Tonight's Movie: Harvest Love (2017)

Time for another movie from Hallmark!

I still have (many!) Hallmark Christmas films in my "watch" stack, but this time around I watched one of the network's "Fall Harvest" films from a few years ago, HARVEST LOVE (2017).

Jen Lilley (USS CHRISTMAS) stars as Dr. Luna Gilson, a young general surgeon at a Seattle hospital.

The widowed Luna realizes that her work load has resulted in her becoming too distanced from her eight-year-old son, Andy (Brenden Sunderland). She impulsively uses vacation time to spend Andy's fall school break at her family's pear farm.

Luna's parents (Lini Evans and Barry Levy) have been working out of the country, so the family farmhouse is sitting empty, while the farm is managed by Will Nash (Ryan Paevey).  

Luna enjoys reconnecting with both her childhood love of the area and with Andy, who quickly takes to the farm and the small-town lifestyle. And although Luna and Will's relationship initially gets off to an awkward start, they seem to be developing a special connection as well...

This was a pleasant 84-minute family drama featuring leads with good chemistry; they have an easy rapport as they get to know one another. Will's family lost their farm in the recession; between his farm loss and her early widowhood, Will and Luna have weathered traumatic incidents, but they have similar attitudes toward life, trying to rebuild positively.

Paevey is charming as the farmer with a secret project, working on growing a new hybrid fruit, and I really like Lilley; she's convincing as a woman comfortable with competition, whether it's putting her surgical skills to work carving a pumpkin or joining in a parent-child baseball game. (Luna's competitive spirit gets the better of her when she first meets Will and they have a disagreement about who should be first to cross a one-lane bridge.) My only criticism is I think Lilley giggled a bit too much in this, but that's something I can live with.

HARVEST LOVE was directed by Christie Will Wolf. It was filmed by William McKnight. As with many of the Hallmark films, Canada, in this case specifically Vancouver, stands in for the U.S.

HARVEST LOVE is available on DVD. (Update: This film will also be out on a two-movie DVD with the 2020 film JUST MY TYPE, starring Bethany Joy Lenz and Brett Dalton, in September 2021.)

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