TV Guide cover for ‘Heaven Down Here’
Krystal Joy Brown, Tina Lifford, Juan Riedinger, Richard Harmon and Phylicia Rashad star in Hallmark Movies & Mysteries’ holiday movie “Heaven Down Here,” airing on December 14 at 7 p.m.
This film, inspired by Black country singer Mickey Guyton’s song of the same name, presents a true testament to the meaning of Christmas.
It tells the story of four disparate people who find themselves stranded in a local diner on Christmas Eve when a snowstorm hits the town. Imani (Brown) is a widowed mother of two who is having trouble making ends meet and reluctantly agrees to work the Christmas Eve shift, where she clashes with her boss Dan (Harmon), who doesn’t exactly embody the Christmas spirit.
Felix (Riedinger) is a local pastor desperately trying to secure food for parishioners while his faith is challenged by his alienation by his son. Clara (Lifford) is a hospice nurse with an obstinate patient named Nancy (Rashad), whose daughter is moving away, causing her to question her place in this world.
Throughout the evening, these four bicker, bond and unwittingly provide each other with the answer to their respective prayers.
This is a good holiday film in the vast pot of holiday films that we are deluged with every year.
Nancy is a bitter, insolent, acerbic woman of means who is battling a terminal illness. I am sure this illness is the source of her attitude. Clara tries hard to soften her a bit, and is pleasantly surprised when Nancy gives her a generous Christmas gift.
Clara is hard pressed to get a time-honored Black Forest cake for her and her daughter’s holiday meal. She finds herself stuck walking in a snowstorm and trapped, so to speak, in the local diner with others.
Clara is also a busybody, and Imani is irritated because she has been called into her waitress job—even though it’s the first Christmas Eve for her two young children without their father.
Felix is trying to get charity meals for his church’s holiday food giveaway. However, he has personal issues of his own.
The diner’s young owner is an aloof type, who is lamenting what he feels is a failure of his own.
But through it all—and many bumps, a power failure, blocked roads and a terrible snowstorm in their little town—Christmas is saved, with a very special event for Imani and her children and Nancy.
I enjoyed this film, because it wasn’t the often usual formula of a couple on the brinks, or a new couple finding new love at Christmas.
It provides themes of forgiveness, family bonding and the spirit of the holiday—giving. Look for it on your Hallmark channel premiering on December 14 at 7 p.m. Chicago time.
