Happiest Season

In a year where so much is so weird from all we ever knew, the same goes for the film industry. Most theaters are closed and major film releases have moved to digital releases or platforms. Because of this, I feel like I’ve seen a lot less new movies this year. There’s just something about paying for a movie to watch from home that I haven’t quite latched on to yet. Maybe because growing up, pay-per-view wasn’t something I did. My family had a Blockbuster membership which translated into a Netflix subscription once Blockbuster shuttered almost all of their stores nationwide (Yes, I still have a DVD subscription and I rarely use it these days. Probably should change that but oh well.) For a while that was it. Nowadays, Streaming subscriptions are plentiful. There’s Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Video/Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, Apple TV, etc. To have all of these, it costs just as much or more than cable though making it a battle of picking and choosing what’s worth it for you. Again I haven’t latched on, so for me, it’s just Netflix. Thankfully, I have a few a friends who have shared access to their streaming platforms with me making it easier to see some releases that went the digital route this year. One of those was the film Happiest Season which was released on Hulu on November 25th.

Happiest Season is a Christmas themed romantic comedy written by Clea DuVall and Mary Holland. DuVall also directed the film while Holland joined the cast as Jane Caldwell. Normally a Christmas romantic comedy isn’t something to write home about. There’s tons of them. What makes this Christmas rom-com unique is that it centers around a lesbian couple.

Kristen Stewart stars as Abby Holland and Mackenzie Davis plays her girlfriend Harper Caldwell. In the movie, Harper invites Abby to come home with her for Christmas after about a year of dating. Then on the way to her parents’ home, Harper explains she isn’t out to her family. When Abby argues how strange it is to be bringing a girl home for the holidays, she says that she told her family that Abby is just her roommate who didn’t have anywhere else to go for Christmas because her parents had passed away several years earlier, thus creating an interesting situation for Abby meeting her girlfriend’s family for the first time.

Obviously the movie is part coming out story, but the film doesn’t over-do it in a way that it’s the central issue. It overlaps the coming out story with the struggle of Abby and Harper’s relationship because Harper is partially closeted and some familial issues in Harper’s family indicated by both Harper and her sisters Jane, played by Holland, and Sloane, played by Alison Brie. Overall I think this layering creates something more than just another LGBTQ film about coming out.

The movie also stars Dan Levy as Abby’s friend John, Victor Garber as Harper’s dad Ted, Mary Steenburgen as Harper’s mom Tipper, Aubrey Plaza as Harper’s ex-girlfriend Riley, and Jake McDorman as Harper’s ex-boyfriend Connor which rounds out a solid cast for this modern holiday film. Tegan and Sara also contributed to the film’s soundtrack with the original song “Make You Mine This Season.” It’s such a bop too.

When I saw previews for this movie in early November I was stoked for its release. I’m usually not one to spend my days watching a ton of movies on Netflix or other services so I planned out a time I could create a movie experience where I made popcorn and watched the entirety of the film. Is this movie unreal, spectacular, and overall brilliant film-making? No. Not a chance, but it is good! It’s a super solid main stream Christmas themed rom-com with an LGBTQ storyline though, which hooked me from the get-go. There is also some great chemistry between Kristen Stewart and Aubrey Plaza’s characters. Spoiler alert though, it doesn’t amass to anything so don’t say I was creating some false hype.

I think for me this movie created a nice escape from the oddity that is 2020. It was just nice to feel a world of normalcy around Christmas time. It reminded me of the past few years that I went on vacations in December amongst the Christmas season. The movie was actually filmed in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas in early 2020 and finished right before lockdowns began so it really was a part of that last bout of normalcy. It’s refreshing to see and a hopeful reminder of what our future can hold.

So if you’re looking for a new holiday film to check out and escape the world with this year, I highly recommend Happiest Season. It’s a modern holiday rom-com that provides some funny moments and a bit of romance that doesn’t over-do the genre. It may put you in the holiday mood or it might make you a bit frustrated that Abby and Riley don’t end up together. In general though, it will definitely give you some relief from whatever negative feelings you have about this year and that’s something good that we all need.

The Film Playlist: Bohemian Rhapsody

Obviously a film title that is also a song title would have no trouble making The Film Playlist. In fact, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to write about a film for the playlist. The latest Freddie Mercury biopic released on November 2nd in the U.S.  happens to be too good not to include.

The film stars Rami Malek as the late great Freddie Mercury, frontman for the legendary British rock and roll band Queen. Bohemian Rhapsody tells the story of Freddie Mercury and Queen from their founding until their performance at Live Aid in 1985. It also stars Gwilym Lee as Brian May, Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor, Joe Mazzello as John Deacon and Lucy Boynton as Mary Austin. The screenplay was written by Anthony McCarten and was directed by Bryan Singer and Dexter Fletcher (Singer was fired half-way through production and was replaced by Fletcher, though Singer received full directing credit based on DGA guidelines. Fletcher is listed as an executive producer.)

The film begins with showing the formation of Queen and Freddie’s transformation into the group’s lead singer. It shows how much Freddie loved and was inspired by Mary Austin. It also shows how the band landed a record deal with EMI Records and makes reference to the many hit songs Queen is still famous for today. The film also touches on Freddie Mercury’s struggle with his family, his sexuality, and his battle with AIDS, the disease that ultimately lead to his death in 1991.

After researching the film, I learned that there were many historical inaccuracies depicted in the movie. I would start listing them, but there are more than enough that I would recommend reading this article after seeing the film. I’ve also heard about a few more beyond that article as well.

Regardless of the historical inaccuracy of the Bohemian Rhapsody, I thought it put Queen’s music first, which is what I loved about it. Any time a scene regarding Freddie’s life happened, it seemed like the next scene would circle back to music. There were scenes showing the band creating songs like “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We Will Rock You”, “Love of My Life”, and many others. There were also scenes showing the band playing many of their songs live including the final scenes of the film at their Live Aid performance, which had me singing along to “We Are the Champions”.

The funny thing about Bohemian Rhapsody is that I never planned on seeing the film. I didn’t even realize it was actually a movie until it was already in theaters. In the first few weeks after its release though I heard a lot about it from many people. I decided I should see it after spending the Thanksgiving holiday with my little cousin building Spotify playlists that had tons of Queen songs on them. I’m glad I did because the film was incredible. Malek kills it as Freddie Mercury and it made me appreciate how many Queen songs I knew and how many of their songs are still hits today.

I knew after I saw Bohemian Rhapsody that I needed to write about it and promptly add it to The Film Playlist. It’s focus on music is special and makes the audience appreciate just how legendary Queen and Freddie Mercury are to rock and roll history.

“Call Me By Your Name and I’ll Call You By Mine”

Several months ago while watching movie previews before a picture I was seeing, I saw the preview for a film that really piqued my interest. When that movie, Call Me By Your Name, came out on November 24th, I anticipated the time when I’d finally be able to see it in theaters. It was only released in major cities initially before making its way to this armpit of a place that I live in. I saw it about two weeks ago and it was one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen in a while.

Call Me By Your Name stars Timothée Chalamet as Elio, an artfully precocious 17 year old and Armie Hammer as Oliver, a 24 year old doctoral student who joins Elio’s family at their summer home in Italy for a 6 week period. The film was adapted from the novel of the same name by André Aciman. It depicts the love affair that develops that summer between Elio and Oliver. The screenplay was adapted by James Ivory and the film was directed by Luca Guadagnino.

The film begins at Elio’s family’s Italian countryside home in the summer of 1983 where Elio, his mother (Amira Casar), and father (Michael Stuhlbarg) anticipate the arrival of their summer guest, Oliver. Since Oliver is new in town, Elio takes Oliver on a tour of the area later that day. Elio also explains how he spends his summers. It’s not long before Oliver begins to partake in the summer activities of swimming in the river, hanging out with friends, and going out at night, and their love for each other begins to blossom.

Since being released in November, the film has received an assortment of critical acclaim and accolades. It was recently nominated for 4 Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor (Chalamet), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ivory), and Best Original Song (“Mystery of Love” by Sufjan Stevens). It received nominations at the British Academy Film Awards (4), the Critics’ Choice Awards (8), the Independent Spirit Awards (6), the Golden Globe Awards (3), and the Screen Actors Guild Awards (1). James Ivory received a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and Chalamet received Breakout Actor Awards from the National Board of Review, the Gotham Independent Film Awards, and the Hollywood Film Awards.

Like I said, I saw the film two weeks ago after anticipating seeing it for about two months. I was captivated by its beauty. Being set and filmed in Italy definitely adds to that. The story itself is special though. It’s almost a coming of age type of love for Elio as a teenager. He has such a strong infatuated love for Oliver throughout the film. Oliver subtly shows his interest for Elio as well, when finally they take the next step. Plus I wasn’t sure how that peach scene would play out, but now I totally get it! Since seeing the film, I’ve also begun to read the novel. My friend told me that there are many parts in the novel that were cut out of the film so I’m eager to compare them.

I highly recommend checking out this film. It’s such a great and powerful love story that isn’t a cliché romantic film or romantic comedy love story. It’s been in and out of theaters all over the country for the last 2 months. I’m sure it won’t be long before the film is released on streaming and DVD/Blu-ray too. If you wanted to see if before the Academy Awards airs though, I would make plans to see it as soon as possible because it seems to only stay in theaters for a few short weeks.