The Christmas movie has, in recent years, become its own industrial complex, algorithmically churned out by streaming services to hit various subscriber demographic sweet spots. Perhaps the seemingly disposable likes of Hot Frosty and Meet Me Next Christmas will be treasured for many Decembers to come, but they have a tough canon to crack, as represented by our all-star Advent calendar of festive movie favourites, chosen by some of the film industry’s best and brightest, invited by the Observer New Review to help our readers count down to the big day itself.
Some of the films here are as firmly entrenched in the season as mince pies and fir trees – who can argue with director Gurinder Chadha’s selection of It’s a Wonderful Life or actor Joe Alwyn’s of The Snowman? Others are less obvious: you wouldn’t expect John Waters, Hollywood’s emperor of bad taste, to go cosy and cute, and sure enough, his choice of the notorious video nasty Christmas Evil would make many a person bring up their turkey dinner. For a lot of us, meanwhile, our personal Christmas classics aren’t technically Christmas films at all, but made so by timing and association: we’re steering clear of the played-out Die Hard debate, but Himesh Patel certainly isn’t alone in finding the holiday incomplete without the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and screenwriter David Nicholls makes a strong case for Phantom Thread as festive viewing. To each their own Christmas, and to all a good night.
1. Tokyo Godfathers (Satoshi Kon, 2003)
Chosen by Will Sharpe, director of The Electrical Life of Louis Wain and Landscapers, star of The White Lotus and Giri/Haji
