With A Christmas Story Christmas, you come for nostalgia and stay for the emotionally powerful heart of the movie. Among major family-friendly holiday films, it s rare to see death and loss mentioned, let alone utilized as a vital aspect of the plot but that s exactly what happens here. The result is a surprising ride that will catch you by surprise and leave you reaching for the tissues by the time the credits roll.
The first few minutes are similar to what one may anticipate from a 1983 sequel to a film. The plot rapidly reintroduces the audience to Ralph Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley), who has grown up and is now married with children, with the help of a time jump. The fact that Billingsley is back, who wasn’t in A Christmas Story 2, is a welcome throwback, and the movie might easily ride on that dynamic. Instead, this film has a message to deliver and it does so in a startling manner, more so than many others in the genre.
Ralphie is thrust back into the past when his mother phones to inform him that his dad has died after the opening of the movie spotlights his new life. The Old Man (Darren McGavin) appeared in several iconic scenes in A Christmas Story, and the role of the character is still recognizable in the world of holiday films. After McGavin’s death in 2006, A Christmas Story Christmas was created in his honor. I must admit that before watching the movie, I had not read any reviews or interviews about it. Because of this, the story’s continuous mention of Ralph’s dad’s passing was illuminating. But the story gets over its initial reluctance by movingly honoring his memory.
The fact that The Old Man was the master of Christmas celebrations is repeatedly underlined. Ralph’s mother begs him to make Christmas special when he and his family go to see her because his father would have desired it. Naturally, the request is under a great deal of strain because it is coming from a grieving widow. Ralph literally holds the fate of Christmas itself in his hands, at least in the context of his own family, so he needs to hit a home run by making the holiday special for his grieving mother, his young children, and the recent loss of his father.
Everything fails, as one could imagine, at some point or another. By mistakenly throwing a snowball at his daughter, Ralph momentarily blinds her in one eye. Ralph makes a herculean effort to complete his Christmas shopping, but after he must tend to Julie, his daughter who has been injured, the presents are taken from the car (Julianna Layne). After these challenges are overcome, Ralph almost gets arrested for stealing a star ornament for the Christmas tree, but luck smiles upon him. Ralph returns home without being sentenced to jail, and the next morning he has a Christmas miracle. The plot shifts into high gear at this point.
The Old Man was so passionate about Christmas that he purchased all of the presents for the coming year before he died away, which comes as a nice surprise to the family. Mr. Parker’s spirit is stronger than ever in this moment since Ralph’s mother just so happened to discover them in time for Christmas morning. When his family opens the presents, they discover that each one is exactly what they had hoped for. The movie goes for the fences and offers an even sweeter resolution, which would have been a perfectly nice resolution.
Ralph experiences multiple rejections as he tries to get his first novel published throughout the movie. Without any other options, Ralph plans to abandon his dream of becoming a writer and return to his regular employment after the holidays. But before Christmas, he has to write his father’s obituary, and in the process, he creates a very intimate account of his recollections of The Old Man. Ralph’s wife finished the manuscript and sent it to the newspaper, which published it in time for Christmas morning while Ralph was frantically trying to rescue the holiday.
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Ralph becomes famous right away because other publications want to print the article too and because he is given the chance to work as a columnist. Ralph’s wish is fulfilled, and as the icing on the cake, he reads the narrative to his family while sitting in his father’s chair. It is made obvious that Ralph wrote about the events in the first movie when the narration from A Christmas Story by Jean Shepard enters the scene as he starts to speak.
An Advent Story The holiday film Christmas hits all the right chords and then some. It features family-friendly humor and generally maintains a light tone. But it also delves further and looks at loss and grief, which may have a particularly strong effect on the holidays. A Christmas Story Christmas dives straight in and tells a tale that has greater emotional staying power than many of its colleagues. Many films in the genre avoid these issues because they are perceived as being too heavy.
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