Welcome back my beloveds! I’ve missed you! How was your summer? I’m not sure my mini-sabbatical achieved anything more than a little break in scheduling. Not much has changed. Creatively speaking and blog mind-ed anyway. Nonetheless — here we are — musing with you again! And what better way to start than a little movie review?!

It almost didn’t happen. Due to some “technical errors” (okay it was me, I was the technical error) I missed my chance to premier the new collaboration of the Kendrick brothers (Facing the Giants, Overcomer) and Kirk Cameron (Fireproof) CURRENTLY IN THEATRES. But… thanks to my friends at GrafMartin and their promotion team, the crew and I squeezed it in. Chips and Salsa included.

Celebrating life and adoption, David (the main character) gets tossed into the thick of it when his birth mother reaches out to find him after his eighteenth birthday. It’s a story of reconciliation, connection and family. It tackles some tough topics and makes some hard, faith-based lines when it comes to abortion and choosing life. Consequently, it put the Kendrick brothers in a little hot water when it came to Hollywood. Unapologetically, the true-life story celebrates the joy of adoption and the potential for family joy, so the brothers pushed forward and it has arrived in theatres in both the US and in select theatres in Canada. Rather than pushing the grusome details of abortion clinics, the wholesome film focuses on the potential for celebrating life. It’s a chance for us to stand up and support faith based movie makers and their projects (go see it in theatres, people!). All the while filmed by David’s best friend: “for the documentary”. Key the socials and all that bloggers hold dear.

Personally, the movie pulled all my mom heart strings. I sympathized with both the birth mom, and the adoptive mom. I’ve felt both helpless loss and sat in that chair as they present you with “options”. Thanks to the grace of God, I’ve also experienced all the joy a new life brings. In one sense, the movie glossed over a lot of those crazy mixed emotions… but you can’t capture that it a few hours.

My kids were convinced that the film makers had a hidden agenda in the actor’s choice of clothing colours. Why was there always a yellow and blue complimentary colour in every scene? I think they’ve been in media class too long. Maybe Rebecca Rogers Nelson just happens to look good in yellow. They did pick some great actors, though. The resemblance to the real life families are remarkable. And Nate was just super cute as David’s sidekick and amateur film maker. I wanna see the original “documentary” that led to the full length movie. His high school humour broke up the intensity of the emotional rollercoaster that makes LIFEMARK a classic Kendricks brother movie.

So there you have it. Today marks the beginning of another round of mittonmusings. And LIFEMARK pegs the date David’s birthmom made a difficult decision and chose life. Check out #LIFEMARKmovie or @FaithFilmsCA for more or better yet, go see it in theatres… it’s playing now!