"A Christmas Story" - Suroor Menai

“A Christmas Story,” directed by Juha Wuolijoki in 2007, is a perfect family movie for the holidays. Filmed in Finland, this movie incorporates some of Finland’s holiday traditions, setting itself apart from traditional American Christmas movies.

The film tells the story of a boy named Nikolas, who was orphaned when he was young. A village took him in, and each year on Christmas day, he moved to a different family’s house in the community. The movie follows his childhood as he eventually becomes Santa Claus.

The plot of the movie intertwines feelings of sadness and hope, which was one of the things I loved about it. For instance, Nikolas’ sister, Aada, died along with their parents. Later in the movie, a character is named after her, symbolizing her importance in Nikolas’s happy ending and reminding him of her absence. The ups and downs throughout the entire movie made it unpredictable, which I find to be one of the key aspects in any good movie.

I also really appreciated the character development in the movie’s key figures, because it gives the movie structure and really draws the viewer into the movie. One such figure was a character named Isaac, who was initially portrayed as mean and bitter, but developed with each passing scene, and began showing more of his true personality, which was much less hostile.

This is a fantastic entertaining holiday movie to watch with friends and family, while also being captivating and meaningful.

"Santa & Cie" - Maeve Walsh

“Santa & Cie,” directed by Alain Chabat, is a French film released in 2017 about Santa’s journey through the real world in hopes of curing his elves of a mysterious disease. Landing in France, Santa is desperate to find a remedy for his elves and get back to the North Pole in time for Christmas. As time is running out, Santa is arrested after ransacking a pharmacy. His lawyer, Thomas, soon realizes Santa’s true identity and allows Santa to stay at his family’s apartment as he helps him acquire the cure for the elves. Thomas and his family must now work together to get enough medicine before Christmas Eve.

Throughout Santa’s adventure in the beautiful city of Paris, he sees people’s stress around the holiday season. Considering the elves’ sickness is the only problem he’s faced in hundreds of years, Santa is confused when he sees that Thomas and his wife Amélie have to deal with many challenges. Especially around the holidays, it appears that everyone is in a hurry, socializing becomes tiresome, basic chores seem impossible to get done, and people are often short on money. All these difficulties portrayed in the film are accurate depictions of what many people experience during the holiday season.

Even though there is a deeper meaning to the plot, there are also many lighthearted moments throughout the film. Amusingly, Santa is quite the comedian, constantly teasing his reindeer and making witty comments to Thomas and Amélie, who reciprocate Santa’s sense of humor. Combined with fantastic visual effects, the storyline is entertaining and makes for a great family movie that would appeal to all. Although I had to read the English subtitles, I think this will become a seasonal classic for my family and me.