2014’s Happy Christmas is a fantastic, cheapie indie film buoyed by superb performances and ad-libbed dialogue that give it an authentic feel not normally seen in Hollywood holiday movies. It’s a largely cliché-free film that feels realistic without having the audience wallow in misery. I’m initially a little worried as writer/director and co-lead Joe Swanberg is a major figure in the ‘mumblecore’ scene and those movies can be really hit and miss. Thankfully, this little treat is easily one of the best films I’ve seen all year.
Anna Kendrick is Jenny, an irresponsible, boozy but likeable twenty-something who, after a break-up, moves in with her older brother (Swanberg), his wife Kelly (Melanie Lynskey) and their two-year-old son Jude (Jude Swanberg – Joe’s real-life son!). The entrance of this reckless party girl into their humdrum existence, just in time for Christmas, disrupts everyone’s lives in both good and bad ways but also alters everyone’s rigid worldviews.
Swanberg uses an interesting, naturalistic improv style, letting the actors ad-lib their dialogue which works exceptionally well. I’m aware I’m watching movie stars, yet it feels like I’m spying on their real lives, as it all has such a very cool, real feeling. This allows the movie to avoid the usual cliches and there’s a certain pleasure in watching these people, like, really think about what they’re trying to say, to express genuine thoughts and feelings, rather than simply regurgitate a polished script. This gives the film a nuance you certainly don’t get in something like, say, Christmas With the Coopers.
This one really ‘clicks’ for me, with all three main players reminding me of myself in a way, at different points in my life. Jenny shows up to her brother’s house, is sweet and polite, but obviously can’t wait to get out, catch up with old pal Carson (Lena Dunham) and go out and get shit-faced. So, first night in her new home, she gets black-out drunk and has to be physically carried home by her brother. Not cool. Yup, this was totally me at that age – not realising how selfish and damaging your drunken behaviour really is. Jenny’s effortlessly cool but she’s got a lot of growing up to do.
Brother Jeff feels like me a few years ago – embracing new fatherhood and working hard to bring home the bucks but also realising his stay-at-home wife feels stuck in a rut and needs more breathing space. Jenny being around him helps him to realise how cool, sexy and deserving of his love Kelly really is.
Kelly, a once-successful novelist, kinda reminds me of me now – she loves being a parent but misses having the time to devote to her now-stalling career as a writer. I recognise those feelings of being happy in life as a parent, but still yearning for something more. It’s sweet and I love that Jeff, as a Christmas present, gifts her more “me” time that she can use to focus on her next novel. Kelly and Jenny, who initially don’t seem to have much in common, start to hang out more, with Jenny providing unexpected inspiration for the book which takes a surprising, saucy turn.
It’s a compelling film as normally the boozy, infantile character would be the one learning important life lessons but here it’s wild child Jenny who inspires her brother and his wife to get back in touch with their sense of adventure, after those first few stifling years of parenthood. Sneaky joints and beers are shared and a zest for life is rediscovered, though in a decidedly messy, un-Hollywood way. I find it all so authentic, as I’m quite sure most thirty-something parents are so jealous of the young, childless party people, even if we sometimes tut at their behaviour.
This great film is made even better by little Jude Swanberg who gives probably the best child performance I’ve ever seen. It’s a stroke of genius by the director to cast his own child opposite himself as their scenes together convey a loving bond that is magical, touching and, like the rest of this film, so authentic. Maybe I’m just exhausted from watching 350-odd Christmas movies – but this film makes me shed a few fatherly man tears.
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