Holiday Films You’ve Never Seen
Written by Scottie Knollin
“You don’t have to read a book to have an opinion on it,” the bespectacled Tom Townsend (Edward Clements) states in the Oscar-nominated Metropolitan. Director/writer Whit Stillman fashioned his story of early-90s romance and comeuppance from his own memories of youth. Late night philosophical conversations and muddled commentaries on out-of-touch parents line the clever and pretentious dialogue, giving its young adults plenty of opinions, like Townsend’s, without ever having truly lived life. It’s a holiday film in the sense that our collective group of young lovers reunite like many on a begrudged trip home for the holidays. For the wealthy in the city, the holiday season offers a chance for fancy parties and mischievous socialites. Stillman masters the discomfort in finding your identity in the midst of an environment that feels both nostalgic and unfamiliar. Even for Townsend, the one middle-class unfortunate who’s found himself among the rich for the evening, being someone you’re not and putting on a certain level of airs is what the holidays are all about. Until they’re not.
Witty and on-the-go yuppies are nothing compared to the curmudgeonly Michael Caine and a cast of puppets in 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol. A modest box office success upon its release, the adaptation of Charles Dickens’s most famous novel has slipped through the cracks of modern holiday favorites, if only to pop up here and there thanks to the random Buzzfeed list or television screening. There’s not much changed from the original Dickens manuscript, other than hambone one-liners and the family-friendly musical numbers. It’s spooky and endearing. It’s funny and somber. The cuteness of a tiny frog playing the role of Tiny Tim doesn’t separate the fact that his death still stings. The holiday season can be rough for those in the throws of family trauma, financial distress, or any number of stresses of life, and Brian Henson’s tribute to the spirit of his father (who passed away shortly before production began) gives each the respect you wouldn’t typically expect from a film centered on a talking frog. The 90’s offered a number of modern-films-based-on-classic-literature projects and The Muppet Christmas Carol remains on of the closest adaptations you can find that is still just as accessible to younger viewers as it is resonant to adults.
Like the ghosts who lead Scrooge through his morality tale, a clever cast of characters provides the ultimate respite to each and every holiday film. Family turmoil is best served with a side of wacky aunts and uncles or neighbors. Or, perhaps it’s an unintended romantic encounter. For Stanley Kubrick, it’s all the above. In his final film, the master delivers a delectable and sensual film about honest love and vulnerability, starring real-life (at the time) husband and wife, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Eyes Wide Shut gives an earnest look at what loyalty, especially in love, could and should look like. Wrapped up in a beautifully-shot bow, the adult-friendly film offers perfect counter-programming to your typical, easy-to-watch holiday fare. Pair it with Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and you’ve got yourself the kind of holiday treat that could either rekindle an old flame or ignite something new.
If your own family traumas and deep, philosophical, or even political conversations have gotten the best of you, cheer up with a hint of comedy gold. In 1945, Barbara Stanwyck charmed audiences with Peter Godfrey’s Christmas in Connecticut, a comedy of unrequited love. Equally as charming and full of old Hollywood chemistry, Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner added to audiences already-proven love for legend James Stewart. Both films fill the same bucket as more modern ‘classics’ like While You Were Sleeping, but Godfrey and Lubitsch give their stars more scenery to chew than any studio picture today. The scripts are fun. The performances are slick. The nostalgia of each drips off the screen. Consider these your dessert.
Whatever your holiday looks like, find a new film favorite to spice up the conversation and preserve some of your sanity. As Tom Townsend can attest, sometimes it’s in reclaiming your roots and taking the time to realize who you are that truly matters most.
