AlamyA Wonderful Day (1998)
For the past few decades, long before the Wallace and Gromit feature film was released, my family has been watching BBC reruns of Aardman’s original production of the 1980s and 90s claymation classic every Christmas. Even now, the cozy atmosphere of them having tea and toast on the couch perfectly represents the Christmas season for me. My favorite is the first, “A Grand Day Out,” which somehow manages to fit into a pile of frenetic storytelling despite a running time of less than 25 minutes. After all, why not build a rocket to fly to the moon for cheese if you don’t have any in your cupboard? And few moments in movie history (or at least Christmas movie history) can match Wallace’s dramatic last-minute realization during the countdown to takeoff, “No crackers, Gromit! I forgot my crackers!” (Jocelyn Timperley)
Featured featuresHoldovers (2023)
“You can’t even dream the whole thing, can you?” is a conversational line that epitomizes the quiet poignancy of Alexander Payne’s recent celebratory classic. At a snowy all-boys boarding school in early 1970s New England, grumpy classics teacher Paul Hunnam (Paul Giamatti) stays over winter break to mentor Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), a disgruntled student who has been abandoned by his parents, along with newly widowed head chef Mary (Daveen Joy Randolph). As the unlikely trio understand each other more deeply, especially after a trip to Boston, they begin to find joy in each other’s company, which leads to a cloud of self-confidence dissolving. Sparkling with sharp wit and hope, and with a perfect soundtrack featuring the likes of Ravi Siffre and Shocking Blue, The Holdovers is as much a comforting Christmas movie as it is a moving coming-of-age story. (Molly Gorman)
Daniel Martinez/El DeseoLive Fresh (1997)
Pedro Almodovar’s Live Flesh opens with two unexpected nativity scenes, 25 years apart and lots of drugs, sex, and violence. The film opens with a close-up of the Star of Bethlehem from Madrid’s Christmas lights. We then hear the screams of a young sex worker (Penelope Cruz). She gives birth to a baby on a public bus with the help of Madame (Pilar Bardem). This scene is a clever combination of drama and comedy, foreshadowing what will happen in this movie and beyond. Cruz called the scene a “rehearsal for life” because years later, Bardem (Javier Bardem’s mother) would become the grandmother of Cruz’s children. Live Flesh also marked Almodóvar’s departure from high-camp melodramas toward more mature, darker, and often sour films. The film is about love, death, birth, longing, and redemption, sandwiched between two scenes showing the exiled characters’ Christmas. And perhaps this is also a prelude to the Spanish master’s next work, “Bitter Christmas.” (Javier Hirschfeld)
AlamyHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
If you’re planning to watch a Harry Potter movie during the Christmas period, each movie will fill you with a warm, nostalgic feeling. But in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, biscuits (or should I say chocolate frogs?) may appear in a particularly Christmas-y scene in Hogsmeade, complete with snowball fights and, of course, the Invisibility Cloak. Is it about death and revenge? You can bet your galleons on it. But there’s also a stunning banquet hall packed with exquisitely prepared food and great performances from Gary Oldman, Timothy Spall, David Thewlis and more. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, the third film in the series takes on a darker tone as the three main characters grow out of their childhoods. But the best Christmas stories always have a little darkness in their cauldron. And who needs Santa’s sleigh when you get the opening “Night Bus” sequence, one of the most memorable in the Potter universe? (Cal Burn)
AlamyYoung Frankenstein (1974)
My family was vacationing in a small apartment on the ground floor of a house near the Dolomites forest. After a day on the slopes, we skied through pine forests and hopped across narrow rivers to get home. Our living room was packed, with friends and family sitting on the couch, around the table, and on the rug. Young Frankenstein was being broadcast on TV. Italy used to air a Mel Brooks horror homage every Christmas. It was inexplicably renamed Frankenstein Jr. and dubbed in Italian. Nonsensical translations of lines like “Werewolf? There’s a wolf out there!” Made it even more ridiculous. Other jokes required no words. These include a movable hump, Igor’s eyes, and Mrs. Blücher’s horse. I had panettone, mandarin orange, chocolate and nougat. If I let my guard down, my brother would throw his stinky ski socks in my face. I ended up retaliating later by shoving a tangerine peel into his eye. For me, I believe that “Young Frankenstein” is Christmas itself. Because it’s pure fun and mischief, just like when you were a kid. (Anna Bressanin)
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Source: BBC Culture – www.bbc.com
