“December 23”: Christmas disappointment

I wanted to like this movie. All the ingredients are there for the cake to rise. The title, a nod to my favorite Beau Domage song. Screenwriter, sympathetic India Desjardins. Actors I admire, from Guylaine Tremblay to Michelle Barrett through Christine Beaulieu and Stephane Rousseau.

Unfortunately, in the end, December 23 A marshmallow is nothing but a feel-good movie built on an imaginative scenario.

What a pity. It’s like on Christmas Eve, I unwrap a giant present and finally find a simple Hallmark card…

Hello clichés

The film is full of clichés: a lonely girl who dresses curtly in baggy clothes throughout the film, but is recognized by a secret lover the moment she is well-dressed and put on make-up.

A mother of a family who can cook for 15 people if only three people receive it. Father-in-law Monakal, who is nostalgic for the good old days and goes beyond tradition. A businessman who talks loudly on the phone while doing international business. Two lesbians have joint custody of an animal instead of having children.

Don’t put any more, the yard is full. We’ve already seen it 15,000 times.

During the (very) intense publicity campaign for this film, we often heard artists repeat: “Finally a Quebec Christmas film!”. But why do we have to equip our cinematography with Gyan genre film?

December 23 It prides itself on being a comedy. But I only laughed once, when Guylaine Tremblay felt good against the food cravings of a new generation.

The script of the movie is anemic. How come the sanctioning agencies and producers didn’t ask India Desjardins to rework its script to put a little more meat on the bone (the turkey)?

I have movie friends who ask me to submit their screenplays again and again. Are we lazy? December 23 With Guylaine Tremblay and Michelle Barrett on the bill, we thought people were going to rush to the theater anyway?

The film is very open to diversity (a lesbian couple, two interracial couples, an immigrant family). It ticks all the right boxes. But it’s also very moral…

The most embarrassing scene in the movie takes place in an ambulance. Ugly Reaction Monancal hesitates to seek treatment with a masked woman.

Trouble! Is there really a picture of Quebecers you want to give us at Christmas?

Necessary reflection

At some point, we have to seriously question the weakness of some Quebec scenes. I loved it so much Drunken birds, Confession, cheaters (to name a few recent films), I fall asleep watching the press in front of Quebec films with sloppy stories, predictable twists, or characters with no psychological depth.

We cannot, on the one hand, mourn the end of Gala Quebec cinema and, on the other hand, give the green light to high-profile films.

We can and should demand more with our cinema.