Christmas movies and series don’t have to be romantic. A cross-section through old and new, rough and ironed interpretations.

From Danielle Hadler and Susan Rakowitz , 05.39 am, December 24, 2021

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christmas at home

From Searching in Winter Paradise: The old-fashioned opening position is worked out in a contemporary way in this Norwegian series: Johann announces to her family that she will bring her boyfriend to Christmas dinner. which friend? The nurse must first pull it out of the pool of men (and women). The episodes, filmed in the wonderfully snow-capped mining town of Roros, are surprisingly well suited to satisfy a Christmas statue craving. Plus, it breaks old patterns and at its core is a story about strong women, clowns, and a little madness. Netflix

a christmas number one

Thrashmetal and Jingle Bells: Every year in Great Britain, the question arises: who is “Christmas number one” on the charts? The disaffected music manager Meg Rae (Freida Pinto) needs a hit to get the boy band “Five Together” out of the trough. In theory, the thrash metal band has a perfect Christmas hit written by bass player Blake Cutter (Evan Ryon). But Meg and Rae are anything but green. Pleasant, but not-so-sweet – and yes, sad too. Sky

Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella

When the dog howls loudly: The German-Czech production is a typical case of Christmas socialization of the pre-streaming era: when the word Cinderella is used, the Pavlovian dog barks something along with Christmas, family, and the Christmas tree. Every year Cinderella takes the cheeky prince by the nose according to all the rules of art. The movie is as popular as ever: many streaming services offer the movie. The new version (Prime) is good, but has clearly fallen away from the original.
On December 24 on ORF 1 at 8:20 am, ARD at 12:10 pm, NDR at 4:05 pm. Also on Amazon and Netflix.

Christmas Chronicles

santa’s little ones Rascal: Streaming services led a renaissance in Christmas movies. Reason: While the harvest season is short in theaters, genre films return to the platform year after year. “The Christmas Chronicles” is a result of this development: Kurt Russell is captured by two children posing as Santa while he is handing out presents. It gets worse: The siblings are hiding in his sleigh, and before you know it, it’s time to save Christmas again. Netflix

christmas flow

Connecting the world with intelligence: You can see the Eiffel Tower from afar when you climb the roof of the skyscraper. But journalist Leela (Shirin Butella) has more to do than outright romantic, glorified nonsense. With two friends, she founded the feminism platform “The Simmons”. On her hit list: rapper Marcus (played by rapper Tyke), who doesn’t garner attention with female-friendly lyrics. Sympathetic mini-series that also brings political issues to the Christmas series with French spontaneity. Netflix

hard love

Christmas in the Time of Tinder: The nightmare in the universe of wipe-and-go dating portals lies naked: If you find out on a first date that the other person cheated on age or appearance, you’ll rarely be positively surprised. In Natalie’s (Nina Dobrev) case, it’s Josh (Jimmy O. Yang) who isn’t who he pretended to be. Just stupid that Natalie invited herself to his Christmas party right away. The course of action is clear as in the day, the roles are clearly structured. A wonderfully shallow, Christmas romantic comedy. Netflix