"The Happiest Season" is an ideal Christmas gift, if only as a Christmas movie to watch.
The most obvious analogy would be Love Actually, or a purely gay version of Love Actually. It's not that the plots are similar, and the two films are quite different in structure, but their positioning is relatively consistent, and they are both family-friendly works during the holiday season.
Everyone can be amused when watching and feel relaxed and happy after watching, the work is basically successful, and the production purpose is basically achieved.
The story setting of "Happiest Season" is relatively old-fashioned, a timeless topic in the queer community, coming out of the closet. Harper invited his girlfriend Abbey home for Christmas on a whim, only to confess to him that he was not out yet as he was driving to the door.
As a result, Abbey instantly turned into Harper's "orphan roommate". Because both parents died and he was alone on New Year's holidays, he was invited to come here to feel the festive atmosphere and family warmth.
Harper comes from a typical white middle-class American family, with a pair of decent parents and two sisters. The common denominator of the whole family is to spare no effort to maintain the perfect image of the family to the outside world. That sense of perfection is all the more important this Christmas season, as father Ted is busy running for mayor these months. For American politicians, building a perfect image is one of them, and it is also necessary to ensure that the message of family happiness and harmony is delivered to the outside world. Christmas, for the Harper family, is not only a time for family gatherings, but also a wonderful time to socialize.
This short five-day relationship has become extremely dramatic. Everything is like a play, and every step is taken carefully, for fear of deviating from the so-called perfection.
Then it rolled over, completely overturned. Then, the clouds and mists were cleared to see the blue sky.
The turn came quickly and suddenly, but Christmas movies, after the absurdity and the argument, ended with the whole family sitting together on the couch and admiring the glittering Christmas tree.
This is basically the main line of the film, of course, there are many other details covered in the film to make the story more complete and interesting. The portrayal of each character in the film is relatively figurative and vivid, and everyone represents different identities, value orientations and lifestyles. Relatively cliché is that in the end, what unites everyone is still a heart that longs for understanding and love that overcomes obstacles.
Written like this, the theme of the film is also relatively old-fashioned. Everyone understands and tolerates each other, and returns to love itself. We are still a family who love each other.
But such a movie, placed this year, can still bring a lot of warm power.
What's the big deal with being old-fashioned, clichéd, or even slightly unrealistic. It's good to watch it happily, and it's even better to have a warm feeling in your heart after watching it. If the ending really happened in your own home, it would be even better.
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