Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas was made with only three film crew members, not including the director, in case you were curious the level of 'indie-ness' in this film.

Joe Swanberg writes, directs and stars in Happy Christmas, the ensemble indie film that touches on the real life minor predicament that occurs during the holiday.

Recently broken up with her boyfriend, Jenny decides to crash at her brother Jeff's and his wife Kelly's house in Chicago while she considers laying roots in the city for a change of pace. She drinks and smokes away her sadness while she desperately tries to distract herself, coping terribly while hanging out with her old friend Carson and new friend Kevin.

Happy Christmas is a film for fans of the typical indie genre film. It utilizes real life cinematography and puts a microscope to the real life problems within the mundanities of life. This is not some film about profound transformation or extraordinary circumstances. In fact, Happy Christmas is so ordinary in its subject matter that 20-something viewers should see themselves or their friends in this film.

If you, as a typical movie viewer, enjoy to put a mirror to real everyday life then you should give this film a shot. If you typically watch films to escape or put yourself into a film beyond your routine existence, then you should stay away, far away.

Happy Christmas is a grainy film to watch, and was probably not shot in 1080p and then upscaled. this yields a mildly pixelated appearance which is nauseating on anything larger than a computer screen. Most of the film appears to be shot using hand-held or a steadicam operator which is extremely distracting as the film sight line moves along the edges of the frame. My guess is the techniques employed for the cinematography of Happy Christmas were deliberate to truly capture the reality in vision.

Though Joe Swanberg is listed as the screenwriter of the film it seems as though most of the dialogue was improv-ed, and poorly. Mark Webber who plays Kevin and Anna Kendrick who plays the self-destructive Jenny are the most natural and believable of the bunch. Otherwise the scenes are stiff and slow with a lot of awkward pauses from the dull and banal conversation topics. The star of the film is baby Jude, real life son of director Joe Swanberg, who is so comfortable and natural that you can't help but be enamored by his energy, alas if only the whole film was like him.

Happy Christmas is a narrative nonevent of a film that will be contemptibly boring to some and realistically introspective to others.

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This is a film I would like to forget, a complete waste of time. The only entertainment I found in this came from watching the performance of the little boy, Jude Swanberg, who was very cute and amusing.

Also, while I was trying to keep track of the number of times Lena Dunham was using the word "like", Anna Kendrick started trying to outdo her. I just stopped counting. I was like, is she like making like fun of her like, or like just like unconsciously like copying her like way of like talking?

I saw an old interview with Lena Dunham and she really did talk that way all the time.

I've just checked out a more recent interview, and she seems cured now, thank goodness.

Joe Swanberg who wrote, directed and played one of the leading roles in this his latest film is known for his improvisational independent films. Although I liked, as other reviewers have noted his recent movie "Drinking Buddies", I felt this film's improvisations failed in that the dialogue was too stilted, awkward, and filled with what appeared to be inside jokes that the cast would laugh at, ignoring basically the viewers that were watching. Thus the whole thing just got more and more annoying for me as it progressed.

The plot centers on the loving couple of Kelly (Melanie Lynskey) and Jeff Spelling (Swanberg) and their adorable son Jude welcoming to their home, in Chicago around Christmas time, Jeff's sister Jenny (Anna Kendrick), after she just broke up with her boyfriend. Once Jenny enters the scene, they'll be a lot of scenes involving pot smoking, drinking, sex, and explicit sex talk. They'll be other plot elements involving Jenny's irresponsibility and her attempts along with her friend Carson (Lena Dunham) to convince Kelly to devote more time to her writing and to get help with the raising of her son.

All in all, as mentioned, I just felt the improvisational approach here just didn't work, and the movie ended up having little entertainment value for me.

OK it's mumblecore. You knew that before you hit the pay button. What did you expect? There is no script. It is actors improvising trying to be natural and create real drama out of pure inspiration. It's an interesting idea at least, especially for actors I imagine. You are not going to get bloody Shakespeare are you. But what you do get is a real sense of being present in the lives of the people involved. I feel like I know Joe Swanberg, or the gorgeous wife, or Lena Dunham... but most of all, and praise be to Jesus, it's like I know Anna Kendrick. She gives a superb performance of a very funny dysfunctional character with some very funny scenes and for me it was worth it just to watch her. The baby is hilarious too. It's about as entertaining as watching a real family fight going on if you are just a spectator. But hey, sometimes that is a lot of fun.

One thing's for sure – anyone who expects "Happy Christmas" to be some kind of indie Christmas movie is going to be sorely disappointed. Joe Swanberg's follow-up to "Drinking Buddies" has the same naturalistic style and relationship focus as that breakout film – both are short and seemingly aimless movies exploring different interpersonal dynamics between characters.

"Happy Christmas" centers around a young husband and wife (Swanberg and Melanie Lynskey) and their 2-year-old (Jude Swanberg) and what happens when the husband's 20-something sister (Anna Kendrick), who's in a much different place in life and coming off a break-up, moves in. The film is very much an experiment in how the younger sister's presence in the home shakes up dynamics and behaviors, especially when she engages in her own irresponsible behavior.

Swanberg's goal is to capture the subsequent interactions with as much authenticity as possible, which means a lot of improvised dialogue. Each conversation in the film probably only had one or two necessary scripted moments. What's beautiful about this approach is that relating to these characters takes no effort, especially those of us who count ourselves as young adults. That naturalism makes Swanberg's films so refreshing, even when it doesn't seem to have a point other than to be natural.

To some extent, the casting really makes a difference. One could argue that without established talents in this movie and "Drinking Buddies" that both films would flounder. To see a big star and talent like Kendrick appearing in a super grounded film playing a character that has none of her stuff together matters; Jenny is not Kendrick's usual type and this role showcases her raw acting ability in a way no other has. Lena Dunham, on the other hand, is right at home playing Jenny's friend Carson, and seems to have only been cast to help facilitate the improvisational style.

Of course the best casting of all is Swanberg's son, who easily gives the best performance by a 2-year-old in a movie ever. Presumably the presence of his dad made it easy for him to just behave naturally with all the other actors, but he accounts for a majority share of the film's entertainment value.

"Happy Christmas" is not a bad movie, but we usually don't watch films just to watch characters have realistic interactions with each other. Swanberg crafts these really touching moments when two characters seemingly at odds with each other find a moment of mutual understanding and appreciation, but the fact of the matter is these moments don't serve any large purpose or narrative, so they fall flat. Tack on the film's anti-climactic ending, both in terms of plot and themes, and it feels like all the good work Swanberg does is for naught. For his films to be special and resonant, he's going to need to give audiences a little more of what they want and expect. It would definitely be possible for him to achieve this without compromising his style and vision. For starters, don't put "Christmas" in the title if Christmas has minimal relevance to your movie.

~Steven C

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