The Film Christmas, Again Film Review – This Laidback Tale of a Forlorn Christmas Tree Seller Boasts Authentic Charm

The is 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 a micro-budget first feature from first-time director Charles Poekel, taking place largely on a 24-hour pop-up Christmas tree stall. Poekel’s style is far too genuinely independent and unaffected to get slushy or sentimental about Christmas; in his view Christmas tree lights flash like police lights. But in its own low-key way, he pitches his film just right for a modest dose of festive warmth.

A Weary Seller Amid the Brooklyn Cold

Kentucker Audley stars as Noel (it took someone in the film to joke about his name for the connection to be made). Noel returns 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 assisting him last year. But this year Noel is alone, broken-hearted and on the night shift.

There’s an observational quality to many of the scenes, with customers posing pointless random questions. One woman 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 makes it clear that he wasn’t always like this.

Understated Encounters and Glimmers of Connection

Frankly, not much happens. Noel comes to the aid of 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, delivering trees – 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.

A film of quiet appeal and authentic atmosphere, capturing the solitude and brief warmth of the holidays.

Christmas, Again opens in UK cinemas from 12 December.