Just Another Christmas Parent Guide

Jorge (Leandro Hassum) has never been a fan of Christmas. His birthday is December the 25^th, and sharing his birthday meant he didn’t get much of a party. As an adult, Jorge has learned to almost tolerate Christmas for the sake of his wife Laura (Elisa Pinheiro) and children, Leozinho (Bruno Braga) and Aninha (Arianne Botelho) – but they always spend it with Laura’s family, and the interpersonal drama only deepens Jorge’s negative attitude. Then a bitter outburst prompts a cryptic warning from Laura’s grandpa Nhanhão (Levi Ferreira), and Jorge finds himself waking up the next morning… only to find that it’s Christmas all over again! But he isn’t repeating the past – an entire year has passed which Jorge can’t remember. And unless things change, it looks like it’s going to happen again, and again, and again…

I have a lot of sympathy for Jorge. I am the family’s resident Scrooge, and with the Christmas season effectively starting in mid-November, by the time the 25^th rolls around I feel like I’ve been stuck in a time loop myself. But, as with all Scrooge stories, this is basically A Christmas Carol – although the Ghosts of Past and Present have been omitted in favor of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, which we all know is the most interesting one anyway. Jorge isn’t nearly as cartoonishly evil as Dicken’s tightfisted old curmudgeon, but his future has just as many unpleasant surprises.

What surprised me is how sincere and heartfelt this Brazilian movie is. I was expecting an hour and a half of slapstick comedy and familial awkwardness – something Leandro Hassum is more than willing to deliver in spades – but what I got was an exploration of the importance of family and the drastic difference one year can make. Since, unlike its other inspiration, Groundhog Day, Jorge is actually moving forward through time, the movie can explore the consequences of his actions on the other 364 days of the year.

Apart from some moderate profanity and a few risqué (but not explicit) jokes, Just Another Christmas is reasonably suitable for older children and teens who are willing to read subtitles or put up with the awful dubbed dialogue. Parents, however, should be warned in advance of a few Cat’s in the Cradle moments. Perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the film is that it isn’t encouraging some kind of big consumerist Christmas, but is all about appreciating your family and understanding your own priorities – something even I’m not going to get all Scrooge-y about.