Running for Grace

MOVIE DETAILS

Rating: 6.1 out of 10
Director: David L. Cunningham
Writer: David L. Cunningham, Christian Parkes, Nicole Sacker
Star: Jim Caviezel, Matt Dillon, Ryan Potter
Genres: Family/Romance
Release Date: August 17, 2018 (United States)

Running for Grace

To give a detailed synopsis of “Running for Grace” is not easy. If I tried to do so without mentioning that it was adapted from a recent vintage young adult novel, you’d think I was just being coy and hiding the truth. But honestly, this sweetly old fashioned period piece which is handsomely made in every particular, but plays like something designed for (and perhaps by) youth skewing audiences of an earlier era feels more like a throwback to juvenile skewing entertainment of the ’60s than anything else: Say, a Troy Donahue-Sandra Dee picture with an innocuous overlay of social consciousness.

In this portion of the Kona Coffee Belt during the 1920s, Japanese immigrant laborers and the mostly white power structure that hangs over them are separated by hard lines. Jo (played as a child by Cole Takiue), an orphan with mixed-race lineage, finds himself shunned by both until Doc (Matt Dillon), a white doctor from the mainland, shows up as a physician for some workers on Danielson’s (Nick Boraine) plantation.

Unofficially adopting Jo (he can’t be his father officially under “racial integrity laws”), Doc makes him into a long distance runner who delivers medicine to coffee pickers. As he grows into young adulthood and Ryan Potter takes over the role additional responsibilities are assumed. So when Grace (Olivia Ritchie), Danielson’s lovely daughter conveniently sprains her ankle, Jo feels confident enough to make house calls in his absence; and naturally enough, while tending her there, their eyes meet.

This budding romance goes unremarked upon by Danielson; perhaps he has too many other things on his mind than whatever courtship rituals might be going on between his only child and one of those kids he regularly refers to as “those people.” For one thing, business is bad: We learn early on that the plantation is deep in debt, and may be lost if some financial miracle doesn’t occur soon.

For another, he’s got bankruptcy insurance: Danielson hatches a scheme to keep his assets safe from creditors by marrying Grace off to Reyes (Jim Caviezel), another doctor who is not only conveniently available, but offers an appealing mix of suavity and aggression.

In a script written by himself and Christian Parkes, Cunningham builds solid characters around his cast of actors. However, he relies on them too much for support. Still, the talent of the actors is undeniable. Dillon is particularly good at keeping us entertained so that we don’t realize that his character only exists to keep the plot moving.

(We never learn why Doc who’s never shown to be bad at anything abandoned whatever life he had before taking the Kona Coffee Belt job.) Juliet Mills does an impressive amount with very little as Danielson’s snappish mother, communicating years of privilege and imperiousness through her few lines.

And Caviezel has a blast chewing every last bit of scenery as shady Reyes, a rascal who bears more than a passing resemblance to Billy Zane’s dangerous scoundrel in “Titanic.”

Potter and Ritchie are both appealing and likable here; it takes practically no time at all for a viewer to invest in their young love story. If they somehow aren’t doing it for you (and I can’t imagine how), there’s always the old reliable of Akis Konstantakopoulos’ lush Hawaiian photography.

Also: Stick with “Running for Grace” until after all the closing credits have rolled. No, Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t show up to recruit Jo for a new Avengers team, but what comes up on screen last is even better than that.

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