O Night Divine

O Night Divine kinda brings back the memories from back in the days when we were growing up and would go to church to practice Christmas carros and dress like people from the bible whole performing in front of an audience. Growing up in a Christian home I was taught to celebrate Christmas and our parents would start preparations as early as the first week of December. Not to spoil this movie for anybody but I would say it will set the mood for Christmas somehow as we do in our home by watching Christmas movies together. I leave this comment here to remind me next time that I already watched this movie when am too old to remember...

Isn't a Christmas movie supposed to be touching, moving and surprising?! This stuff was just boring, not a tear nor a smile; all along the 43 munutes you have the impression the film is going to "start", that something is gonna happens but it doesn't.

I have seen dozens of Christmas commercials more moving than this.

Luca Guadagnino's Christmas tale "O Night Divine" is a magical spectacle to the senses where anything can happen at a hotel on the Swiss Alps. A young down-on-luck street singer (Alex Wolff) gets thrown from the entrance of a fancy hotel, but luck comes his way when a loaded credit card falls into his hands which grants a stay there. However, the hotel manager (Hailey Gates) is suspicious of him since she saw see him outside and she keeps finding ways to get rid off him. Parallel to this, there's the story of a young girl neglected by her parents who follows a mysterious man (John C. Reilly) who might be the real Santa Claus.

It's a series of curious vignettes, at times with humor, other times playing a little serious but it has a full positive effect overall. It has a vibe from a silent film during the early minutes, than moves to present the Scrooge-like hotel manager and her bossy ways with a recently promoted assistant (Samia Benazzouz) who tries her best to please the boss.

But the elegance and exuberance from the place, the festivities later on, it all conquers with plenty of style and refinement - not sure why but I was reminded of "The Grand Budapest Hotel", it's a quite grandiose experience that feels like magic yet you believe in everything.

A perfect kind of movie to spend the holidays, with humor, lightness, and with a positive strong message to show. With some thoughtout ideas and a better presentation of certain events this could be perfect (I imagine what would be like if being made as a feature with a longer running time). It's pretty good but it could have been great. Mr. Reilly was a fun treat as the Kris Kringle guy. 8/10.