Four generations of the Balsano family come together to celebrate what may be the last Christmas in their family home in Long Island. As everyone is brought under one roof – mums, dads, aunts, uncles, cousins and a grandmother, the food and drink flows and the strains and strengths of the familial relationships are exposed. With the night getting increasingly rowdier, teenagers Emily (Matilda Fleming) and Michelle (Francesca Scorsese) use the opportunity to sneak off and wreak havoc.
‘Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point’ isn’t your typical holiday movie, which is both its strength and its downfall. Director Tyler Taormina captures the chaos of a large family coming together but the end result is an unfocused and unwieldy through-line that barely resembles a coherent narrative. The first 20-30 minutes flit between different members of the family having, mostly, banal conversations all of which are completely unrelated. While Taormina’s commitment to hyper-realism is admirable, that doesn’t necessarily translate into a coherent and enjoyable film.
There’s so much going on, and so many characters, that everything feels under-baked. You don’t really get to know any of these characters to the extent where you could care about them. In many ways the film feels like a series of vignettes stitched together to make a feature-length film. It’s even hard to particularly single out any of the cast for special mention as none of them really get a whole lot to work with.
The film attempts to pull some focus around Emily and Michelle, but even that storyline doesn’t really branch out into anything too compelling. Instead it introduces lazy cops played by Michael Cera and Greg Turkington, that don’t really work with the film’s overall tone. It’s that unevenness throughout that makes you skim over the film’s more emotional beats and its attempt to comment on tough family decisions, and complicated bonds.
‘Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point’ may prove welcome relief from the usual formulaic holiday movies but this film sadly didn’t do anything for me. I felt like a voyeur, spying on a family gathering and the film’s lack of focus left me completely cold. Aesthetically the film looks interesting, and there’s plenty to enjoy about the 70s detail, but as a film to add to my yearly Christmas movie rotation, this one simply doesn’t make the cut.
Cast: Matilda Fleming, Maria Dizzia, Ben Shenkman, Fracesca Scorsese, Elsie Fisher, Michael Cera Director: Tyler Taormina Writers: Eric Berger, Tyler Taormina, Kevin Anton Certificate: 12 Duration: 107 mins Released by: Vertigo Releasing Release date: 15th November 2024
