Long for a break from The Sound of Music, Bond movies and the latest family CGI fest? Then why not consider the following alternatives for your Christmas movie delectation…?
The Alternative Dickens retelling: Scrooged
Channel 5: Sunday 22nd December, 3.35pm
Movie adaptations of ‘A Christmas Carol’ are ten a penny and almost none of them, even the glorious Muppets incarnation, have dared to stray too far from the traditional text. Enter Bill Murray.
There’s almost nothing that can be said about Bill Murray that hasn’t already been said about Bill Murray, but the fact is, nobody plays Bill Murray like Bill Murray…and when Bill Murray plays Bill Murray, any film immediately falls under the label of ‘essential.’ The joy of Scrooged is to be found foremost in Bill Murray, playing Bill Murray to the absolute maximum; Scrooged is a movie that Bill Murray dominates and that alone would enough to secure its status as a festive essential. However, more than that, Scrooged revitalised Charles Dickens’ tale by putting a contemporary spin on it, situating the story in New York, making the lead character misanthropic TC executive and the Bob Cratchit character a black, single mother.
The film uses this premise brilliantly, offering a selection of witty, charming and acerbic ghosts to help Francis Xavier Cross towards his glorious epiphany, balancing the dark humour with dark moments throughout. As the story plays out its well trodden finale, Richard Donner pulls out all the stops to ensure that there isn’t a dry eye left in the house, come the moment that little Calvin steals the show with his Tiny Tim inspired pay-off.
Yule love it!
The Alternative War Film: Grave of the Fireflies
Film 4: Monday 23rd December, 1.00am
While it’s the norm to find a sprinkling of World War II films amongst the holiday TV schedules, most of them are typically jingoistic tales told from the British or American perspectives, often retellings of famous, pivotal battles. However, many of the very best films within the genre concentrate on stories from the other side and rather than epic in scale, are far more character driven pieces. In recent years, Germany has been responsible for two of the most outstanding examples in Sophie Scholl and Downfall, but perhaps the most accessible and emotionally affecting tale dates back to a Japanese anime released in 1988.
Grave of the Fireflies – the works of Hayao Miyazaki apart – remains inarguably the most significant and celebrated film in Studio Ghibli’s cannon. It tells the tale of 14 year-old Seita, a boy who suffers the tragedy of losing his mother during an air raid on Kobe and is left alone to care for his 4 year-old sister, Setsuko. While at first, the pair are taken in by an aunt, her bitterness and resentment towards the pair in the face of shrinking food rations eventually forces them out and the children are left to fend for themselves with no immediate access to food or shelter.
A heart breakingly tragic piece to watch, esteemed film critic, Roger Ebert remarked of it: “‘Grave of the Fireflies’ is an emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation…It is the most profoundly human animated film I’ve ever seen.”
It would be hard to disagree.
NB. Ghibli’s masterpiece, Spirited Away is also showing on Film 4 on Christmas Day. Also very highly recommended.
The Alternative Monster Movie: The Host
Film 4: Boxing Day, 1.30am
Hollywood has a patchy track record when it comes to making monster movies; for every Cloverfield there’s several Anacondas, and the less said about the last Godzilla remake, the better. Maybe it’s just the case they do it better in the Far East?
First witness for the prosecution is a Korean monster flick that is told and directed in the best ‘B’ movie traditions. The Host is the story of a genetic mutation caused by the leaking of formaldehyde into the River Han, which develops into a huge man eating beast. When Park Hyun-seo, the young daughter of a close knit family is grabbed she is feared dead, but she is able to make a call from the sewers where she is being stored for later consumption. Determined to save his daughter, her father, aided by his family escapes quarantine to stage a rescue mission.
In all, it makes for very entertaining fare, even it does commit the cardinal sin of slightly outstaying its welcome. Ninety minutes is typically the standard for films of this nature, but The Host chooses to spend a lot time on characterisation. A minor quibble maybe, but monster movies are ultimately all about the mayhem.
The Alternative Britflick: Sightseers
Film 4: Boxing Day, 9.00pm
Sightseers is not so much a film to describe, rather just one to experience as providing a synopsis would only serve to undermine the confounding, unique nature of the beast. Ostensibly, it is the story of Chris and Tina, a young(ish) couple; Chris, an outdoors enthusiast, is taking his sheltered sweetheart away for the first time, showing her world, or at least the Yorkshire Dales, in his beloved caravan.
At first, Chris struggles to cut Tina’s apron strings, but quickly her worries about the outside world start to fade: “Dear mum, Yorkshire is lovely, not like you said at all. They can smile and they do sell my pasta sauce…” reads her postcard. Everything is beautiful, idyllic, exciting and her knitted crotchless panties are enjoying heavy use, then a tragedy in a campsite car park changes everything.
Imagine Bonnie & Clyde re-imagined by the Camping and Caravan Club. Death has a ginger beard, evil has a knitted jumper…watch it and then wonder what the f**k it was all about!
The Alternative Romantic Drama: Secretary
Film 4: Friday 27th December, 9.00pm
Romantic dramas don’t often stick in the mind, but place the focus on an employer-employee relationship based in sexual, sadomasochistic desires and chances are, people are going to sit up and take interest.
The brilliance of Secretary lies not in taking that as its central premise, but rather in creating one of the best films of the 00s from it. The relationship in question is between Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a self-harming young woman recently released from a mental institution and her demanding lawyer boss, Mr. E. Edward Grey (James Spader). When Lee first enters the office, she does so, a timid, broken individual, forever fearful of her employer, but as the pair draw closer and matters escalate, a new, confident, empowered girl emerges from the shadows…has Mr. E. Edward Grey finally found his equal?
While the subject matter may initially catch the eye, it’s the performances that really elevate Secretary. James Spader plays the slightly creepy guy better than anyone else in Hollywood while Gyllenhaal is simply sensational. Good actors captivate with their words, great actors do so with physical gestures, in Secretary, Gyllenhaal portrays her every thought, her every emotion, with just her eyes.
A bona fide indie classic.
The Alternative to New Years Eve: The Godfather Part II
Film 4: New Years Day, 12.20am
Such is its place in modern pop culture, very few words are needed in praise of The Godfather, a film so epic in scale, storytelling and so brilliantly cast that it seemed inconceivable that it could be bettered…in fact it took only two years and a sequel to do so.
While the original film told of the ascension of the reluctant Michael into his father’s seat of power, the second chapter ups the ante considerably, going forward as well as back. Michael’s continued rise is interspersed with a compelling backstory that charters how the young Vito established the Corleone empire in the early 20th century.
While the original film is indelibly associated with Marlon Brando and the sequel is renown for introducing Robert De Niro to the wider film going public, Pacino remains the star. If his journey from an idealistic college boy to unwilling boss in the first chapter is utterly compelling, his transition from reluctant head to malevolent monster in the second is chilling.
As a piece of cinema, The Godfather Part II is without equal, but hey, you could do a lot worse than watch the double bill. If you’re stuck at home, there’s few better ways of seeing in 2014.
The Alternative to Substance Over Style: Drive
BBC2: Friday 3rd January, 10.00pm
The term “style over substance” is often leveled at films as a criticism, usually with a degree of justification (see Michael Bay), but in the case of Drive, it’s a complement.
Drive is more about mood and atmosphere than plot. The supreme synth-laden soundtrack and the neon lights are what defines the film, rather than plot points and performances. Ryan Gosling plays the lead, but appropriately is a man of few words; his actions, whether long silences or sudden explosions of unspeakable violence live with the viewer, not any dialogue.
Carey Mulligan brings an element of humanity to the film, her presence affords ‘The Driver’ another dimension to his personality, but in essence she feels more like a plot device, there to simply explain and justify the escalation of events towards the end…again, this should be a criticism, but in this case it isn’t.
Flimsy plot, underdeveloped characters, visceral violence and yet brilliant? Only ‘B’ movies can negotiate such minefields and yet still earn plaudits. It just so happens that Drive might just be the best looking, best sounding ‘B’ movie you’ve ever seen.
The Alternative to The Hunger Games: Battle Royale
Film 4: Saturday 4th January, 1.30am
If you though that The Hunger Games was a fine, bravura piece of film making, pushing back boundaries and smashing cinematic taboos, it might be time to take a step back and reappraise.
More than a decade before Jennifer Lawrence carried a film featuring possibly the least charismatic male lead in celluloid history, Battle Royale was doing that same job of exploring brutalist Darwinian themes, but better, more effectively, more efficiently and way more bloodily than Hollywood EVER dare.
The film takes its name from the ‘Battle Royale Act’; a parliamentary bill passed with the aim of tackling an increasingly disrespectful generation of Japanese school goers. The act decrees that each year, a single school class should be chosen at random for a live, televised contest where every pupil is shipped out to an island, armed, and charged with fighting to the death, their aim, to become the sole survivor, come the end of the third day of competition.
A no holds barred two hours of machetes, crossbows, machine guns and bloodshed aplenty. The sort of film The Hunger Games, or indeed the latest Rambo could only ever dream of being.
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For Your Consideration 