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Jul 28, 2014 By Chris Tinkham Web Exclusive

For last year’s Drinking Buddies, writer/director Joe Swanberg’s worked with known actors for the first time, casting the likes of Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, and Anna Kendrick in the film, his most commercial to date. Kendrick returns in Swanberg’s Happy Christmas, this time as Jenny, a flaky postgrad who, following a Christmastime breakup, moves in with her older brother, Jeff (Swanberg), a filmmaker, and his wife, Kelly (Melanie Lynskey), a novelist who’s put her career on hold to raise their two-year-old boy, Jude. Initially, Jenny’s habit for getting wasted makes her an irresponsible houseguest and babysitter, causing tension between the Chicago couple, but in time, her unfettered ways begin to affect Kelly, as Jenny and her college friend, Carson (Lena Dunham), encourage her to return to writing.

The premise of a rootless visitor shaking up the domestic lives of those who have fallen into routine is familiar, especially among mumblecore vets. We’ve seen it in the recent films of Lynne Shelton and Ry Russo-Young as well. Still, as usual with Swanberg’s films, the performances are both natural and dynamic, validating his improvisational approach. Swanberg shot Happy Christmas with director of photography Ben Richardson (Beasts of the Southern Wild, Drinking Buddies) on 16mm, even though the actors were working only from Swanberg’s outline and general scenarios. Lynskey shines in the film—perhaps not coincidentally, she worked in comedy improv before being cast in Heavenly Creatures 20 years ago—but so does Swanberg’s young son, Jude, who steals a few scenes. One of the drawbacks of using known actors in such films is that their presence can magnify the diminutive quality of stories developed in this manner.

www.magpictures.com/happychristmas

Author rating: 6/10