SAVING PARADISE
Elaine Hegwood Bowen | September 1, 2021
Saving Paradise stars Michael (William Moseley) as a ruthless corporate raider who is forced to return to his small town when he inherits his father’s nearly bankrupt pencil factory. Managed by his long-lost love, Charlie (Johanna Braddy), the pencil factory is the heart and soul of the depressed community. With the foreclosure deadline looming, Michael must decide to either let it close, or join Charlie and the community’s fight to save their way of life.
This was such a heartwarming film. I loved that it was actually filmed in a pencil factory in Tennessee. To see just how the lead is encased with wood and then the yellow “fondant” like wrapper is applied in the final process to the traditional yellow pencil was enlightening.
Saving Paradise shows the will of a company and a town, for that matter, to save an older company that has had influence on the town’s economics, as well as influence on the townspeople, many of whom had been recipients of an annual scholarship given out by Michael’s father. Michael’s father was easygoing and considered not a good financial steward. At the time of his death, the company is in dire straits, and Michael’s mother, played by Mimi Kennedy, doesn’t even know that her house and the family fortune is on the line.
The synopsis shows that Michael is a ruthless corporate raider, but when he gets back to his hometown, he is sort of melted by the prospect of maybe hitching onto his childhood friend, Charlie. Charlie is not persuasive at first in getting Michael in line with her plan to save the factory.
The factory manager and workers are not told about the impending closure, but eventually they are given the information and work together—filling orders as fast as they can. Throw in the generosity of a former resident, veteran actor 87-year-old Bill Cobbs, who provides much needed financing, and Michael and Charlie figure out a plan that is sure to keep the bank bigwigs at bay.
Charlie and Michael had grown up together, and along the way they revisit a painful event in their childhoods. He is finally able to get over his grief at the loss of a family member. During the course of the film, Michael is not as aggressive in his desire to leave town on the first thing smoking. He and his mother are closer, and he finally admits that his commitment is to his hometown and his father’s memory—which in the end is all about the factory.
Saving Paradise was written by Van Billet and directed by Jay Silverman. It was produced by Bethany Cerrona, William Newman, Joe Gamache, and Jay Silverman. The film has a running time of 102 minutes and will not be rated by the MPAA. Vertical Entertainment will release Saving Paradise in select theaters and On Demand everywhere on September 3, 2021.