The best holiday movie of the season, Ham on Rye director Tyler Taormina expanded his star power with Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, which brings together Michael Cera, Elsie Fisher, Maria Dizzia, Sawyer Spielberg, Francesca Scorsese, and many more. After premiering at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, IFC Films picked it up for a November 8 release and now the first trailer has arrived.
Here’s the synopsis: “On Christmas Eve, a family gathers for what could be the last holiday in their ancestral home. As the night wears on and generational tensions arise, one of the teenagers sneaks out with her friends to claim the wintry suburb for her own.”
Rory O’Connor said in his Cannes review, “The setting and production design are so rich with authenticity and detail that fans of The Bear might be tempted to draw comparisons with a famous episode in season two, but Miller’s Point‘s motley crew can boast their own joyful mess of idiosyncrasies. All of the holiday staples are served up here: the tough guy brothers-in-law, the wily matriarch, the mildly problematic uncle, the stroppy teens itching to escape, and the younger kids who have yet to rebel against their sparkly dresses and dickie bows. There’s a gift-giving ceremony, a screening of VHS home movies, a family walk, and a slightly inebriated after-dinner speech. Taormina collects these moments less like plot points in a conventional narrative than flashes of his own memory, micro-recollections jumbled with all the unruly charm of a photo album.”