Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 25, 2023 at 10:00AM 
It's the season to be jolly, so happy holidays to all The Film Experience readers, wherever you are across the globe.
I don't know about you, but in my family, there's a tradition of watching a film together on Christmas day, and I'm still pondering our options for today. Maybe we should go with the All of Us Strangers screener since that is technically a Christmas movie. One of its best scenes embraces all that barbed nostalgia and merry melancholia, lights twinkling while the Pet Shop Boys' “Always On My Mind” sounds off its queer lament in the background. Then again, that's probably not the merriest of choices, a gift of tears rather than cheers. Still, it's a beautiful film whose adaptation choices probably deserve a post of their own. But that's a matter for another time. Today, we celebrate.
Do you have a similar tradition? If so, what movie will do the honors in 2023? And beyond Andrew Haigh's ghost story, is there another film from this year that joins your Christmas canon?
Reader Comments (7)
The Pet Shop Boys' “Always On My Mind” has been stuck in my head since I saw this movie. And it's SO deftly used. As familiar retro (and queer) background music to set up the scene turning into Foy's touching mea culpa then turning into showcasing Bell's pure dad energy and finally as a family anthem and low-key summation of one of the movie's themes. So brilliant, this pick and this film.
Ugh, fine I'll see it for a third time I guess!
Joyeux Noël !
"Carol" is one of my Christmas favorites.
Merry Christmas, Claudio! We have that tradition, too, but unfortunately are not keeping it this year. If we were, my pick would be THE HOLDOVERS (though my husband and I have already seen it).
Agree that ALL OF US STRANGERS, while beautiful, is way too sad for actual Christmas Day viewing.
For Christmas-appropriate movies at home beyond the usual classics...I've been thinking recently of both David O. Russell's JOY (underrated) and Sean Baker's TANGERINE.
But my go-to Christmas DVD, as this site knows, will always be the 1994 LITTLE WOMEN with Winona Ryder.
Oh yeah!
1. The Judy Garland Show (1963) Episode 12 - The Christmas Episode
2. Judy in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
3. Grant & Hepburn in Holiday (1938)
4. Who Slew Auntie Roo? (1972)
5. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
6. Female Trouble (1974)
The best movie for all Christmas: "It's a Wonderful Life", by Frank Capra, 1946.
Merry Christmas! 🎅🏻🌲☃️✨️🙏🏻✨️
I actually went and saw All of Us Strangers on Christmas. It was great!
I also usually have a similar tradition about buying all my family movie tickets for Xmas and dictating what we all see, though I'm not visiting them this year... past choices have included Coco (the best) and Mary Poppins Returns (meh). This sure would've been an interesting one to see with the parents!
Typically, I have a customary practice of purchasing movie tickets for my entire family over Christmas and determining the film we will collectively watch. However, I will not be able to carry out this tradition this year since I will not be visiting them. In previous years, I have selected movies such as Coco (which was excellent) and Mary Poppins Returns (which was mediocre). This would have been a fascinating experience to witness with the parents!