I saw Christmas decorations in a storefront Sunday, so I guess it’s already time to break out the holiday movies. And it’s evidently time for distributors to release holiday fare to theaters, even if Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale (Un conte de Noël), which hits theaters this Friday, isn’t exactly the latest crowd-pleasing installment of the Santa Clausefranchise. In fact, with such ingredients as estrangement, mental illness, alcoholism and cancer, it doesn’t seem like a very happy holidays kind of film. Even if it is actually a comedy.
But then how many holiday movies are completely void of depressing themes and scenes? I’m sure to have grown up thinking more about the homeless, suicide and family dysfunction from films set at Christmas and Thanksgiving than I did thinking about the happiness that comes with these holidays. One of the most tearjerking moments for me as a kid was certainly seeing Mickey Mouse crying over his dead son in Mickey’s Christmas Carol. It’s no wonder so many people get sad this time of year. Movies are influential, and for every bit of slapstick we see this season, there’s potentially room for thoughts of abandoned children to go along with it.
Worse for our tearducts are the films that aren’t necessarily thought of as “holiday movies,” which are typically more honest about how much of a bummer holidays can truly be. So get out your hanky and check out our list of ten most depressing holidays in movies:
Here’s an 11th suggestion for how the Academy Awards can build up its ratings: give Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson an Oscar nomination. Yes, I’m clearly continuing the snark, but I’m not coming out of left field. The wrestler-turned-actor was a presenter during Sunday’s ceremony and afterwards he was asked by reporters whether or not he’d one day like an Oscar. And obviously he said that he would. He’s quoted in The Times today discussing his response:
“‘ … of course, it’s every actor’s dream,’ he says, with initially guarded enthusiasm. In fact, he adds, momentarily overtaken by the excitement of it all, ‘winning an Oscar is a goal of mine’.”
And the writer for The Times is encouraging it:
“To judge from his track record, if the Oscar win is a goal, then it’s already in the bag. Just make sure they put the name Johnson on the trophy, and not Rock.”
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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