Welcome to the Punch Drunk Critics 12 days of Christmas, told with movies of course. We’re starting this the way I start my Christmas season every year, with Richard Curtis’s interweaving tale of Christmas magic, Love, Actually. Just a word of warning, this flick gets me sappy. I promise, not every entry in our 12 days will be sugary sweet but Love, Actually, well it gets me right in the feels.
The Christmas spirit, that’s what this movie gets most right, that’s why it is such an important part of my yuletide viewing experience. I can sit here and pontificate on the commercialization of Christmas and how we totally miss the point of the season, but I won’t. Yes, partly because I like getting gifts as much as the next guy but also because that aspect has become part of the season itself, a primal hunt for what we need. No, the reason I’m avoiding that part completely is that the movie does the same thing, it doesn’t damn us for mall fever it gently reminds us that the greatest joy comes from the original reason we are buying those gifts in the first place, so we can show those we love just how much we care. It’s funny, the film was made over ten years ago but its opening monologue stays more relevant today than ever. It’s a bit of dialogue that we should all read/hear at least once a year, preferably once a month. In today’s world of social media and constant commentary contributing to the overwhelming negativity that can cloud the world it’s increasingly important to sit down and be reminded that not only is love still out there, and I’m stealing Hugh Grant’s line here, Love, actually, is all around. So I’d ask you just to read this excerpt from the film, its opening lines and let it sink in, cheesy as it may be. Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinions starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.
I’m a kind of sucker for the emotional but I think we can all agree that this is a beautiful and needed sentiment. Once that actually outlines the film. The interconnected stories serve to show that the love shared through the season comes in many different shapes and sizes. From a recently widowed father trying to connect with his stepson to a pampered, past his prime rock star realizing that the friendship he shares with his much-maligned manager may just constitute the love of his life (it doesn’t have to be romantic love to make you happy, what a great thing to point out!). From the Prime Minister himself falling for his less than proper house maid, to a goofy twenty-something going to America to use his “cute British accent” to pick up girls. Each tale not only shows a different perspective on love and a different way in which it can be experienced, but also goes to great care to point out that love is love…one way is not better or worse than the other. Even the film’s least happy tale, of a husband and father contemplating an affair with his much younger secretary, shows his realization that lust and its immediate benefits pale in comparison to the long term feeling of real love, even if it’s not always as exciting. All of this is for not if it’s not done well. I’m not going to get into a full review here but I will say a two things, first, this is one of the most talented casts of the last 40 years and everyone seems to be all in…there isn’t a single performance I would say was “phoned in”. Second the locales, mostly London, are gorgeous and really feel like the prototypical picturesque Christmas. I mean, is there a more beautiful place than Britain during Christmas? I think I’ve made my case but I’ll reiterate once again that this should be the first movie for everyone to start the season, there’s no better way to be reminded of what it’s all about from the start.
Let's all do something this holiday season that makes us feel like this!
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