This text is part of the special booklet Culture as a gift
Group celebrations aside, the holidays are also an opportunity to stay at home to take advantage of the gargantuan offer offered by platforms and television. Some, however, like to venture into the snow to the cinema to take a seat in front of the big screen in the middle of the week, when the days no longer count and we have lost track of time. Between the timeless classics, the releases to watch and the essentials of the season, here are our recommendations of works to watch without moderation during the Christmas break.
To see at the cinema
Among the Quebec releases expected shortly, we note North of Albany, by Marianne Farley (theatrical release on December 2), the first feature film by the director nominated for an Oscar in 2019 for her short film Daisy. In this thriller-like family drama, a mother (Céline Bonnier) wants to save her daughter (Zeneb Blanchet) at all costs: in doing so, she flees to the United States, but breaks down in the Adirondacks.
The romantic comedy December 23, by Miryam Bouchard (theatrical release on November 25), written by India Desjardins, promises a friendly and warm choral film, a very sweet Quebec holiday tale, a rather rare creation among us. The film features a cast of renowned Quebec actors such as Guylaine Tremblay, Michel Barrette, Virginie Fortin and Christine Beaulieu.
In terms of international film-events, we note The Whale (The whale), drama by Darren Aronofsky (theatrical release on December 23), which thrilled the crowds at the last Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The feature film marks the great return of actor Brendan Fraser, unrecognizable under his magnifying prostheses, but above all touching, we are told, in the role of a bereaved English teacher who goes through life with difficulty, his morbid obesity undermining his life more and more each day.
The highly anticipated babylonby Damien Chazelle (theatrical release December 23), director of La La Land, stars Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie in the Hollywood of the 1920s, at the time of the transition from silent cinema to talkies. The film promises the creative and shimmering scenography and direction specific to the American-French filmmaker.
Planning a movie outing with the kids? Try French animated films Ernest and Celestine. The trip to Charabie (December 16) or The little Nicolas. What are we waiting for to be happy? (December 23). For the older ones, Avatar. The Way of the Water (December 16), by James Cameron, sequel to the immensely popular Avatar (2009), will certainly offer enough action and special effects to satisfy the most fond of the genre. In this film which, it is conceded, arrives long after the publication of the first of the series, we find Jake Sully and Neytiri, now parents, who must leave their nest in order to wage a war against humans, who threaten the safety of their community. Kate Winslet is one of the new recruits of this second opus. Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver will reprise their respective roles.
Télé-Québec: 40 years of classics
On Saturday, December 10, the more than traditional television festivities of Ciné-Cadeau will be launched, a family program offered by Télé-Québec every year for the past 40 years. Every day at 9 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. until 1er January, the channel spoils us with a selection of classics for young and old.
As for Quebec productions, the most essential The tuque war (1984) and Bach and Bootie (1986) will be presented. Ciné-Cadeau rhymes of course with the animated versions of Asterix and Tintin, whose most memorable adventures (Asterix and Cleopatra, The 12 labors of Asterix, Tintin and the shark lake) are part of the selection. This year, Télé-Québec is even offering additional viewing in the form of three podcast episodes, where host Mathieu Bouillon and his guests revisit the films of Ciné-Cadeau. Accompanied by Antoine Vézina, Tammy Verge, Guillaume Lambert, Nicolas Michon, Catherine Ethier and Charles Beauchesne, the comedian and author discusses Christmas movies from our childhood. Some, like Peter the cat without a tailare no longer on view today, but are humorously dissected, while others, such as the Asterix series, are celebrated with all the gentle nostalgia necessary for the exercise.
Netflix: grandiose and amazing
On Netflix, the holiday viewing offering is plentiful — and massive. In addition to the entire catalog of Christmas films accumulated year after year, the giant of streaming broadcasts from November new releases of the genre not to be missed. First, impossible to miss the big return of Lindsay Lohan in the cutesy Falling for Christmas (Christmas falls on time), a film with a predictable script which, despite everything, holds up thanks to the inexhaustible charisma of its star, who is always funny and bright. Lohan takes on the role of a wealthy heiress to a hotel magnate who becomes amnesiac following a skiing accident.
Do we need yet another adaptation of Dickens’ classic A Christmas tale ? It would seem so. Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (out December 2), an English animated film, brings the tale to the screen in an energetic and colorful version. Shall we try it for the holidays?
A new version of Pinocchioworn by Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro (released December 9), transports the century-old story into a stop-motion which promises to contain all the magic, emotion and wonder of Del Toro’s creations. The film sets the story in post-war Fascist Italy, a screenplay freedom that allows it to tackle darker themes, but also to place its protagonist’s quest for humanity in a more serious context.
Matilda. Musical comedy, an original Netflix production, brings the successful stage adaptation of Roald Dahl’s novel to the small screen (released December 25). Emma Thompson plays M.me Trunchbull, scary headmistress who hates children. Winner of several awards, the English musical will be enhanced with songs specifically composed for the film.
After a successful premiere at TIFF, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Glass onion. A mystery at loggerheads) allows you to find the investigator Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) in a new adventure full of twists and turns (released on December 23). The film follows a game of murder mysteries that degenerates when a real corpse is found by the participants.
Disney+, the nostalgic
Disney+ of course offers the animation canons of Disney and Pixar – how can you resist it? — but is no slouch when it comes to holiday novelties. Among the films already released in November are Disenchantedsequel to the popular Enchanted, where we find Princess Giselle (Amy Adams) 15 years later, who tries somehow to breathe magic into her daily life… at the expense of those around her. The soundtrack is signed by legend Alan Menken, behind many of the great Disney musical classics of the 1990s… like The beauty and the Beast, whose special program of 30th anniversary celebrations is expected on December 16. We are promised musical performances that have not yet been seen before, but also a scenic rendition of the film’s greatest numbers, shot in the Disney studios.
Encanto will also be entitled to its special on stage, a recording of a concert at the Hollywood Bowl in the company of all the stars of the film, an orchestra of 80 musicians and 50 dancers (released on December 28). It’s true that Disney does nothing better than rehash its past memories and successes: that’s why the documentary Mickey: The Story of a Mousea feature film on the most famous mouse in the world, recounts while praising the genesis and history of the character.
Outside the corpus, we also eye the side of the curious The Hip Hop Nutcracker, a version, we guess, contemporary and carried by the hip-hop of the classic Russian ballet. On the streets of New York, Marie-Clara enlists the help of a nutcracker and a toymaker to reunite her feuding parents in time for New Year’s Eve. Finally, the documentary fire of love deserves our attention more than anything — the feature film follows the volcanologist couple Katia and Maurice Krafft, who died in a volcanic explosion in 1991. Through surreal archive footage, we discover the life of a larger than life couple in a singular proposition about love, passion and immortality.
Crave and Apple TV: the cream of the holiday season
On Crave, you’ll probably find the largest selection of holiday classics. The choral film with a romantic flavor Love Actually (2003); elf (2003), starring Will Ferrell and Zooey Deschanel; Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), with Jim Carrey; and even Quebec Red nose (2003) are notably part of the holiday collection of the viewing platform.
If you want to catch up, don’t miss the many Quebec films available on the platform, such as the recent Goodbye happiness, by Ken Scott, filmed in the Magdalen Islands, which recounts the torments of four brothers reunited despite their differences for their father’s funeral. In this tragicomic family drama featuring a starry cast (Antoine Bertrand, Louis Morrissette, François Arnaud, Patrice Robitaille), we find the breath of the screenplay of The great seductionwith which Ken Scott charmed us 20 years ago. norbourg, by Maxime Giroux, on the Vincent Lacroix scandal, transports us to the heart of this financial scandal at the turn of the 2000s.
On Apple TV, we are offered a fine selection of films and episodes of Peanutsas the Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales. It’s hard to miss Snoopy and his gang when the holidays are approaching, and the exclusivity given to Apple TV for the festive season makes you want to buy a subscription to the platform, if you haven’t already.
Other platforms to discover
Feel like you’ve done all the holiday movies? Several smaller streaming platforms also offer a nice selection of treasures to watch. On the NFB, there are of course a ton of Quebec classics, but also a large collection of Aboriginal productions, including several Inuit short films, currently being put forward.
On Tënk, a platform dedicated to documentaries from here and elsewhere, the changing selection rotates every 30 days, always offering a veritable bottomless pit of content to discover. Criterion Channel, the arthouse DVD production company’s broadcast platform, is teeming with classics, as well as indie films from around the world that you absolutely must check out. Of course, this is a platform for die-hard movie fans — and those who are probably bored of video stores.
For children, we turn to the youth section of ICI Tou.tv to catch up on the platform’s colorful original creations, such as the web series Barbados, where the drag queen and music teacher offers an incursion into the world of instruments in the company of artists such as Klô Pelgag, Sarahmée or the Montreal group Clay and Friends. Happiness guaranteed!
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.