Christmas

New Zealand 2003, 89 minutes
Dir. Gregory King
Rating: [R16]
Genres: Drama / Black Comedy

Aroview: Structured around a grueling family Christmas in suburban New Zealand, this stark and uncompromising drama is one of the best low-budget features of the recent crop.

While the trappings and rituals of this gathering - roast dinners, burbling radios, family banter - are familiarly observed, the dysfunctional relationships, verbal abuse and abject behaviour on display mine a disturbing underbelly of Kiwi experience. Caught in lengthy unblinking camera shots, this is sure to alienate some viewers with its 'bad boy' agenda, but for those who dare, provides a powerful vision tinged with moments of bleak comedy.

NZ International Film Festival 2003

Member Reviews

Average rating (Very Good). Showing 1-2 of 2 member reviews.

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4 stars (Very Good) "As a piece of filmmaking, CHRISTMAS is exciting - unlike anything else in New Zealand cinema past or present." Edinburgh International Film Festival ~Anon
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4 stars (Very Good) Hell is a bach full of whanau. Technically crude but formally precise, with a strong non-pro cast, this portrait of festive misery is scarily resonant - and bold enough to play palpable despair as black deadpan comedy. An under-rated work of Kiwi cinema. ~fairbrother