Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point
As her kids Emily (Matilda Fleming) and Andrew (Justin Longo) endure the lipsticked kisses of numerous relatives in the foyer, Kathleen (Maria Dizzia, "My Old Ass") makes her way to greet her mother (Mary Reistetter), enthroned in her armchair. 'I haven't seen you in a while,' her mother notes and later Kathleen will be taken aback by her own daughter's distance at the dinner table. These two mother and daughter stories are but two strands of the intricate tapestry of the extended Bolsano family, all together for the last "Christmas Eve in Miller's Point."
Laura's Review: B
If you've seen his first film, you'll be prepared for something different from cowriter (with his "Ham on Rye" collaborator Eric Berger)/director Tyler Taormina, who instead of offering up a traditional narrative, instead gives us a picture of a Christmas Eve celebration that flits from snippets of conversation to exaggeratedly groaning tables of food to the kitschy bathroom decorations that make a house a home. Christmas cheer is suggested by 60's pop music without a holiday song on the soundtrack, at least until cousin Bruce (Chris Lazzaro) starts playing the piano for the inebriated adults left behind by teenaged children who've gone off to meet friends at a local diner, as well as to cutaways of cascading streams of red and green M&Ms, old toys and ornaments made from family photos.
Uncle Ronald (Steve Alleva) slaves at the stove, impressed by his own initiative to blanch the green beans while another relative is berated for bringing his salami sticks again, a rolled treat two young girls will be spotted flinging at the Christmas tree. Men gather in the garage with an old dart board and cold beers. After giggling finding Isabelle (JoJo Cincinnati) asleep in the chair lift and sending her up and down the stairs, everyone will gather to go outside and await the neighborhood fire truck bearing Santa in the rear. There is enough food at dinner to fill everyone's plate ten times, yet the ham and turkey appear untouched, Taormina's idea of nostalgic perfection. Old home movies converted to a video is put on to play, memories cherished and the deceased remourned. The adults will gather to discuss their declining family matriarch but no one will agree on the appropriate course of action. An aunt will find the manuscript Uncle Ray (Tony Savino) had given to a niece to read, absent mindedly left on an end table, an unknown talent revealed.
Despite the film's retro embrace of Christmas tradition, Taormina yanks us out of reality with his overt rear projection car scenes and his pair of dazed cops, Sergeant Brooks (Gregg Turkington, "Ant-Man") and Officer Gibson (producer Michael Cera) who flirt with a dangerous emotional confession. Both of these things seem out of place, although the officers provide links between scenes, especially when Emily rifles through the diner's dumpster much to its owner's outrage (what she's looking for is suggested, lying in the snow, and provides a surprisingly moving moment). The teens who gather in that diner to deride the capitalistic nature of Christmas regather in the parking lot of a commuter rail station and pair off in vehicles, their separate adventures recalling "American Graffiti" with a dollop of "Ham on Rye" subversion.
Director of Photography Carson Lund ("Ham on Rye") gives the whole the look of a 70's holiday commercial, production designer Paris Peterson overstuffing every space like Santa's gift bag. If the film has a central focus, it is Dizzia, last seen resting her head in her mother's lap on the home's glassed in porch, a moment of blessed peace during a long, chaotic evening. The enormous, well cast ensemble includes Ben Shenkman ("The Trial of the Chicago 7") as her husband Lenny, "Eight Grade's" Elsie Fisher and nepo kids Francesca Scorsese and Sawyer Spielberg, but the relative unknowns playing uncles, aunts and cousins each have their moments.
"Christmas Eve in Miller's Point" isn't your typical holiday movie, instead an experience like someone else's memories flooding one's senses. It is not for all tastes, but, if you're like me and feel a bit overwhelmed on first viewing, you may be surprised by its staying power.
Robin's Review: C
IFC Films releases "Christmas Eve in Miller's Point" in theaters on 11/8/24.
