Metal balls instead of traditional red socks For many film fans, the name of the English director and screenwriter Richard Elson will not say anything, although he had the opportunity to receive the coveted “Oscar” when in 1993 he was nominated in the category “Best Short Documentary” (the film “Colors of my father: Portrait of Sam Borenstein”, but in the official filmography of Elson it is missed – either a discrepancy or a mistake). One way or another, this filmmaker festive melodrama family type “Christmas star” was the first feature-length film. The same debutante (or debutante, I don’t know for sure) was the screenwriter..stars Myra Campbell. And so one wonders why on earth watch this film if it was released in 2015, but so far the KP has not collected the necessary number of votes for an average score, and the number of voters on IMDb does not reach the mark of 300 people? The answer is simple: sometimes you want something good.
The plot of “Christmas Star” revolves around a sweet and charming girl Noel O’Hanlon, who was born exactly on the eve of the holiday and miraculously was endowed with the magical gift of any scandals and quarrels immediately to end and turn quarrels into best friends. Noel lives with his parents, Mary and Joe, in a small town that sells special Christmas balls that are designed to replace traditional socks, where gifts are placed for babies who believe that Santa Claus does it. But the demand for balls began to fall sharply and at this time there is a grasping businessman Pat McKerrod, who once lived in the town of Noel, with his son. McKerrod wants to buy the land from the local population, saying that there will be conditions for money to come to the town. This plan was believed by a major financial figure, Mr. Shepherd. But in fact, the greedy and arrogant McCurrod pursues his own cunning goals.
Here is such a twist of the plot, which by its simplicity may seem attractive, because special intellectual activity films on Christmas Eve traditionally do not require. However, the quality of the film was very, very poor. At first glance, “Christmas Star” experienced great financial difficulties, that is, a lack of budget, which makes the picture look naive and fresh from a technical point of view. Even the fantasy tab, when Noel uses his gift, looks so cheap that, alas, further viewing of the film is depressing. Very bad job did the cameraman Richard Bell and Ian Fox. And only in some places helps the musical accompaniment from Marita McBride and Orla O’Rourke, but to call this music some memorable can not, it only harmonizes well with the plot of “Christmas Star”, which has a mandatory component for such films to set the viewer on an easy and touching way.
Do not pay much attention to the fact that in the cast there are well-known names of Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson: with Brosnan, all the scenes could easily be filmed in one day (I will not be surprised that it was), and with Neeson, the work may have stretched a little more, because he, in addition to one scene with his appearance, also engaged in voiceover text behind the scenes. Melkneth, by the way, in a cameo Kylie Minogue - she kind of made the residents of the town, so to speak, spread their wings. Playing Noel young Erin Galway-Kendrick girl is certainly beautiful, but “Christmas Star” is clearly not the film where she can show itself in all colors. Not bad, but still quite flat and standard role played by Rob James-Collier (senior McCurrod). Typical roles were noted and Brona Waugh with Richard Clements (parents Noel). And then there's the crippled kid in the movie who was really sorry because his disability wasn't on screen.
Absolutely simple and standard film, which does not stand out among other pre-holiday tapes. “Christmas star” is difficult to cope with the task of making the viewer believe in miracles on the eve of magical days. Mediocrity is probably the only word that can be used to describe this film. Just because he is still kind and sweet will not color the review in red, but the green film is far, far, far away, like the town where Noel was born and lived.
5 out of 10