Gilbert's Little Christmas
2020 · 10m · USA
Directed by Alex Kavutskiy
Genres: comedy, dark comedy
Tones: darkly comic, humorous, melancholic
A despondent man, abandoned on Christmas, fumbles a suicide attempt and redirects the energy into impersonating Santa at a mall, handing out free photos to broke families. Holiday cheer as a coping mechanism.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Bad Santa as therapy, but actually committed. Most Christmas subversion stops at 'isn't this naughty?' — Kavutskiy keeps going until it's almost sincere, and that's where it gets weird.
Kavutskiy opens a Christmas comedy with a suicide attempt and stays funny — Bad Santa with Bobcat Goldthwait's bite, holiday cheer as coping mechanism. The premise is the integrity test, and it's a fair one.
Holiday comedy that opens with a suicide attempt and stays funny — that's the calibration test, and the mall-Santa-handing-out-free-photos-to-broke-families redirect is exactly the right kind of fumbled cope. Budd Diaz / John Gemberling pairing has the deadpan to land it.
Reviews
A great ability to wring new juice out of comedy tropes, leaning into the juvenile and absurd.