This is How Movies Should Be Made

Nice effects though.

Lack of good storyline.

A Major Disappointment

This story just happens to take place during the Christmas season ! ! It is not a Christmas story for family viewing during the holidays - and thank 'Gawd' for that. Forget the reviews that can't seem to grasp this important element of the plot.This is a story that makes a wonderful statement about how Christmas is seen as all happiness and bright lights and celebration. Christmas is something we do - nobody lives the message. People still live their public and private life. People are seldom what they seem to be and that is the story of this film. It is all about Suzanne Barrington's journey in learning this lesson.Suzanne is innocent. She thinks all is well with her marriage and her husband is the wonderful man he is when with her. After the "tragedy" Suzanne discovers all is not happiness and bright lights with her husband. And since she loved him she goes on a journey into his secret life to try to understand the man she was married to. How could he be all sweetness and surprises when with her yet at the same time have a stripper pole dancer drug user as his mistress. The only way Suzanne can gain insight into her husband's mind is to go live his secret life. This she cannot do because she is not him!Suzanne also learns another truth about her sweet as sugar neighbors, and tries to fit in but she cannot! This story is all Suzanne's journey into trying to find her place in life after too many ugly truths fall upon her at a time of year when beauty and hope and false illusion surround all of us.This is fine cinema and fine acting by all ! !

Well yes, once again we see that seconds do indeed count when editing a film, don't they? And more are definitely not always better. This movie could well be used in film school to illustrate exactly that point. A scene of someone lying on a couch farting and then sniffing could maybe, maybe be amusing for two or three seconds, but add just one or two or (NO!) three or four more beats and the drag factor just multiplies agonizingly. She stands on a meaningless beach, and we must sit and watch her stand on that beach. Over and over again she cries while sitting on a toilet, and there we are stuck in the airless bathroom with her, endlessly and pointlessly observing until we realize that the great thing about the old days of VHS was that the fast forward button was always right there so very close and ready in our grip. One important point I would like to make is that this is NOT a family Christmas movie, despite the title and some reviewers calling it a dark comedy. It involves death and drugs and porn and alcohol abuse and pathetically, childishly, boringly simulated sex. I have the strong suspicion that no one involved in this project has ever had an actual orgasm. And that includes the caterers and the key grips, dammit. And there's even an orgy in the movie! Don't get your hopes up about that, its about as erotic and intimate as an SNL skit, without any musical guest to look forward to. One last point for yall film school kids... dialog is a really, really good thing. And it costs nothing. Most of the conversations in this movie are three or four sentences long and the last one is usually "Me too" or "I know". And then we are left staring at a dining table or a mall or one more too long time at the reliably blank and dazed actress's face. And we certainly know just how she feels. Or rather, doesn't feel. And what oh what is the deal with so many directors feeling the need to show people throwing up? With actual material seen coming out of their mouths? Is there supposed to be something interesting or real or daring about that? Enough! I seem to see it all the time and there is simply not. Three vomits in one movie is prove that the storytellers really had nothing whatsoever better to say. A man does die unexpectedly early in this film, and as time went on I noticed myself experiencing a certain gut response to his quick exit and I just now realized what that feeling actually was... envy. NOBODY has enough time to watch this movie. Quadriplegics don't have that kind of time on their hands.

What you need to know ahead of any spoilers, you can pretty much surmise the "adult nature" of some scenes from the cover of a Christmas tree made out of lines of cocaine. The plot will still surprise you, but you'll have a warning. Also, do not watch this movie with your in-laws and probably not your parents either. It's an independent movie and while the lead actress is great and the camera is close on her face for what seems like most of the movie; she carries it off. Some scenes start with that awkward pause that happens in low budget movies, like the actors are still waiting for their cue. Sets are sparsely decorated and all shot on location in small homes, etc. The pacing and transition could have been better. It seemed to jump from scene to scene and many scenes suffer from a lack of a second camera angle. If all that puts you off, then don't watch this one. If you are looking for some originality in storytelling do watch. Another strong point is the sense of place. I've lived in Northern Virginia and even Crystal City briefly and the movie captures not just the suburban nature, but the specific Southern, East Coast conservative style of the area.**SPOILERS** The lead character prefers dressing in beige, loves to shop, sells real estate, takes comfort in decorating for the holidays, and it would have been so easy to create a stereotype of a naive and uptight person. The shock value of the sex and drugs would have been even greater, but I think that would have been a much more simplistic movie. Instead we don't think of her wild behavior as a reaction to some repressed urges, but as part of whatever her grief process is. Maybe her actions are hard to understand, but not impossible. Also, I wanted more scenes with the news anchor and her husband. They were out way too soon. Overall, the originality of the lead character and the fact that the emotional focus of the story did not get lost in the craziness of the scenes overcomes its lack of production values.

The obscene and mundane nature of this film will throw some people off, but dark comedies aren't suppose to avoid disturbances, drabness, or oddity. The Director, Zach Clark, manages to convey great emotion in everyday occurrences, sometimes without dialogue, which is quite a feat. He does it in a different type of Christmas movie that is centered around a tragedy, but which has a humorous touch that keeps it entertaining, and that conveys ideas with a real heart. Though Anna Margaret Hollyman isn't well-known, she does a great job anchoring the film as a character who desperately wants it to feel like Christmas despite being overcome with grief. If you enjoy dark humor and don't need a movie to lecture you, or be overly puritanical, I highly recommend White Reindeer. It is a low-budget classic.