A skeptical journalist is assigned to chronicle the 50th anniversary of Kris Kringle, a Santa Claus in the town of Mistletoe. As her involvement in the town grows, she begins to open up to the enchantment of Christmas and some other wonders of the season.
L'arbre des voeux, En ægte julestemning i Mistletoe
USAG
France
France
USA
Did I mention I just like Christmas movies?
Plot: A magazine journalist who no longer celebrates Christmas visits the quaint town of Mistletoe to blog about an inspirational - albeit questionably delusional - man who parades around pretending to be the real Santa Claus.
Ah, a 2010 Hallmark Christmas movie where Vivica didn’t yet have the clout to film her crowd scenes separately to be spliced in later. She wasn’t yet filming 31 of these at a time and was able to stay on set for longer than a few hours.
One of the better, more resonant of these I’ve seen this year. It helps that not only is Vivica here, but there’s also Lin Shaye and Christine Taylor bringing warmth & depth to what’s actually a pretty moving story. I was expecting something silly about a delusional man who through the power of magic may actually be Santa, but instead we get a tale about coping with heartbreaking loss during the holidays. The romance isn’t…
Do you remember blogging? This definitely hits with a cultural moment - Dear blogosphere editorializing with Vivica A. Fox as the character who calls to remind the professional blogger to do a good job and that she is going to die alone. She really has to get that warm fuzzy scoop about Santa Claus and get laid in order to nail this assignment. I also like that this film is about a blogger who has to hang out with this kooky old man all the time.
The lighting of this film is also very typical of the time. Way too much emphasis on natural light and everything is shadowy af. For as charming as it is there is something both alluring and off-putting about the way this film looks. It is maybe anti-aesthetic but I do kind-of like it. This was unexpectedly great - weirdos working though their grief. If only this ended in seeing an excerpt from her play...
Even for a Hallmark movie, this was friggin’ awful! I’m beginning to question my “cinematic” choices.
