I’ll Be Home for Christmas…to Watch Movies!
I’ll Be Home for Christmas…to Watch Movies!
Feature art by Abigail Manaluz
Ho ho ho! It’s Christmastime, cinephiles!
As we celebrate the season through fond Filipino traditions like completing the simbang gabi or eating freshly cooked puto bumbong and bibingka, we also want to share our love of cinema, especially the films that evoke the spirit of the holidays.
In this special watchlist, the staffers of SINEGANG.ph selected their favorite Christmas movies or the movies they consider as holiday staples. This list has everything: from romcoms to heartwarming family stories, and even a superhero cameo.
Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, we would love for you to spend the holidays with a good watch.
Dominic Sessa, Paul Giamatti, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph in ‘The Holdovers’
The Holdovers (2023)
Dir. Alexander Payne
The Holdovers is a recent watch that I would like to revisit during the holiday season. The film solidifies my belief that you can choose your own family even if they are strangers or people you’ve known for a while, but haven't had the chance to know fully well. Paul (Paul Giamatti), the strict teacher, Angus (Dominic Sessa), the troublemaker student, and Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), the soft-spoken lone wolf head cook, and my personal favorite character among the three, have unlikely dynamics that bring forth warmth as their characters and connections develop at a heart-to-heart level. The film makes me reflect on how I first met the special people in my life, how we built our relationships until we can depend and confide in one another. I truly believe one of the key elements of the Christmas season is celebrating family, and The Holdovers proves that you can find family by forging bonds with people you hold dearly to your heart. — Arman Florence Cristobal
Donna Reed and James Stewart in ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’
It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
Dir. Frank Capra
I can’t wait to make my way down to Bedford Falls for my annual rewatch of It’s A Wonderful Life—an undeniable Christmas classic whose message remains as poignant as ever. Led by the towering beacon of old Hollywood charisma, Jimmy Stewart, the film follows his character’s inner turmoil as he contemplates suicide on Christmas Eve. Heavy subject matter for the season of cheer, but this juxtaposition is intentional and unnecessary. The film presents that a wealthy existence isn’t achieved through the procurement of material objects; instead, it’s through the love we share, the pain we endure, and the life-long bonds we form along the way. May we all find the very same fulfillment (and tall, handsome, stud who’d gladly throw a lasso around the moon and pull it down for us) as we enter this time of gift-giving! — Andrea Cello
Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman in ‘While You Were Sleeping’
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
Dir. Jon Turteltaub
One of the biggest things about Christmas for me is it’s the season I spend a lot of time with family. Family can be messy and wonderful, but there’s something about having them close that makes the holiday special. In While You Were Sleeping, Lucy (Sandra Bullock) is lonely during the Christmas season and ends up stumbling into the Gallaghers, a family of misfits, because of a misunderstanding. The love she ends up finding always warms me to my core; it’s imperfect, genuine, and strange. Everyone feels like real people just trying to get through and enjoy the holidays. It definitely doesn’t hurt that Lucy and Jack (Bill Pullman) have a sweet relationship and really good chemistry! — Gab Aniceto
James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan in ‘The Shop Around the Corner’
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Dir. Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch’s 1940 romantic-comedy The Shop Around the Corner stands as Old Hollywood’s great crescendo; by far the best thing to come out of that era. Consequently, this is cinema’s preeminent portrait of love, whose swooning heart undulates, gracefully and tenderly, between spasmodic, physical highs and voyeuristic lows. Set in pre-war Hungary, on a singular Budapest street that operates on a seemingly microcosmic scale, Klara (Margaret Sullavan) and Alfred (James Stewart) are two department-store clerks who bark (publicly and slyly) and play (privately and naively) at one another. Sullavan, in perhaps the greatest performance any actor has ever given, is witty and charmingly haughty yet somehow escapes complete pretension. Stewart, meanwhile, in one of his earliest roles, is more Jimmy here than James: his coat is too big for him, and his arms and legs are almost spindly, evoking a kind of folksy boyishness that is just a dee-lite. And yet, despite The Shop Around the Corner’s exultant enchantment, the onerousness of life that many of its characters feel often overrides the film; its interwar boulevard, still untouched and unspoiled, is tinged with an ephemeral and dolorous note: behind the portrait is an even greater veduta. — Toby Chan
Judy Garland, Mary Astor, Harry Davenport, Lucille Bremer, Joan Carroll, Henry H. Daniels Jr., and Margaret O'Brien in ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Dir. Vicente Minnelli
Christmas always reminds of bittersweet memories—and of Meet Me in St. Louis. One of the main reasons why I love this film is because of how it wonderfully captures the bittersweet beauty of family life and the changing seasons, particularly during Christmas. The Smiths aren't a perfect family; they struggle with change, and they have to navigate through growing pains, but their love for each other shines through in the quietest of moments. Esther (Judy Garland) and her siblings rally around each other, especially when the potential heartbreak of leaving their home knocks at their door. The film’s Christmas scenes, from the nostalgic glow of the decorations to Garland's iconic rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” always strike a chord with me. It's a story of holding onto joy, even though life feels uncertain, and finding comfort in the people who make a place feel like home. — Ejhay Raguindin
Ella Hunt in ‘Anna and the Apocalypse’
Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
Dir. John McPhail
A prime example of a strange but delightful mix of genres, Anna and the Apocalypse is at once a holiday coming-of-age teen dramedy, tense horror flick, and grandiose musical. While the extent in which McPhail blends these elements might feel a bit uneven or jarring at times, they still manage to coalesce together through their individual strengths (fun characters, catchy songs, memorable set pieces) and being united in tone that is at times light and confident, but also emotionally sobering through unexpected plot swerves. While there might not be a Hollywood ending in life as the film posits, this underrated gem does have the swagger and ingenuity to match the energy of the more memorable Christmas time productions in Los Angeles. — Martin Yenko
Billy Wilder’s ‘The Apartment’
The Apartment (1960)
Dir. Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder’s The Apartment (1960) perfectly captures the bittersweet ache of love and longing, much like Wham!'s classic “Last Christmas.” Jack Lemmon's C.C. Baxter mirrors the song’s wistfulness, giving his heart away only to find it mishandled by those he trusts. Shirley MacLaine’s Fran Kubelik is the embodiment of second chances, her vulnerability reminding us of the yearning for something real amidst the holiday chaos. Both characters shine like holiday lights against the backdrop of corporate cynicism. Set during Christmas (debatable), the film’s cozy yet melancholic tone underscores the loneliness and hope that often define the season. It leaves us with a glimmer of hope that next year, the love we seek might finally be ours. — Christ Dustly Go Tan
Robert Downey Jr. in ‘Iron Man 3’
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Dir. Shane Black
One of the few instances the Marvel machine allowed a director to imprint their signature on a film, Iron Man 3 bears the hallmark of writer-director Shane Black: a Christmas timeline. It’s the most wonderful time of the year for a billionaire-genius-playboy-philanthropist to groove out to the Bombay Dub Orchestra remix of “Jingle Bells” and reckon with the PTSD of flying into an alien space portal. As ridiculous as it sounds, Black grounds the film by stripping away all the Iron Man tech and toys and dropping Tony Stark into a little, middle-of-nowhere snow-covered town to rediscover the meaning of his life. Or in other words, the arc of a Hallmark Christmas classic. The backdrop of colorful lights, white snow, and holiday cheer make for good contrasts to Stark’s isolation and depression. The magic of Christmas inspires us to give, to love, and to blow up our Iron Man suits, let go of past obsessions and bask in the firework glow of a new year to come. Getting rid of the arc reactor doesn’t make Stark’s heart grow three sizes; it’s reconciling with the ones he loves that does. — Zo Arroyo
Eugene Domingo and Ai-ai delas Alas in ‘Ang Tanging Ina’
Ang Tanging Ina (2003)
Dir. Wenn V. Deramas
What is Filipino Christmas without the Manila Metro Film Festival (MMFF)? From the beloved matriarch Ina Montecillo (Ai-ai delas Alas) to every possible reiteration of the same unkabogable Vice Ganda character, the late Wenn V. Deramas molded Pinoy humor and camp. While some jokes have aged terribly like warm milk on a cold Christmas day, Ang Tanging Ina, like many of Deramas’ MMFF entries, remains a feel-good, turn-off-your-mind movie that perfectly captures the essence of how insanely chaotic (and emotionally dreading, for a lot of us) it is to be in a Filipino family. Isn't that what Christmas is really about? — Sam Arinto
Kim Hee-ae and Kim So-hye in ‘Moonlit Winter’
Moonlit Winter (2019)
Dir. Lim Dae-hyung
Picture a winter that still sends a chill under your feet, but there’s a promise of a comforting mug of hot cocoa in the kitchen—Moonlit Winter embodies that sensation. Lim Dae-hyung’s directorial vision paints a bittersweet journey of Yoon-hee (Kim Hee-ae) and her daughter Sae-bom (Kim So-hye) as they navigate both a new chapter of their lives and a resurfacing piece of history that unravels them both. The snow that fills the scenes becomes a familiar friend throughout the movie, while the dramatic elements—a letter from Yoon-hee’s first love, Sae-bom finding her place amid her parents’ separation, a “parent trap” opportunity weaving its way throughout the film—become a steady burst of warmth that thaws the frost. — Mharla Francesca Santiano
Takashi Shimura in ‘Ikiru’
Ikiru (1952)
Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Christmas brings us a chance to reflect on how we’ve spent our year and how we’ll choose to spend the next. Now and then, I find myself coming back to this film about a post-war bureaucrat realizing his time is nearly up. Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru explores how someone who lives a monotonous and alienated life can change when faced with dire circumstances. Simultaneously a look into the past and a timeless classic of Japanese drama, Ikiru, while overshadowed by Kurosawa’s better-known works like Ran or Seven Samurai, is certainly up there for me. Sometimes while lost in the rat race, people often adopt the outlook of every-man-for-himself and never take risks, or live for something greater than themselves —is it worth it to live just for ourselves, or is it better to live for others? Kurosawa answers this question in the film by using a good balance of character study, humor, and grounded sentimentality. — Gerard Bernardo
Saoirse Ronan, Laura Dern, Eliza Scanlen, Emma Watson, and Florence Pugh in ‘Little Women’
Little Women (2019)
Dir. Greta Gerwig
At the heart of hearts of Greta Gerwig’s stunning adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s revered classic—love. And every Christmas I want to remember love, the feeling of love, giving love, receiving love. Love in its highest and purest sense. — Miguel Louis Galang
