By Beth Nugent, Third Year, Film and Television
While it’s always fun to watch the Hallmark Christmas movies, there are a few classic Christmas films that will never skip the watch list. But what makes them so good? Who are the directors behind these masterpieces like The Holiday and Love Actually? In this article, we’ll explore the directors who found the magic ingredient for the Christmas movie.
NANCY MEYERS - THE HOLIDAY (2006)
Starting with a classic, cosy, Christmas rom-com. Meyers, who is credited as both writer and director, managed to perfectly toe the line between Christmassy enough to pass as a Christmas film, but not so much that it was overwhelming. The film starts with two women, each in a state of romantic disarray, who decide the best way to get rid of their heartbreak is to travel across the ocean to swap houses with each other. From there, we follow their journey as they fall in love with their respective love interests and become better for it.
The Holiday is heartwarming and subscribes perfectly to the well-established trope of ending the Christmas period a better person than when you went in. Meyers establishes this perfectly with the co-leads of Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz, who are strong enough actors to show this character development authentically without the hallmark cheese.
LES MAYFIELD - MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1994)
The magic of Christmas runs on belief, and that innocent belief usually stems from children. Whereas in Les Mayfield’s adaptation of Miracle on 34th Street, he flawlessly flips that script to remind the audience why we believe in Christmas in the first place and teaches us a lesson that sticks with us year after year.
With the story exploring a grown man claiming that he is Father Christmas and eventually having to prove it in court, Mayfield turns the audience into believers and, conversely, the lead child into a non-believer. The adorable contradiction of a young child not believing in the magic of Christmas and an elderly man trying to convince her of the truth, makes the film all the more endearing. Mayfield utilises this age gap dynamic between the two leads, Mara Wilson and Richard Attenborough, to remind us of the nostalgia of Christmas as a child.
ALEXANDER PAYNE - THE HOLDOVERS (2023)
Forgive the slightly pretentious Academy Award winner making an entry into this list, but Payne manages to capture the feel of a Christmas movie, whilst also delivering outstanding emotional character arcs and stunning visuals, proving that you don’t necessarily need to buy into the commercial side of Christmas to make a great seasonal film.
It’s not a surprise that The Holdovers won best picture at the 2023 Academy Awards; it’s filled with beautiful dialogue and heartwarming characters, with both comedic and dramatic elements. Payne recognises that the real beauty of Christmas is connection, and he hammers that point home with every second of this film, and so even though it doesn’t follow the standard format of a commercial Christmas film, the raw authenticity that the film delivers allows for its themes to hit harder and for the quieter love of Christmas to wash over us in a comforting way.
RICHARD CURTIS - LOVE ACTUALLY (2003)
It’s not truly Christmas without the well-known classic, Love Actually. With nine love stories packed into a two-hour film, there is something for everyone, whether that’s cheering on young love or crying with Emma Thompson when she opens her Christmas present. Curtis created a gold mine with the divided, yet interwoven, narratives and delved into the idea that there isn’t just one type of love, there’s platonic, romantic, familial and even puppy love. To showcase all these different types is to remind the audience that Christmas is a time to celebrate everyone in your life, no matter which category they may fall under.
With a restrained run time, Curtis managed to build an entire world through nine separate stories that all seamlessly come together at the end like some kind of Christmas miracle. This makes it all the more satisfying to see all the love that’s built up through the film accumulate together in one space and see that love actually is all around.
Lottie Merchant
The one element that all these directors have in common is that they never disregard the essence of Christmas as frivolous; they use the feelings associated with Christmas to either subvert themes to make a point or enhance them to remind us what we love most about the holiday. But while we can always try our best to watch our highbrow, meaningful films, it’s no secret that for the majority of the Christmas holidays, the Hallmark Channel will be getting a lot of viewers…
Featured Image: Unsplash / Festive TV setting
What film director do you think does Christmas the best?
