One Magic Christmas (1985)

Absolutely bizarre.

What is the meaning of this film? Don't get me wrong, there is a positive one in there - somewhere, I think - but the core one is dodgy. I won't go into detail as I don't want to spoil anything, though in short the film is about a mother who has lost all belief in Christmas. A standard festive premise, yet this does it with a major twist. It doesn't land with me at all, it's basically a form of blackmail by the end which is wild!

Mary Steenburgen portrays mother Ginny fairly well, given the plot troubles. Ginny is incredibly, pretty much, the villain of the production, for no real reason other than disliking the current period for logical reasons. Elsewhere on the cast, you have notable roles for Harry Dean Stanton (Gideon) and Elisabeth Harnois (Abbie). Stanton, himself, is alright.

The film actually builds up nicely, before the already mentioned capitulation with the story occurs. 'One Magic Christmas' is extremely odd!