Christmas, Again Film Review – A Relaxed Story of a Forlorn Christmas Tree Seller Has Genuine Charm
This is a New York drama with such a relaxed pace that it required a decade to arrive on the UK’s cinema screens. Initially unveiled in the US in 2015, it’s a micro-budget first feature from first-time director Charles Poekel, set almost entirely on a 24-hour pop-up Christmas tree stall. Poekel’s style is far too genuinely independent and naturalistic to get slushy or sentimental about Christmas; through his lens Christmas tree lights flash like police lights. But with its subtle approach, he positions the movie perfectly for a little squeeze of festive warmth.
A Weary Seller in the Brooklyn Cold
Kentucker Audley stars as Noel (someone had in the film to comment on his name for the connection to be made). Noel is back for his fifth year selling Christmas trees in Brooklyn, working outdoors in the freezing cold and sleeping in a not-much-warmer caravan parked next to the trees. A few customers ask about the girl assisting him last year. But this year Noel is alone, 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. One woman requests the same Christmas tree as the Obamas (the story is set in 2014). Noel looks frozen to the bone in body and spirit; he’s weary and disillusioned, though Audley’s subtle performance makes it clear that he wasn’t always like this.
Understated Encounters and Glimmers of Hope
Frankly, the plot is minimal. Noel rescues a woman, Lydia (Hannah Gross), who has passed out drunk on a bench. She reappears later in some genuinely moving scenes as Noel drives around New York, making tree deliveries – and these sequences could ignite a small glimmer of good cheer in the grinchiest of hearts. Poekel has not directed a feature since this, which is a shame – you can’t beat it for authenticity and fluidity, and it’s shot on gorgeously textured 16mm film.
The picture of quiet appeal and real mood, capturing the solitude and fleeting warmth of the season.
Christmas, Again opens in UK cinemas from 12 December.