A BOY CALLED CHRISTMAS
***
Director: Gil Kenan
Screenwriters: Gil Kenan and Ol Parker, based on the eponymous novel by Matt Haig.
Principal cast:
Henry Lawfull
Maggie Smith
Jim Broadbent
Sally Hawkins
Toby Jones
Kristin Wiig
Stephen Merchant
Country: UK/France
Classification: PG
Runtime: 106 mins.
Australian release date: 25 November 2021.
Featuring the cream of British acting talent (the only people missing are Dame Judy Dench and Benedict Cumberbatch), A Boy Called Christmas makes a very obvious pitch to be this year’s most popular Yule season release. With a moral which proposes that, “Being good is better than being rich”, it certainly should be widely seen - it’s an important message for younger viewers, although it may come too late for their elders. Director Gil Kenan claims that he didn’t set out to make a classic Xmas movie, that he just wanted to do Matt Haig’s 2015 book justice, saying, “I did feel that [it] was a classic Christmas story, and one that actually caught me off-guard. Like a lot of Matt’s writing, it’s entertaining at first glance, but also soul-fulfilling and life-affirming. There’s an uncommon depth to his stories - an emotional and thematic depth that I don’t think you are prepared for.” The Guardian agreed with Kenan’s assessment of the book, endorsing it as an instant classic and Stephen Fry, no less, described it as “the most evergreen, immortal Christmas story to be published for decades.”
A Boy Called Christmas begins on Christmas Eve in present-day London, where we see an elderly woman, Aunt Ruth (Maggie Smith) approaching the only house in the street without a display of Christmas lights. On arrival, we see that the unadorned house (no Christmas tree, no presents, no joy) is inhabited by a recently widowed father Matt (Joel Fry) and his three children. Matt has to work, so Aunt Ruth is there to babysit the depressed kids and try to cheer them up; thus, she begins to tell them a story that begins, “You may find this hard to believe but, long ago, nobody knew about Christmas…” As her tale begins, the children’s interest is piqued when they learn that it takes place in Finland and involves a motherless boy, Nikolas (Henry Lawfull), and his poor woodcutter father, Joel (Michiel Huisman), a kingdom ruled by a sad king (Jim Broadbent), a magical reindeer called Blitzen, a talking mouse named Miika (voiced by Stephen Merchant), a troll and the mystical land of Elfhelm, home of the elves (including Sally Hawkins and Toby Jones). And, as is the nature of these things, it also features a quest involving a hidden map left by Nikolas’s mother.
Co-writer Ol Parker is known for more adult fare, films like the two The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (no-one has an unblemished record), but this is the first time he’s turned his hand to children’s material and he and his writing partner, the director, have done a reasonably good job of it. There’s enough to engage adults and it certainly gets the attention of young audiences. The children at the screening I attended were all quiet and watchful, engrossed. Stephen Merchant’s talking mouse had them eating out of his hand, well, paw. A Boy Called Christmas is a gentle tale where good triumphs over evil and all’s right with the world, in the end, although there is some sorrow along the way. As the film states, “the only thing you live with in life is the Truth, but it can be painful.”
Screenwriters: Gil Kenan and Ol Parker, based on the eponymous novel by Matt Haig.
Principal cast:
Henry Lawfull
Maggie Smith
Jim Broadbent
Sally Hawkins
Toby Jones
Kristin Wiig
Stephen Merchant
Country: UK/France
Classification: PG
Runtime: 106 mins.
Australian release date: 25 November 2021.
Featuring the cream of British acting talent (the only people missing are Dame Judy Dench and Benedict Cumberbatch), A Boy Called Christmas makes a very obvious pitch to be this year’s most popular Yule season release. With a moral which proposes that, “Being good is better than being rich”, it certainly should be widely seen - it’s an important message for younger viewers, although it may come too late for their elders. Director Gil Kenan claims that he didn’t set out to make a classic Xmas movie, that he just wanted to do Matt Haig’s 2015 book justice, saying, “I did feel that [it] was a classic Christmas story, and one that actually caught me off-guard. Like a lot of Matt’s writing, it’s entertaining at first glance, but also soul-fulfilling and life-affirming. There’s an uncommon depth to his stories - an emotional and thematic depth that I don’t think you are prepared for.” The Guardian agreed with Kenan’s assessment of the book, endorsing it as an instant classic and Stephen Fry, no less, described it as “the most evergreen, immortal Christmas story to be published for decades.”
A Boy Called Christmas begins on Christmas Eve in present-day London, where we see an elderly woman, Aunt Ruth (Maggie Smith) approaching the only house in the street without a display of Christmas lights. On arrival, we see that the unadorned house (no Christmas tree, no presents, no joy) is inhabited by a recently widowed father Matt (Joel Fry) and his three children. Matt has to work, so Aunt Ruth is there to babysit the depressed kids and try to cheer them up; thus, she begins to tell them a story that begins, “You may find this hard to believe but, long ago, nobody knew about Christmas…” As her tale begins, the children’s interest is piqued when they learn that it takes place in Finland and involves a motherless boy, Nikolas (Henry Lawfull), and his poor woodcutter father, Joel (Michiel Huisman), a kingdom ruled by a sad king (Jim Broadbent), a magical reindeer called Blitzen, a talking mouse named Miika (voiced by Stephen Merchant), a troll and the mystical land of Elfhelm, home of the elves (including Sally Hawkins and Toby Jones). And, as is the nature of these things, it also features a quest involving a hidden map left by Nikolas’s mother.
Co-writer Ol Parker is known for more adult fare, films like the two The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (no-one has an unblemished record), but this is the first time he’s turned his hand to children’s material and he and his writing partner, the director, have done a reasonably good job of it. There’s enough to engage adults and it certainly gets the attention of young audiences. The children at the screening I attended were all quiet and watchful, engrossed. Stephen Merchant’s talking mouse had them eating out of his hand, well, paw. A Boy Called Christmas is a gentle tale where good triumphs over evil and all’s right with the world, in the end, although there is some sorrow along the way. As the film states, “the only thing you live with in life is the Truth, but it can be painful.”