We all have dreams – big and small ones. The Snow Must Go On, starring Corey Cott and Heather Hemmens wasn’t what I thought it would be, but it was so much more than that. Then again, I am a sucker for a movie that guides children into believing in themselves and the things that they can accomplish. But I am also a sucker for a movie that allows adults to grow along the way.
And trust me, adults always have a lot of growing to do.
It’s always around Christmas time when people feel the spirit of magic – that traditions can grow and life can change. You may think that you know what to expect out of life, but it’s the things that you least expect that mean the most. Those are the things that change you.
Isaiah Heyward was once a Broadway star and hasn’t gotten a part in a decade. He wrote and starred in a play about a reindeer in order to try to revive his career, but somehow that made it worse. He can’t see to catch a break.
That makes him go home for the holidays – which I think is a good thing. He hasn’t been home in years and maybe that will reset him. Then again, maybe it is exactly what he needs. Sometimes it is family and their neurotic ways that make a person remember who they are. Also, heading home you’re reminded of the things you may have missed out on.
His sister had started a whole business he didn’t know of. His niece is in the school recital. Isaiah being home is a gift, but he needs to realize that him being home is a gift to himself also.
The biggest gift I think you can give is your time – it’s the one thing that is fleeting in the world. Isaiah starts to realize that and see that he needs to be present. That his family needs him and he needs his family. It’s the subtle shifts in his attitude and his respones that make you start to realize that he’s changing and that is a beautiful thing.
Volunteering to go pick up his niece will be the start of the one thing that changes him. Roped into directing their school musical – Isaiah meets guidance counselor Lily-Anne (Heather Hemmens). She’s hesitant to accept that he’ll follow through with his commitment to the kids.
No one can blame her for that.
Isaiah surprises me, but also makes me want to hop through the screen and tell him to get himself together. He’s willing to give the bare minimum to help the kids and doesn’t change his outlook on things until he realizes that one of the kids is the daughter of a famous Broadway producer. At that point his motives change.
The thing that Hallmark does so well is the dilemmas that they give their characters. Isaiah decides that he is going to cast himself as the lead – even telling his niece about it – so that he can sing in front of one of the biggest Broadway producers around. He doesn’t see the long term implications of his choice.
To complicate matters, the school guidance counselor, Lily-Anne is supposed to be assisting on the recital, and she’s helping but they are both falling for each other. Emotions are running high and they are feeling them deep. So much so that she puts him up for a teaching position at the high school, and he’s not sure that’s what he wants.
My favorite scene in this movie is when Isaiah and Lily-Anne connect on stage – dancing. She takes control of how she feels and doesn’t let anyone stand in her way. The concern on his face though, because he is keeping a big secret from her – breaks me a little. I think that Hemmens and Cott do a wonderful job of the angst of their relationship, but also their fear of it too.
Though “upstate” and the city aren’t exactly that far apart (seriously, sometimes the train to Brooklyn has been as long as going upstate), but I do get her want to have him around all the time. I feel like there should have just been a conversation first.
That assumption she made can make everything go really wrong.
But with these two – it doesn’t. It doesn’t go wrong until she overhears him on the phone and realizes that he used this whole thing to get himself an audition. His intentions may have become pure, but they weren’t always that way. She tells him to tell the kids or she will.
I have to admit that I really was thrilled that he told them. Telling the kids may have been hard, but I do believe that they deserved the honesty. Yes, they’d done a wonderful job on the recital, but their commitment was unparalleled. They deserved to know that they mattered, even if they didn’t believe it about themselves.
These kids’ perseverance is unmatched. They are willing to do everything in their power to make it great. I do believe that noticing the kids needs and making sure to give them the respect that they deserve is something that made this movie uniquely special. Not only did I find myself following a love story of the relationship kind, but also a story of kids learning to love themselves. Not to mention believing in ones self.
Isaiah may get his audition for Broadway, but it’s his soul that makes him unable to perform at that audition. He knows that where he should be is with the kids and watching them perform. The great part is that he talks the Broadway producer into returning to watch the show with him.
And what a show it ends up being.
The Snow Must Go On, is about never giving up and believing in yourself. It’s a story about how the somedays may never come so you need to invest in yourself and make it someday now.
The Snow Must Go On is a solid Hallmark move that will bring you Christmas joy and a belief that there is a lot more good in the world than you can see. Especially around the holidays.
