulars: Danica is, but that's pretty much it.
How does it Hallmark? It doesn't actually.
How does it movie? This is one of the few times where I think I might say it "movies" quite well. Well, not quite well enough to ever consider watching it again, actively, but should it appear on the TV in the background, while I am washing dishes, I would probably get caught watching some of the key scenes again.
How Does It Snow? A mix of real snow and fake fake fake snow.
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