Christmas, Again Review – A Relaxed Story of a Lonely Christmas Tree Seller Boasts Authentic Charm
This constitutes a New York drama so laidback that it has taken a decade to reach the UK’s cinema screens. Initially unveiled in the US in 2015, it’s an ultra-low-budget debut from debut filmmaker 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 pitches his film perfectly for a little squeeze of festive warmth.
The Jaded Seller Amid the Brooklyn Cold
Kentucker Audley portrays Noel (someone had in the film to comment on his name before I twigged). Noel is back for his fifth year selling Christmas trees in Brooklyn, working outdoors in the freezing cold and resting in a not-much-warmer caravan stationed beside the trees. A few customers inquire after the girl working with him last year. But this year Noel works solo, broken-hearted and working the night shift.
There’s an observational quality to a lot of the scenes, with customers asking pointless random questions. A customer requests the same Christmas tree as the Obamas (the story is set in 2014). Noel looks numb with cold in body and spirit; he’s weary and disillusioned, though Audley’s understated acting clearly indicates that he wasn’t always like this.
Quiet Moments and Glimmers of Hope
In truth, not much happens. Noel rescues a woman, Lydia (Hannah Gross), who has passed out drunk on a bench. She pops up again later in some genuinely moving scenes as Noel travels through New York, delivering trees – and these sequences could ignite a little flicker of good cheer in the grinchiest of hearts. Poekel hasn’t made a feature since this, which is a shame – you can’t beat it for naturalness and ease, and it’s shot on gorgeously textured 16mm film.
The film of quiet appeal and authentic atmosphere, capturing the solitude and brief connection of the holidays.
Christmas, Again opens in UK cinemas from 12 December.
