I've mentioned this following previous TIFFs, but sometimes little thematic groupings appear out of the schedule for a given year.
Earlier, I'd talked about "Three Wise Men". Turns out I saw the second and third Christmas films of the year back-to-back and they were truly a study in contrast.
"Un Conte de Noel" is an accomplished film about a French family brought together by both the holidays and the urgent need to find a bone marrow donor for the family's matriarch, played by Catherine Deneuve. A large cast do a great job of creating three-dimensional characters. The direction is by Arnaud Desplechin. I'm not familiar with his work, but his film "Rois et Reine (Kings and Queen)" got great reviews when it came out a few years ago. A DVD I'll definitely want to hunt for.
In contrast, "Cooper's Camera" is a shrill, woeful attempt at farce, starring Jason Jones and Samantha Bee from "The Daily Show". The Coopers celebrate the arrival of a new video camera (it's set in 1985, so the camera is the size of a medium-sized microwave) by showing all the skeletons (past and present) in the family closet.
This mini-genre of families getting together for a holiday celebration normally includes lots of tears; secrets revealed; grudges maintained and, eventually (hopefully) resolved; and some laughter. Both films follow this trajectory, but "Un Conte de Noel" does it in a way that respected its family rather than used them for target practice.
Not sure if either film has distribution yet. I'd recommend the former without hesitation; the latter should be avoided like the 80s fashions it so gleefully displays.
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