For many people, a familiar pastime in the weeks leading up to major winter holidays is gathering with family members and watching holiday movies, be they in a theater or on television. This year, such plans will have changed for individuals not living with the people they often spend time with during the holiday season, and curfews and lock-downs have forced movie theaters to close. However, this shouldn’t stop us from enjoying holiday movies with friends and family.
During the month of December, therefore, the Falls Free Press will present “The 12 Films of Christmas,” focusing on new holiday movies for the year 2020—a year that can do with plenty of spirit. We will review each film, whether naughty or nice, and let you know where to watch it.
For children, being born on Christmas Day has big ramifications. Their birthday is often overlooked for the holiday instead, meaning they may not get a real birthday party or as many holiday gifts simply because of the competing celebrations. In Netflix’s Brazilian comedy film import, Just Another Christmas (originally titled in Portuguese Tudo Bem No Natal Que Vem), Jorge faces this very problem throughout his childhood, giving up on both celebrations until getting married and having children, for whom he endures the holiday.
After a tumultuous Christmas dinner with his extended family in 2010 where he is forced to dress as Santa and wave to his children, Jorge (played by Leandro Hassum) falls off the roof, waking up the next day to discover another year has passed, which he doesn’t remember. With each sleep and the passing of another year, Jorge finds his life changing drastically, from promotions to marriage issues and missing his children grow up then watching them face their own problems. Nevertheless, he also discovers that there are some parts of Christmas with his family that will never change, and as frustrating as those may be, they will always be missed the most.
Unlike many Christmas comedies this year, Just Another Christmas combines its sentimentality with slapstick. Drawing on the idea of Groundhog Day, Jorge must learn to truly appreciate what he has—the good and the bad—to break his chain of Christmases, but only after a number of attempts at hurting himself to reverse the event he believes to have caused this. The problem with the slapstick comedy, however, is that it doesn’t seem to fit the character of Jorge, which resembles that of Ray Romano’s character on Everybody Loves Raymond. This comparison is even more on the spot when watching the English dub of the film, in which his dub actor’s voice sounds identical to Romano.
Despite being a Brazilian film, the only part of the story (aside from the written language) that might show that this was not originally in English is that the holiday is being celebrated on Christmas Eve, the traditional time for families in Brazil. This doesn’t stop American audiences from following the plot or concept of the film though. The frustration of shopping, family members who always create problems or ask for money, imminent health issues, the film’s repeated American popular culture references, and above all, Santa Claus, are so universal that everybody can enjoy Just Another Christmas in whatever language they choose.
Just Another Christmas is available to watch on Netflix.
