Christmas without a Christmas film is like a tree without a spike: it can be done, but something is missing. Especially in a bizarre year like this, I need warm films: classics, found footage or children's film, all are allowed. As long as it's about big emotions or offers the perfect escapism. Like every year, there is plenty to enjoy on TV. Not like every year, there is no option to seek refuge elsewhere, but streaming offers relief. Five tips to get through Christmas.
Boat Polish by Prakash Arora (India 1954) at mubi.com
What could be more distressing than poor children left to fend for themselves because their father goes to jail? Children who are then beaten by their aunt who is supposed to look after him. And have to beg. Fortunately, a bootlegger does care for them and the tide seems to be turning. They learn to polish shoes and can eat from them, without begging. Fate seems to strike again when, in the rainy season, no one wants polished shoes and the children have to go hungry again.
Is this really a Christmas film with so much doom and gloom? Yes, absolutely. In beautiful black and white, it is a joy to watch, the children play the stars of heaven and there are songs. And there are plenty of reasons to believe in the goodness of mankind.
Cinedans Winter programme
Cinedans is giving us 1 feature film and 3 short films as a Christmas present that range from a virgin mother on a pilgrimage to Las Vegas to ice fishermen. My favourite is Snow by David Hinton and Rosemary Lee, one of the 3 short films. Snow is a beautiful found footage choreography with footage from the beginning of film to 1960. Slithering for the advanced! The found footage is rhythmically edited for movement and gesture. Filmmaker David Hinton began his career as a documentary filmmaker and has made many films about artists from Francis bacon to Michael Powell. He has also worked with DV8 Physical Theater, the transition to dance film being a natural for him. Both organise and structure movement, after all. For Snow, he collaborated with choreographer Rosemary Lee. Lovely to watch.
To be seen here between 26 and 28 December
Eye's winter compilation
Eye dived into the archives and also made a winter compilation. From poor children in need of a Bio Holiday Resort, to French schoolchildren doing their Christmas dance. It's all very fine and nostalgic, in a mole-sweet way. So very suitable for the dark days. It is also a nice way to get acquainted with Eye's new service, the Eye film player. Still in beta now, but fully operational early next year. The streaming service is already well-stocked with work from its own collection. Rudolph Valentino shines in Beyond the Rocks, after animated classic Anna and Bella.
Here you can explore
Ága by Milko Lazarov
We stay in winter spheres for a while longer, but for a totally different film. Ága. Enchanting images from above the Arctic Circle of a vanished way of life. The harsh reality of being cut off from the rest of the world in a changing climate is interspersed with myths and sagas. The film is nowhere sweet, but lyrical. We are allowed to figure out for ourselves what it all means, not much is explained and that is one of the film's strengths. We are invited to undergo it calmly and with the magical visuals, that is a breeze.
What an artist with the camera Kaloyan Bozhilov is! The immeasurable vastness of the landscape that makes you feel cold, what will it be like to see it in winter? The film came out here last summer, when it was murderously hot. I look forward to revisiting it under a blanket on the sofa.
To be seen via Vitamin Cineville
How does a film become a Christmas classic?
What makes something the Christmas film? Catharsis In the original sense of the word: the emotional purification we as an audience experience after being immersed in Eleos (pity) and phobos (fear). We must join the journey through hardships and horrors to be emotionally purified. This requires the hero(s) to endure severe, existential trials. We have to sympathise with suffering, desperation and redemption. In other words, I must be able to cry shamelessly.
Spoiler alert, although everyone will have seen the film at least once: This is the last scene. no matter how many times I've seen it, when Auld Lang Syne is deployed, I reach for my tissues.
It's a wonderful life by Frank Capra
No film succeeds as well as Frank Capra's Christmas classic It's a wonderful life. Number 1 Inspirational movie by the American Film Institute. Main character George Bailey is suicidal and stands on the bridge, ready to jump. Firm prayers are said for him and heaven sends an angel to save him by showing how much worse off the world would be without him. In doing so, the film asks one of the most fundamental questions about being human: what does my presence mean?
Capra made the film just after WWII, as his first feature film after his 3 years making war documentaries. James Stewart, brilliant in his role as George Bailey, was hesitant about whether he could and wanted to act again after a 3-year hiatus during which he served in the US Air Force. The men needed each other to get back to making films in civilian society. The search, the doubt fit wonderfully into this film.
The scene where Stewart actually got emotional is a feat. Though Capra caught the tears with the camera, it was not in close-up. Frame by frame, the shots were enlarged in the lab to still get the desired dramatic effect. Also, the toe sweating during an emotional scene is a coincidence: the film was shot in the blisteringly hot New York summer.
At its premiere, the film was not particularly well received: people thought it was far too sentimental. Still, the film has eternal value and certainly is comforting in this difficult year. We have all fallen solidly through the ice at some point in the past few months, and Christmas in a lockdown is not so festive either. Perhaps the meaning of life is not quite out of the picture yet, but the fun in it largely is. This is the film to restore faith in humanity.
The film can be seen here. Also watch the documentary on Arte about Capra: Arte on 29 December.
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