A Christmas Tale

A Christmas Tale (2008)
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993789/]

The Gist:
At first glance, the film doesn't have a lot to do with Christmas other than that is when it takes place. However, when I think of Christmas I think of a bitter sweet nostalgia that comes with it, this ineffable quality of grief that comes from the thought of your childhood and your family and the beautiful sorrow of snowfall and a Christmas tree filling your living room with soft light as you go to sleep. I don't really know how to describe it and I don't know why it feels that way, I just know what it does feels like, and whoever made this film knows it too. Beyond that the film is very French, in that people act in a way that I can't fully understand, they have a completely different way of seeing the world. That both makes the film fascinating and frustrating at times, mostly the former. Also the film makes very interesting stylistic choices, using the iris shot in a way that was just...well cool, and other things like that, your typical "post new-wave but probably watched a lot of new-wave films" style. Honestly, I mostly loved the film from top to bottom, the characters were always interesting, the writing was excellent, and it felt like a very unique experience. However, I will say that there were parts in the middle that lagged a bit and it needed to be edited down a good ten minutes. Other than that, it is an amazing film.