White Reindeer

Overview

Does the phoney joy and tacky commercialism of Christmas make you want to vomit? If so then boy, has Zach Clark made the movie for you. Depressing and darkly funny, White Reindeer, not to be confused with this 1952 Finnish horror film of the same name (as so many of us would, right?), is a raised middle finger to holiday cheer.

Anna Margaret Hollyman plays Suzanne Barrington, a real estate agent whose December vitality is flattened after finding her husband murdered in a break-in. Worse still, at the funeral she learns from one her husband's colleagues that he'd been having an affair with a stripper. So begins Suzanne's yuletide descent into shoplifting, cocaine abuse and compulsive online shopping, all in an attempt to raise her wilted Christmas spirit

They say that more people kill themselves during the holidays than at any other time of the year. White Reindeer shows exactly why that is, juxtaposing the aggressive merriment of the festive season with the sad banality of loneliness. Suzanne's discovery of her husband's bloodied body is accompanied by carols. Later, at the police station, a detective gives her a candy cane in a pathetic attempt to offer solace. Intentionally abrupt editing keeps us from ever finding our footing, and makes the world feel fake more often than it does real.

Eventually, Suzanne decides to track down her husband's lover, who turns out to be a 22-year-old single mother named Fantasia (played by Laura Lemar-Goldsborough). This plot turn feels a little bit contrived, but ultimately you buy it thanks to the strength of the actors' performances. A scene in which the two discuss their feelings for the late Mr Barrington is surprisingly poignant, despite some occasionally on-the-nose dialogue.

Even though it's only 82 minutes long, White Reindeer does feel padded out. The most obvious example of this is a bizarre sequence in which Suzanne attends a swinger's party hosted by her new neighbours (played by Lydia Hyslop and Drinking Buddies director Joe Swanberg). The scene doesn't have any real bearing on the plot, other than to perhaps suggest that Suzanne has sunk to a new low while also hammering home Clark's overriding point, about the perverseness that lurks behind baubles, knit sweaters and jolly smiles.

Still, White Reindeer is well worth the ticket price. Even an apparent Grinch like Clark can't help but offer a glimmer of hope in the end, suggesting that, beneath the artifice and hideous plastic reindeer, the true spirit of Christmas isn't dead.

White Reindeer will play exclusively at the Golden Age Cinema & Bar.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8qyzpGdu_v8