Early in the new Australian film Christmess – a bittersweet drama about an alcoholic actor trying to turn his life around – one character asks a question familiar to many cinephiles: what’s the best Christmas movie? The protagonist, Steve Le Marquand’s Chris, delivers an answer familiar to anyone who has been on the internet in the past two decades: Die Hard, the damn fine, explosive Bruce Willis classic that has been igniting debate about what exactly constitutes a Christmas movie since yuletides of yore.
If Christmess – a very absorbing film, tenderly written and directed by Heath Davis – were a more banter-prone production, the characters might have waded into the debate themselves. For instance: what’s the difference between a film set during the festive season and a film about Christmas? It’s a perfectly fine argument to have with relation to Hollywood, a huge purveyor of yuletide fare. But not so much for Australia, given that this country, for a long time, had few examples of either.
