Hollis Woods has been in so many foster homes she can hardly remember them all. She even runs away from the Regans, the one family who offers her a home. When Hollis is sent to Josie, an elderly artist who is quirky and affectionate, she wants to stay. But Josie is growing more forgetful every day. If Social Services finds out, they'll take Hollis away and move Josie into a home. Well, Hollis Woods won't let anyone separate them. She's escaped the system before; this time, she plans to take Josie with her.
Yet behind all her plans, Hollis longs for her life with the Regans, fixing each moment of her time with them in pictures she'll never forget. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 1/19/2021
Plot summary
After running away from her last foster placement with the Regan family, twelve year old Hollis Woods is placed with a new foster mother, the loving, retired art teacher, Josie Cahill. Hollis is a talented artist and her life stories unfold through her pictures. One revealing picture is the "W" picture Hollis drew for a first grade class assignment on the letter "w". Hollis drew her Wish, her Want. She drew a picture of a family. Hollis had that family in the Regan's, but fear of attachment and motional turmoil caused her to run away. As Josie's forgetfulness grows worse, Hollis is forced into the role of caretaker. Through her artwork and her care of Josie, Hollis Woods finds her family. Based on the Newberry Honor award winning book with the same name.
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Great cast great movie
Was a great show
I had not planned on watching the movie because I work early in the morning. The show was so good I stayed up till 11:00pm. I wished I had taped it for my husband, who had been unable to watch. It was a wonderful show and I hope they make it available on DVD so I can watch it again and again.
The fact that the show was spell binding and contained mystery as well as suspense without sex, violence, smoking, drinking or bad language follows along with the quality of shows presented by Hallmark and proves they are not necessary to make a show worth watching.
Jodelle Ferland proved to be a very convincing actress. Sissy Spacek was as usual absolutely wonderful. I love all of her movies. I do not want to say anything that would give the show away, but it warmed the heart and made you feel that good things do happen.
Another Hallmark Classic
I have been watching Hallmark Hall of Fame productions for a long time - the first one I remember was George C Scott and Colleen Dewhurst in Arthur Miller's The Price from 1971. Never having read the book Pictures of Holliss Woods is based on but knowing how these productions usually end, I fully expected to withstand the pulls on my emotions. But like always with Hallmark, I failed.
Jodelle Ferland plays Hollis Woods, so named for the intersection of streets where she was abandoned as a baby. Growing up in the foster system and being shuttled from family to family, she has built an emotional wall with no gates to deal with the inevitable rejection she knows is coming down the road.
Hollis gets placed with an old eccentric artist and sculptor after her last placement with the Regans had failed. The story of that failure is told in intermittent flashbacks of spending the summer at a remote cabin the Regan's go to every summer with their teenage son Steven.
Josie (Sissy Spacek) plays the eccentric Hollis is placed with after the Regans. From the beginning it's obvious Josie has memory lapses and the specter of Alzheimer's disease will be a part of the plot. Long before anyone should have to, Holliss is going to have to make decisions about her future and the care of Josie.
James Tupper and Julie Ann Emery do a great job of playing the Regan's. You get the feeling they are real parents that are just what Holliss needs and not the cartoon caricatures most movie married couples are portrayed as. Ridge Canipe as their son Steven is not so convincing - I always got the feeling he was acting like a teenager instead of being one.
Alfre Woodard does a good job as Holliss' social worker. You wonder why she got into the business sometimes but it's a tricky line between being too nice and too harsh that any successful social worker has to tread.
There are a few plot holes - you never get an understanding why Holliss has had trouble getting a permanent home. Usually infants are the easiest children to place in adoptions. And the incident that caused Holliss to leave the Regans was seen coming a mile away. But by the end, knowing it's just a story and they are just acting, don't be surprised to have a tear or two along with a smile because that's what Hallmark is great at.