Oh by gosh, by golly.... this film was not that jolly! Netflix told me this was a light-hearted French Christmas comedy... NOPE! Not light-weight or light-hearted, by any means (unless things are F*ing awful in France)! There was a lot of talk about Christmas, but not much of a Christmas-y feel. Nothing warm and fuzzy, no holiday spirit. Every one is cheating on each other and it's kinda depressing. They drink a lot of vodka, which makes me want to drink vodka. But, I will say, that if you look at it as a drama, it wasn't so bad. It's a story that opens with a funeral, three sad daughters of a sad mother and sad father, a sad neighbor, and some twists and turns as they figure out, or bash, Christmas and each other. The acting was good. The characters were fairly interesting; not so much at first; it took a a few minutes to get into them (about half an hour in I started to say "okay, it's worth a shot, plus I've already watched almost a third). But the story goes a very interesting and unexpected way at the end, that maybe only people with weird family relations (like me) can appreciate. The camera is pretty awful, but that's probably just because it's a low budget film. Not something I normally want from Netflix, but as a film school grad, I can appreciate when someone had a good story but didn't have the funds for a good camera, and I can't really judge. The camera wasn't THAT bad, but it was noticably poorer quality than usual (although I've seen much worse on Netflix (ugh... sometimes I think it must be the Netflix CEO's nephew distributing his crappy movies through his uncle... or lover... that's how the film industry works, right? You have to know someone or sleep with them if you suck?)
La Buche is all in French with English subtitles, as a warning to those who hate to read.
I shall give it 2.5 thingys... still working that part out. Stars? That's so uninspired! I'll figure it out soon! It's basically a 2.5 up until the end, where I'd possibly give it a 3, but overall, a 2.5 with a good ending! How about a 2.9? 2.9's! On me!
If you're looking for something sweet, heartfelt, precious, and or funny, may I recommend It's a Wonderful Life, or Elf? Or heck, even Home Alone... at least it's funny!
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