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Posted: |
Dec 8, 2014 - 5:34 PM
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By: |
OnyaBirri
(Member)
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Can anyone name any good films that take place during the Holidays, say between Thanksgiving and New Year's, that are serious - maybe dealing with family dynamics, disappointment, loss, etc. - but that aren't just ultimately feel-good Christmas films? I'm thinking about films where the holidays provide a meaningful backdrop but are not front and center. Not films that would be filed in the Christmas section at a video store, if there were still video stores. The films don't have to exclusively take place at the Holidays. I'm probably thinking about more intimate films, not big-budget blockbusters.
I think "The Ice Storm" could be one.
Woody Allen's "Radio Days," while partially a comedy, contains some great bittersweet holiday segments.
I'm drawing blanks. Are there any gems?
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The Night Of The Hunter. Poetic, terrifying, it ends at Christmas with a lovely message about protecting children, but not a Christmas film as such.
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OnyaBirri wrote: “not big-budget blockbusters.” So I guess that leaves out the first 'Rocky' and I presume that's not even funny.
OK, a good but very obscure one is “Blast of Silence.' In a nutshell it's a film noir crime-thriller about a bitter Hit-Man hired to do a job around the Holidays.
The movie is “serious,” deals with “disappointment” and is definitely not a “feel-good Christmas film” and as requested, “the holidays provide a meaningful backdrop but are not front and center.”
It has snappy hard-boiled dialog, engrossing characters and great visuals of holiday New York on location, as the protagonist goes about his business.
To avoid spoilers, beware of Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia info. before viewing.
I was lucky to catch it a while back on the big screen here at NYC's Film Forum and because of the "old NYC" holiday backdrop (it was released April 1961) it holds a nostalgic appeal to me.
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This 1944 film certainly isn't a "feel-good Christmas film." It's close to being a film noir. Producer Walter Wanger had originally sought clearance from the Hays Office to film CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY in August 1939, but was rejected as the W. Somerset Maugham novel was deemed a "story of gross sexual irregularities."
Bob beat me to it! A Christmas film with Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly that's a real downer?! Terrific noir directed by Robert (The Killers) Siodmak.
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1969's TRILOGY consistents of dramatizations of three short stories by Truman Capote. The third story is entitled "A Christmas Memory," a bittersweet tale of a young boy who lives in the South with his two aunts and an aging spinster cousin.
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1940's REMEMBER THE NIGHT was Preston Sturges' last writing project before he became a writer-director. It takes place during the Christmas and New Year's holidays.
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Another film that ends with a bittersweet moment on Christmas eve: THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG.
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The 1966 drama TIME LOST AND TIME REMEMBERED takes place entirely on Christmas Day.
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A film dealing with family dynamics that takes place during the holidays: THE LION IN WINTER.
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you looking to get cheered up this xmas then Onya??!!
Nothing jumps up at me but i think theres been a few war films with sad christmas moments.
i seem to recall a few in the ardennes.
does the three man execution while Frank Sinatras Have yourself a Merry little christmas plays, count, from the Victors?
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1940's REMEMBER THE NIGHT was Preston Sturges' last writing project before he became a writer-director. It takes place during the Christmas and New Year's holidays.
Interesting, Bob DiMucci. I've never seen this one but I'm scheduled to, this Friday at (my beloved) Loew's Jersey Theater. It is part of an annual Christmas presentation as 'It's A Wonderful Life' screens the following night. For those not familiar with this Jersey City venue this place is just about the metropolitan area's last hold-out from the era of grand majestic theaters with old architecture, an organ etc. It's website tells all. The way it was before quadplexes.
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