Australian Tom (Daniel Lissing) moves to a small town in the US with his daughter Grace (Ellie Stewart) after the death of his wife. As Grace gets used to her surroundings, she finds a time capsule buried in the backyard and sets out to find out who the owner is. One of the items inside leads her to a local bakery run by Elizabeth (Jillian Murray) and her mother April (). While Grace tries to find the time capsule owner, Tom gets to know Elizabeth and realises that there may be love on the horizon for him.
‘Christmas Keepsake’ is among the slate of Christmas movies coming to Great American Family this November. These kinds of movies are designed to play on holiday themes with a romance at the centre. They’re never likely to be showered in awards but there is a large audience that enjoys these kinds of comforting movies. ‘Christmas Keepsake’ tells the familiar story of a stranger coming to town and falling in love with both the town and one of its inhabitants. In this case it’s Tom, who is raising his daughter Grace alone following the death of his wife. Having moved from the warmth of Sydney to the snowy small town of Ashbury Grove in America, Tom and Grace don’t know anyone but when Elizabeth and her mother April show them kindness, they start to integrate themselves into the community.
Like Tom, Elizabeth isn’t a completely uncomplicated character. She has hang-ups about the holidays and she hasn’t found the right person that she wants to build a life with. April sees the arrival of Tom as an opportunity for her daughter to find happiness and can’t help but meddle by orchestrating situations to bring the two together. Of course, Tom and Elizabeth deny that anything could ever happen between them but you know that they’re on a way-one road to true love (this is a Christmas movie after all!) via Christmas Tree shopping and baking pies.
As always with this kind of movie, the whole things really hangs on the chemistry of the two leads. You have to believe that Tom and Elizabeth could really fall for one another, and thankfully the chemistry is there between Lissing and Murray. Lissing is convincing as a father who wants to do the best for his daughter and is determined to give her the best Christmas she’s ever had, while Murray is suitably sweet as the understanding and empathetic Elizabeth. The relationship between Tom and Elizabeth grows steadily over the course of the film, and they are quite lovely together.
‘Christmas Keepsake’ is a sweet movie that has a good heart and does everything it promises to. While it may not be breaking any new ground, it does a good job of exploring festive themes and the chemistry between the two leads is believable. This is the kind of movie that you can snuggle up on the sofa to watch, while sipping your mulled wine and enjoying some gingerbread. What more could you really ask for during the festive season?
Cast: Daniel Lissing, Jillian Murray, Ellie Stewart Director: Colin Budds Writers: Deanna Anderson (Story), Courtney McAllister (screenplay) Certificate: Unrated Duration: 85 mins Released by: Great American Family Release date: 11th November 2023
Find out more about ‘Christmas Keepsake’ at https://www.greatamericanfamily.com/movie/christmas-keepsake/.
