December is in full swing, the holidays are approaching, and everyone is preparing in their own way. Streaming providers can’t be left out of the hype either, and as usual, Netflix was very quick and announced the Christmas movie already at the beginning of the month. It is a fact that by the end of the year they regularly come out with quality pieces, however Just a normal Christmas It does not strengthen this camp.
Thea (Ida Orsène Holm) and Jashan (Kanan Gil) live in Los Angeles, and have been together for a relatively short time, yet the Indian young man asks the Norwegian girl to marry him. Nothing can spoil the idyll until Thea suggests visiting her family in Northern Europe for the holidays. The boy tries to adapt, but it is much more difficult than expected.
Director Peter Holmsen immediately indicates that it is a true story, through which he presumably wishes to promote the development of empathy and identification. At first, all this is fine. This trip obviously means a lot to Thea, because they have a huge Christmas tradition, and holiday programming starts two days before Christmas Eve. Jashan tries to make a good impression on everyone. His observations and light jokes work for a while, and the punch is also obvious. After all, the difficulty associated with adapting to a new environment is a familiar feeling to many. You don’t even have to think about cultural differences here, just the meeting of different personalities.
Anyone who has seen more than two films on the subject knows where Holmsen wants to take his work. It’s not a problem, even though we’ve seen it a million times, you can put together a fun and charming classic story, everything goes wrong at Christmas, but in the end the family will be together out of the mold.
If we stopped here and it was a forgotten but beautiful work, we would be better off. But as we move forward, Holmsen veers further and further down the side paths. Even the title of the true story loses its credibility, as everything is theatrical and cinematic. It was not possible to bring the story down to a layman’s level, everything had to be expanded. The chemistry between Ursin-Holm and Gill doesn’t work terribly, one would rather think they’re friends, friends, rather than a couple. The set pieces will still be good, and the secondary characters, who are also overplayed, have their moments. The angry mother, the sarcastic brother, or the self-repressing sister-in-law can be memorable characters, but only a fraction of their potential is brought out. It’s a matter of detail, as almost every moment is inferential, but in terms of the film’s language and structure, it’s a matter of detail Just a normal Christmas.
They are often inconsistent, continuity errors may be discovered more than once, and actors make distorted and contradictory decisions. For example, the little niece’s sincere expression was clearly meant to be an emotional climax, but just a few minutes ago it had been quite the opposite.
There is no fixed happy ending, it is simply there because it has to be. However, the coup is delivered by message. They will draw attention to mutual acceptance and openness, which is a beautiful outcome to follow. On the contrary, it does not seem sincere at all, rather the compulsion to conform speaks for itself, which is emphasized in the final scene.
the Just a normal Christmas It will sink into oblivion in the blink of an eye, because although it has truly comic moments, the overall picture is felt through a thousand cuts.
Showcasing traditions and clashing cultures are effective themes, but in this case the end result is perhaps insulting to both Norwegians and Indians, but is fundamentally stupid.
Holmsen’s “work” fails both as an independent film and as an educational story, and even hides a pretentious and hypocritical message in the ice.
