Welcome to The Hollywood News Advent Calendar! Join us for the next 24 days as we run down the top Christmas movies and guide you to the perfect festive viewing. Featuring some of your favourite Christmas movies and some you’d probably forgotten (maybe even on purpose), but hey, it is Christmas after all… to see the calendar so far, click here.
You may scorn and you may call it cheesy but I can’t get through the festive season without a sneaky watch (or 5) of Richard Curtis’ LOVE ACTUALLY. No really, I can’t; it’s on ITV2 on repeat for the entire month of December.
Released in 2003; writer, director and all-round champion of the love story Richard Curtis brought us the trials and tribulations of interconnected couples in the frenzied weeks leading up to Christmas day in London town.
Ancient rock-and-rollers and their managers, Prime Ministers and their serving staff, porn star stand-ins and their co-workers, friends in love with their best friends’ wives, brothers sleeping with siblings’ partners, a lakehouse in Portugal… the broad spectrum of relationships on offer means even the most hardened heart can probably relate to an emotion or two on show.
Even if the storylines aren’t your cup of tea, take a minute to appreciate the hugely talented ensemble cast that Curtis manages to throw together. The cream of the British crop are on show here; some before they hit the big time. Chiwetel Ejiofor, star of upcoming Oscar front-runner TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE, has a small role as Keira Knightley’s husband, Julia Davis steals her scene as a caterer years before the success of her BBC sitcom Nighty Night and love-struck Thomas Brodie-Sangster has seen his star rising ever since with a stint on HBO’s Game Of Thrones catapulting him into international audiences awareness. British stalwarts Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, Colin Firth and Alan Rickman add gravitas to some of the more sombre relationships in the movie with a sincere British-ness few can muster.
I get it, we’re British and we don’t like talking about our feelings. Why not let LOVE ACTUALLY do the talking for you? See your own story in the unrequited office romance, the passion of first love and less-than-perfect families plus the finest array of turtleneck jumpers you’ll ever see in two hours thrown in for good measure.
So go on; allow yourself to enjoy the cheese. And if you need a reason? As Andrew Lincoln’s Mark so succinctly writes on his cue-cards as he admits his love for his best friend’s wife: just because it’s Christmas.
