To the Moon and Back
A widowed mother and her young daughter receive an unexpected and potentially deadly visit on Christmas Eve when her past comes back to haunt them.
Do you like your Christmas stories to have a little romance in them? How about some thrills? Well, this far-ranging gem has all that and then some, including a little Christmas magic to give you a spiritual pick-me-up to kick off 2021.
We open the story on Christmas Eve in the mean streets of Dublin, Ireland. Or, as we see in the story’s opening on-screen text: “Otherwise known as the arse-end of nowhere”.
It’s here where a single mother named Claire lives in a crumbling inner-city flat with her five-year-old daughter Molly. A sad-looking Christmas tree with no decorations pretty much encapsulates Claire and Molly’s situation. But as a dispirited Claire looks closer, she sees one, single Christmas ornament hanging from the tree, hung there by Molly. Unfortunately, this ornament brings back some painful memories for Claire.
Through flashback, we learn the origins of the Christmas bauble as Claire spends a romantic afternoon picnicking with her former love, Sean six years ago. They talk about their promising future together, running off to Australia and raising a family… once Sean gets enough money together.
SEAN
I got a great job comin’ up, darlin’
and then… everything you ever
dreamed of is yours.
CLAIRE
‘Things’ don’t matter to me, Sean.
SEAN
Can’t live on cuddles alone, love.
Sean gives her the special Christmas bauble with the inscription: “All my love, to the moon and back.”
SEAN
I ask just two things of you, my
love: don’t break my heart, and
promise you won’t die before me.
That haunting request has resonated with Claire all these years – not too long after that afternoon, Sean was shot and killed during a bank robbery where 2 million dollars was taken during the caper… and never found.
Unfortunately for Claire, Sean’s partner in the crime, Michael “Spike” Flanagan, has just been released from prison six years after the botched heist. And she knows that Michael will stop at nothing to find that money…
This is, indeed, a different kind of Christmas story. And that’s why I highly recommend this to any filmmakers who want to create a holiday film that will surely stand-out and make an impact on the film festival circuit. This is one that will be in high demand, so pick it up before it’s too late!