I'll Be Seeing You

_I'll Be Seeing You_ is a real charmer of a story, from Joey Elkins and Blake Silver, that appeals to a wide variety of viewers. It's got the possible romance between the two younger leads, and a potential one for one of the senior leads. It also has a wonderful friendship between Vivien and Sue, and also gives them a playful relationship with Mark. There is also a rather urgent situation that drives the story forward, but in typical Hallmark fashion, the lead character spends more time meandering around than attending to the urgent matter. Time really is just a suggestion here, but it doesn't seem to be as noticeable in this movie as it has been in others (if the group was leaving from near Seattle to get to Eureka, the trip would take about 11 hours with no stops, and with at least one overnight stay and two hours lost due to the misplaced briefcase, the sense of urgency isn't as pressing as it should be). In reality, the appointment isn't really the important part of the story, it's the journey and what Amy, Mark and Vivien, and to a lesser extent Sue, have to learn along the way. Director Jessica Harmon does a nice job of keeping the story's pace from dragging while giving it no real sense of time. The locations -- apparently all in British Columbia doubling (tripling) for Washington state, Oregon and California -- are lovely and really help sell the illusion that these four are traveling down the West Coast. It all just adds up to a lovely, charming, light-hearted journey of discovery, and it even places less weight on the romance to the point that we aren't even really sure if Mark and Amy are going to forge ahead together but, if not, they will certainly remain good friends. Full review at https://hotchka.com/ill-be-seeing-you-review