The Film Christmas, Again Review – A Laidback Tale of a Forlorn Christmas Tree Seller Has Authentic Charm
This constitutes a New York drama so laidback that it required a decade to arrive on the UK’s cinema screens. First released in the US in 2015, it’s a micro-budget first feature from first-time director Charles Poekel, taking place largely on a 24-hour pop-up Christmas tree stall. Poekel’s style remains decidedly genuinely independent and unaffected to become slushy or sentimental about Christmas; through his lens Christmas tree lights blink like police lights. But in its own low-key way, he positions the movie perfectly for a modest dose of festive warmth.
The Weary Seller Amid the Brooklyn Cold
Kentucker Audley stars as Noel (it took someone in the film to comment on his name before I twigged). Noel returns for his fifth year peddling Christmas trees in Brooklyn, working outdoors 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 works solo, broken-hearted and on the night shift.
There’s a documentary feel to a lot of the scenes, with customers posing idle and peculiar questions. A customer requests the same Christmas tree as the Obamas (this is 2014). Noel looks frozen to the bone physically and emotionally; he’s weary and disillusioned, though Audley’s understated acting makes it clear that he wasn’t always like this.
Understated Encounters and Flickers of Hope
In truth, the plot is minimal. Noel rescues a woman, Lydia (Hannah Gross), who has passed out drunk on a bench. She pops up again later in truly poignant scenes as Noel travels through New York, making tree deliveries – and these sequences could spark a small glimmer of good cheer in the grinchiest of hearts. Poekel hasn’t made a feature since this, which is a shame – it is unmatched for naturalness and ease, and it’s shot on gorgeously textured 16mm film.
The picture of understated appeal and real mood, portraying the solitude and fleeting warmth of the holidays.
Christmas, Again opens in UK cinemas from 12 December.
