Friends, occasionally a duck sees a movie that makes him quacker-cry so much that he needs to buy a new beak. One Summer is such a film. (New beak works perfectly, thanks.) The movie is about a family mourning the sudden loss of a beloved mother and wife, even though it was actually Dad (Jack, played by Sam Page) who they thought was going to die. How to move on and create a new life after after all this loss? In this storyline, by going to the old town where Mom grew up, and renovating the lighthouse she adored.
Sam Page’s performance as Jack is super-ducking powerful, especially as he tries to commit to being a good parent when he’s actually falling to pieces due to grief. His relationship with his now-deceased wife Lizzie (Amanda Schull) is goose-poppingly moving. But what really struck my plush heart was Madeline Popovich’s performace as Jack’s teenage daughter Mikki Armstrong. Mikki goes from rage to devastation to vulnerable bravery throughout the course of the movie, while falling for her love interest, local boy Liam (Bryant Prince). It’s Liam who helps her foster her talent for musical expression—which in turn helps her to start healing. In fact, Mikki’s on-stage performance of her own song is so courageous and true it made Star cry. And yes, it got my own beak-holes a bit soggy too.
Also, throughout the lighthouse renovation, this duck did not once predict the movie’s emotionally resonant, pond-worthy climax, which, also thanks to love interest Sarah (Jenna Fontaine) comes together with seeming effortlessness. “That climax is ducking beautiful and ducking unexpected,” I quacked, “yet now I look back, how could this movie have come together in any other way?”
Was there anything that rotted my pondweed sandwich? Well, there’s not a tremendously diverse cast. But that said, dealing with grief in the romance genres can be terrifically challenging, especially when it comes to keeping the emotions as authentic as they are in One Summer. And when love and grief come together with such power, it makes a movie plush-ticklingly memorable. Bravo, Hallmark! One Summer does it all.
Watch the movie here:
Amazon Prime (also available via Hallmark Movies Now)
Featured image courtesy of Hallmark and Star Tavares
Romancey Pants 
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