SOFT

CHRISTMAS SCENES.

a pick six

by Hunter Jon

So, a ‘soft’ Christmas movie is one that either merely takes place during the holidays or features a Christmas scene (or many) but otherwise isn’t technically a Christmas movie. They are, naturally, not to be confused with ‘hard’ Christmas movies. I find the clearest and most obvious examples of each are “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “A Christmas Story”. The former doesn’t need to take place at Christmastime to tell its story, whereas if you remove all Christmas elements from the latter, you’re left with no story to tell.

The movies that end up making my December-Watch-List each year tend to be almost all hard Christmas movies. I don’t go out of my way to ensure this, it just kinda happens. However, a lot of my favourite Christmas themed scenes come from soft Christmas movies that I don’t necessarily watch every year. So I thought I’d take a moment to acknowledge and honour them.

Here are my six favourite Christmasy moments from soft Christmas movies that I don’t watch in December.

(I’ve included the appropriate amount of honourable mentions)

“The Walk Home” from GREMLINS (1984)

Nothing quenches youthful romantic longing quite like getting to walk your crush home alone. And if you muster up the courage to ask them out just before they say goodnight, even better. Let it snow and make that crush an impossibly adorable, bundled up Phoebe Cates and you’ve got the highlight of your movie. The above shot is my favourite of Dante’s entire career.

“A New Sled” from CITIZEN KANE (1941)

Being torn away from and deprived of a happy childhood, and an awesome sled, is the wound that never heals. Having the one responsible attempt to solve the sadness with a fancier second sled is the equivalent of squirting lemon juice into said wound. What a miserable Christmas for Charles. What a brilliantly symbolic scene for us.

“Lisbeth Writes a Christmas Card”
from THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2011)

Fincher brings a wonderful tenderness to this otherwise chilly tale. For me, the sweetest moment is when Lisbeth is seen preparing a card to go with the Christmas present she’s had made for Mikael. The image on the card is unusually sincere given who chose it, and the care with which she writes in and handles the card, then addresses the envelope, tells us everything. The fact that it ends up unopened in a dumpster is too sad to think about.

“The End” from TOY STORY (1995)

What better way to wrap this masterpiece up than with a little Christmas Day epilogue that also bookends the whole movie with gift giving? Woody and Buzz are finally not just friends but partners, as shown by Woody entrusting Buzz with the all-important present-reporting-duties and by the pillows behind them. The cosiness of this heart-warming ending is only amplified by the winter setting outside the window. Plus, everything introduced here is honoured nicely in the sequel. I always appreciated that.

“A Kiss Under the Mistletoe”
from BATMAN RETURNS (1992)

The moment directly after Selina and Bruce realize who each other really are is incredibly well played by all involved. Keaton pulling her back into their dance says so much. It’s more than just a “don’t make a scene” gesture. He’s not fastening his grip on her because he’s scared she’ll run off and tell someone his secret. It’s because now that he knows who he’s really dealing with, how mentally ill the woman in his arms is, he’s scared for her. She needs help but he’s gotta keep her close to give it to her. His instincts, as the stable one, are calm and correct. Hers, the unstable one with tears in her eyes, are to ask, “Does this mean we have to start fighting?” Perfect.

“Happy Christmas” from HARRY POTTER
AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE (2001)

It took six simple words.

“Happy Christmas, Harry.”

“Happy Christmas, Ron.”

 Six words to not only solidify that this blockbuster Hollywood franchise was definitely going to stay true to its British roots, as they say ‘happy’ instead of ‘merry’, but perfectly show us that these boys, who were strangers four months ago, are now better than best friends. They’re brothers.

“Silent Night” from LADY ON A TRAIN (1945)

Durbin rarely got to sing anything other than opera in her movies. This makes me cherish her beautiful rendition of “Silent Night” all the more. Her character is away from home on Christmas Eve for the first time and is singing it to her far away father over the phone to make them both feel a little bit closer to each other. The scene calls for her to sing most of the song while laying down, which is awkward staging and anyone else’s performance would’ve suffered. But Deanna pulls it off with her usual grace and charm.

“You Have No One Else to Call”
from CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (2002)

At its core, this is the story of a someone loosing the dishonest father who taught him how to cheat his way through life and finding an honest one who teaches him that the more fulfilling way to get ahead is by helping others. This is the scene you begin to realize all that. Or, at least, is when I did, making it my favourite out of the many Christmas scenes in this movie. Feeling lonely on Christmas Eve is almost uncomfortably relatable and Carl turning the tables by calling out that that’s the real reason for the call is a great moment. An even better one is when they reveal that Frank wasn’t lying about where he was staying.

“Three Christmas Scenes” from GOODFELLAS (1990)

From Jimmy outstretching his arms at the Christmas party to Stacks lying slumped on the floor next to his bloody bed, Scorsese offers a little Christmastime interlude that evokes a more authentic holiday feel than most full length yule tide fare. This sequence is used as the turning point in these guys’ lives. That moment when they’ve reached the very tip-top of the mountain… and quickly begin losing their balance as a result. I don’t know if in reality these moments historically took place in December or if it was just a choice. Either way, the seasonal setting works wonders. To conclude with killing Stacks in slow-motion to the smooth sounds of The Drifters singing “The Bells of St. Mary’s” is sublime cinema.

“Shall We?” from EYES WIDE SHUT (1999)

The masked ball gets all the attention, naturally. But there’s another side of that coin. The quiet heads to the loud tails. Both sides tell the same story: a man is lured into the unknown by lust, but leaves before indulging himself, only later to find out the whole dalliance could have cost him his life. However, whereas the orgy is all about pleasure by way of biology; a clinical transaction where the participants faces are meaningless, this scene is about proposed pleasure by way of a passionate connection; getting to see the others’ face is the whole point. For this reason, and many others (Vinessa Shaw), it’s the better, sexier and more memorable sequence if you ask a romantic.

“The Ice Dance”
from EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990) 

Burton isn’t really a words guy, is he? I mean, you wouldn’t ask him to tackle a Beckett play. Yet him and cinema seem made for each other. No more so than here. It’s as if the entire movie is one big set-up for this impossibly perfect payoff. He’s getting two profound things across here. The first is just how magnificent it is to witness a person suddenly experiencing something they’ve only ever dreamt of. It’s truly magical. But I’ve found people tend to forget what cuts this sequence short, which brings us to Tim’s second observation: sometimes, no matter how much beauty one tries to bring to the world, they will always end up inadvertently causing pain.