The holidays are a time for big emotions. The weather can get extreme, there’s too much to do, and family gatherings offer up wild swings of intense feeling: joy, excitement, apprehension, annoyance, exhaustion. The movies (and life) teach us that any holiday meal with a sufficient number of guests must involve drama of some sort: Somebody’s pregnant, somebody’s getting married or divorced, someone’s coming out of the closet, someone’s dying. The season truly has it all.
Movies offer us the opportunity to escape from all that by watching other people deal with their drama—and we’re not so much interested in subtlety and nuance, because that’s not what’s in the air. Is it even a Christmas movie if you’re not bawling into your eggnog? Many of the saddest Christmas movies share very similar plot beats (it’s Dickens’ world; we’re just living in it), but it’s in the execution that they rise or fall. The most successful of them take big swings and hit us right where we live.
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Obviously. It’s easy to dismiss It’s a Wonderful Life as over-played holiday schmaltz; constant public-domain airings resurrected it from near-obscurity, but also turned it into seasonal wallpaper. It’s always playing in the background, but nobody’s paying all that much attention—which is too bad, given that it’s a much weirder and more nuanced film than the bit about angels and bell-ringing would suggest. We can only watch as George Bailey compromise his dreams over and over again, only to find that what little he has built rests on a house of cards. America, amirite? There’s real emotion in George’s breakdown, and a (mostly) satisfying catharsis in the ending, which is harder won than in many other gentler, cozier Christmas classics. You can stream It's a Wonderful Life on Prime Video and The Roku Channel.
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime VideoCarol (2015)
The chemistry between Rooney Mara’s Therese and Cate Blanchett’s Carol is palpable from the moment their eyes meet across a crowded department store—but it’s the 1950s, and theirs is a love that dare not speak its name, even to one another. Queerphobia was, as we all know, entirely eradicated decades ago, so it might seem odd that a gay romance would raise eyebrows, but that’s just how things were back then. The women suffer for their love, but the tears come less when things are going bad as when it starts to feel like they might just possibly start to go a little right. You can stream Carol on Paramount+ and Netflix or rent it from Prime Video.
Carol (2015) at Paramount+ Learn More Learn More at Paramount+The Best Man Holiday (2013)
The sequel to 2013's The Best Man, this one quickly updates us on the fallout from that earlier film before moving into new territory (it’s not strictly necessary to have seen the original if you’re looking to dive straight into the holiday festivities). Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, and Sanaa Lathan lead the sequel, which offers a bold blend of off-color humor, hot shirtless guys, sincere religious themes, and shamelessly heartbreaking plot twists. It all somehow mostly holds together. It’s a well-acted soap opera with over-the-top moments of comedy, family drama, and tragedy, hitting every emotional beat you’d want from a holiday movie. You can stream The Best Man Holiday on Prime Video.
The Best Man Holiday (2013) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime VideoJoyeux Noël (2005)
A fictionalized version of a true story, this Academy Award nominee deals with an unusual moment during the first year of World War I, when, at several points along the front lines, French, German, and British soldiers called a series of informal truces, often mingling to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The German Crown Prince even sent the lead singer of the Berlin opera to perform along the front lines, entertaining both sides. In dramatizing the event, the filmmakers understand that the truce was both glorious and absurd. Those complicated feelings, and the knowledge that what we’re seeing represents a momentary lull in a war that would continue for years, make for powerful emotional moments. You can stream Joyeux Noël on Paramount+ or rent it from Prime Video.
Joyeux Noël (2005) at Paramount+ Learn More Learn More at Paramount+A Midnight Clear (1992)
A different war, and a different Christmas truce (after a fashion) feature in Keith Gordon's A Midnight Clear, set during the Battle of the Bulge near the end of World War II. A small, inexperienced intelligence squad is sent to occupy an abandoned chateau to gather information on German movements. The Germans quickly have them dead to rights, but step away and, instead, begin to send signals (Christmas carols; a snowball fight) that they're not interested in fighting anymore. They realize that the war is coming to an end, and they hope to make a deal with the Americans: a mock fight and a quick surrender to avoid bloodshed. Of course, what sounds reasonable to soldiers on the frontline is completely anathema to the ones giving the orders. You can stream A Midnight Clear on Prime Video, Peacock, and Tubi.
A Midnight Clear (1992) at Peacock Learn More Learn More ... Read More Details
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