🔗 Share this article The Film Christmas, Again Review – A Laidback Story of a Lonely Christmas Tree Seller Has Authentic Charm This is a New York drama with such a relaxed pace that it required a decade to reach the UK’s cinema screens. Initially unveiled in the US in 2015, it’s an ultra-low-budget debut from debut filmmaker Charles Poekel, set almost entirely on a 24-hour pop-up Christmas tree stall. Poekel’s style remains decidedly genuinely independent and unaffected to get slushy or sentimental about Christmas; through his lens Christmas tree lights blink like police lights. But in its own low-key way, he pitches his film just right for a little squeeze of festive warmth. A Jaded Seller Amid the Brooklyn Cold Kentucker Audley stars as Noel (it took someone in the film to comment on his name for the connection to be made). Noel is back for his fifth year peddling Christmas trees in Brooklyn, working outdoors in the freezing cold and resting in a not-much-warmer caravan stationed beside the trees. A few customers ask about the girl working with him last year. But this year Noel works solo, broken-hearted and on the night shift. There’s an observational quality to a lot of the scenes, with customers posing idle and peculiar questions. A customer requests the same Christmas tree as the Obamas (the story is set in 2014). Noel looks frozen to the bone physically and emotionally; he’s exhausted and disenchanted, though Audley’s subtle performance clearly indicates that he hadn't always been like this. Understated Encounters and Flickers of Hope Frankly, not much happens. Noel comes to the aid of a woman, Lydia (Hannah Gross), who has passed out drunk on a bench. She reappears later in truly poignant scenes as Noel travels through New York, delivering trees – and these sequences could spark a little flicker of good cheer in the grinchiest of hearts. Poekel hasn’t made a feature since this, which is regrettable – you can’t beat it for authenticity and fluidity, and it’s filmed on beautifully grainy 16mm film. A film of quiet charm and authentic mood, portraying the solitude and brief warmth of the holidays. Christmas, Again opens in UK cinemas from 12 December.