Noel (2004)

 Originally Written

Sunday, February 25, 2007

If you’re looking for a fun loving, heart warming little Christmas story for the end of the year, Noel is not the film for you.  Going in I was expecting something similar to Love Actually, and while the format of the film is rather similar the story and the characters themselves are much different, plus this isn't even remotely in the realm of comedy.  It's a film you definitely want to stray away from if you want to have yourself a "Merry Little Christmas" otherwise be ready to feel quite depressed when it's all over.

Similar to Love Actually, Noel has three different story-lines that are mixed together quite well, even crossing paths at times.  The first character introduced is Rose Collins (Susan Sarandon) she's a middle aged woman whose husband left her some years ago and now spends her time working and caring for her elderly mother whose suffering from Alzheimer’s who shows no signs of ever becoming coherent.  She's an extremely kind person and has spent the majority of the past few years also caring for her father who had recently passed away.  Her friends encourage her to live her life and go out and meet someone, but she's been alone for so long that the only place she truly feels comfortable is by her mother’s side.  What Rose doesn't yet know is she will soon meet a man that will help to turn her life around and give her new hope.

   

Next is Mike Riley (Paul Walker), he's a cop who is about to get married to the lovely Nina Vasquez (Penelope Cruz) but his extreme bouts of jealously and temper towards other guys who talk to or even look at her is seriously putting their relationship in jeopardy.  Nina loves Mike tremendously but his suffocating grip is killing her inside and she begins to have second thoughts about marrying him.  With his relationship in jeopardy Mike starts to receive a little extra irritation when an old man begins stalking him, making him feel incredibly uncomfortable.  But what Mike doesn't know is this stranger could possibly be the answer to turning his life around before he drives Nina away.

   

Finally there is Jules Calvert (Marcus Thomas) who has had an extremely rough life.  When he was a kid his mother married an extremely abusive man.  At the age of fourteen Jules couldn't stand the way he or his mother were being treated and stood up to his step father, getting his nose broken in three different places.  That Christmas Jules spent in the hospital and it became the best Christmas he ever had.  Jules never returned home after that, he didn't want to be abused any longer and certainly didn't want to return to his mother who stood by and let it all happen.  Now an adult Jules wants to once again experience that wonderful Christmas in the hospital even if it requires him to harm himself to be admitted.  Jules is soon going to realize that he's got quite a few issues to work out and that a Christmas in the hospital might turn out to be better than he originally expected.

   

You have probably figured out the theme of the film by now, which takes a group of people on Christmas Eve, in different places of their lives, and throws them into painful situations which ultimately lead to a life changing conclusion.  That all might seem quite entertaining but the film is quite draining emotionally and while the endings for all parties involved appear to be quite positive as the viewer you're still left quite depressed because the film throws so much emotional trauma at you in one sitting.  So if you’re thinking about checking this out make sure you’re prepared, while it can be depressing, ultimately it does do a good job of helping you realize what should be important to you in your own life.

   

Overall, the story and execution is pretty good and the pace of the film is steady.  The acting is pretty corny most of the time but the story has enough mystery that it should hold most peoples interest.  It was about 12:45 AM when I started watching this film and I originally only planed to watch about half of it, but I ended up staying up until past 2 AM to finish it, so it did have a few good thing going for it.  In the end, it's probably not a film you’re going to want to watch multiple times, but it's definitely a film worthy of one viewing.  

6/10