This modern day fairy tale stars Ioan Gruffudd and Toni Collette as Alec and Zooey Morrison, a couple who are struggling to conceive and who are finding that it is causing problems in their marriage. After they talk about fostering a child, a seven year old boy named Eli turns up on their doorstep, saying that the foster agency has sent him. As he becomes a part of their family, he brings happiness back into their lives, but Eli has one final surprise for them.
This is a really lovely gem of a movie – it has no explosions, no special effects, just solid performances throughout, and lots of emotion (honestly it had me in tears a few times). Gruffudd and Collette were terrific as a couple going through a very hard time – their pain was almost palpable. There was a twist at the end which I feel obliged not to give away, but suffice to say that while I don’t always enjoy such twists, it fitted perfectly here.
In addition to the three leads (Maurice Cole is adorable in his debut role as Eli), there is great support from Richard E. Grant, as a mysterious man who seems to know all about the Morrisons, and Anne Reid and Hayley Mills as Zooey’s mother and the foster home manager respectively.
This seems to be a little known film, but if you get the chance to watch it, I would definitely recommend that you do! Not only is it very moving, but at the end, I had a big smile on my face.
Year of release: 2011
Director: Jonathan Newman
Producers: Hale Coughlin, David Mutch, Alice Dawson, Deepak Nayar
Writer: Jonathan Newman
Main cast: Ioan Gruffudd, Toni Collette, Maurice Cole, Richard E. Grant
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