Christmas, Again Film Review – This Laidback Tale of a Lonely Christmas Tree Seller Boasts Authentic Charm
The constitutes a New York drama so laidback that it has taken a decade to arrive on the UK’s cinema screens. Initially unveiled in the US in 2015, it’s a micro-budget first feature from debut filmmaker Charles Poekel, taking place largely on a 24-hour pop-up Christmas tree stall. Poekel’s style is far too authentic-indie and naturalistic to become slushy or sentimental about Christmas; in his view Christmas tree lights flash like police lights. But with its subtle approach, he positions the movie just right for a little squeeze of festive warmth.
A Jaded Seller Amid the Brooklyn Cold
Kentucker Audley portrays Noel (it took someone in the film to comment on his name before I twigged). Noel is back for his fifth year selling Christmas trees in Brooklyn, standing outside in the freezing cold and resting in a barely warmer caravan parked next to the trees. Several patrons inquire after the girl working with him last year. But this year Noel is alone, broken-hearted and working the night shift.
There’s an observational quality to many of the scenes, with customers asking idle and peculiar questions. One woman requests the same Christmas tree as the Obamas (this is 2014). Noel looks numb with cold physically and emotionally; he’s weary and disillusioned, though Audley’s subtle performance makes it clear that he wasn’t always like this.
Understated Encounters and Glimmers of Hope
Frankly, the plot is minimal. Noel rescues a woman, Lydia (Hannah Gross), who has passed out drunk on a bench. She reappears later in some genuinely moving scenes as Noel travels through New York, delivering trees – and these sequences could ignite a little flicker of good cheer in the grinchiest of hearts. Poekel has not directed a feature since this, which is a shame – it is unmatched for authenticity and fluidity, and it’s shot on beautifully grainy 16mm film.
A picture of quiet appeal and real mood, capturing the loneliness and fleeting connection of the season.
Christmas, Again opens in UK cinemas from 12 December.
