The Film Christmas, Again Review – This Relaxed Tale of a Lonely Christmas Tree Seller Boasts Genuine Charm
This constitutes a New York drama with such a relaxed pace that it has taken a decade to reach the UK’s cinema screens. First released 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 remains decidedly genuinely independent and unaffected to get slushy or sentimental about Christmas; in his view Christmas tree lights blink like police lights. But in its own low-key way, he positions the movie just right for a little squeeze of festive warmth.
The Weary Seller in the Brooklyn Cold
Kentucker Audley portrays Noel (it took someone in the film to joke about his name before I twigged). Noel is back for his fifth year selling Christmas trees in Brooklyn, standing outside in the freezing cold and resting in a barely warmer caravan parked next to the trees. A few customers ask about the girl assisting him last year. But this year Noel works solo, heartbroken and working the night shift.
There’s a documentary feel to a lot of the scenes, with customers asking pointless random questions. A customer wants the same Christmas tree as the Obamas (the story is set in 2014). Noel looks frozen to the bone physically and emotionally; he’s exhausted and disenchanted, though Audley’s understated acting clearly indicates that he wasn’t always like this.
Quiet Encounters and Glimmers of Connection
Frankly, not much happens. 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 spark a small glimmer of good cheer in the grinchiest of hearts. Poekel has not directed a feature since this, which is regrettable – it is unmatched for naturalness and ease, and it’s shot on gorgeously textured 16mm film.
The film of quiet charm and authentic mood, capturing the solitude and brief warmth of the holidays.
Christmas, Again arrives in UK cinemas from 12 December.
