(re)Search my Trash

<body> <div align="left"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="800" cellpadding="0" height="100%"> <tr> <td width="100" rowspan="2" background="../stylepix/square.gif" valign="top">  </td> <td width="4" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="592" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="592"> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> </table>   <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="255" align="right"> <tr> <td width="100%"> <p align="right"><img border="0" src="../stills/christmascowboy-poster.jpg" width="250" height="371"></td> </tr> </table> <p>To seal a development deal, New York land developer Mary (Eliana Ghen) has to return to the small town she has grown up with to sell her company's plans to the client, Colton (Courtney Gains) - a trip she really dreads as it would mean crossing paths with her family again, including her estranged father Miguel (Carlos Guerrero). But then again, it's only for one day ... or so she thought, as Colton is actually a rather eccentric guy who hasn't directly hired her but lets her go against her chief rival Michelle (Gracie Cashman) in a series of contests that have very little to do with land development - and so, Mary sees herself forced to stay at her father's for a series of games that also involve her family, and that lead all the way to Christmas. If that's not bad enough, Colton also plans to tear down the equestrian center Mary has grown up at as part of his development plan, and of all people it's run by her childhood love interest Carlos (Armando Gutierrez) she still has feelings for. And nobody has told him yet that the center is to be torn down. So she sees herself forced to fight an uphill battle to save the center. What's yet worse is that Mary loses in every single game in the competition and even her attempts to cheat for the good cause backfire ...  <p> <p>Ok, if you're not into Christmas movies (which I'm definitely not), this film might be a bit much as it combines the "big city girl returns to her smalltown home to learn the true meaning of Christmas" and the "underdog has to compete in and win some competition to save the community center of their childhood" motives and hardly misses a cliché - so this is definitely not a movie for everybody, and the rather Christmassy score doesn't help much, either. The movie's saving graces though are its rather subtle directorial effort that by and large avoids Christmas kitsch, and  Eliana Ghen's pretty natural and very relatable performance that really carries the movie. Sure, to properly enjoy this one, being into the Christmas genre sure helps, but there's plenty to like even if not. <p>  </td> <td width="4" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="100" rowspan="2" background="../stylepix/squareright.gif" valign="top">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="592" valign="top">  <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> currentyear = "2024"; </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT language="JavaScript" src="../scripts/endcredits.js"></SCRIPT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> dosworsdonn(); </SCRIPT> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </body>