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Kitchen Table Kibitzing 12/12/2023: Five-Minute Christmas Movies [1]

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Date: 2023-12-12

Hasui Kawase: Moon at Magome (1930)

Good evening, Kibitzers, and continued happy Hanukkah!

The subject of long-form Christmas ads from other countries came up in a KTK thread not long ago; I already had a draft diary full of them, so I gracefully snipped those already posted out of it. That helped me pare down the draft (since there are plenty to choose from!), and you can check that thread if you want to see more. Perhaps you’ll forgive me, though, for the one repeat I cannot omit. Okay, two.

I don't know where this tradition of making annual tiny Hallmark movies got started; a lot of good ones are British, but maybe more of those just end up on YouTube because they're in English. Actually, for all I know, there could be a robust tradition of American long-form Christmas ads. I don't watch American TV, whatever that even means any more, but I strongly suspect that any US company with a hankering to make a five-minute commercial saves up their money for the Superbowl.

In any case, it's not hard to find some from other countries on YouTube. My favorite one of all time (so far), and I know I am not alone in this, is Norwegian and came from Posten Bring, the Norwegian postal service, in 2021. It's in Norwegian, with English subtitles, and is entitled When Harry Met Santa. [3:55]

Father Christmas and Mother Earth, on the other hand, is Posten’s 2022 message, and it’s considerably less cheering but no less important. [3:56]

Erste Group is an Austrian-based banking group doing business in central and eastern Europe. They also do Christmas ads, with a “believe” theme. Their 2021 ad, Believe in Tomorrow, is a happier look at the commitment we must make to the future. [1:43]

An Post is the state-owned provider of postal services in Ireland. This ad from 2022 features an Oz-like sad tin man. [1:20]

Sainsbury’s is a large supermarket chain in the UK. Their 2019 ad celebrated their 150th anniversary, and supplied a little-known (because they just made it up) backstory for a well-known character who, we’re to believe, started as a young chimney-sweep. [2:31]

Tesco, by contrast, is an enormous supermarket chain in the UK. Their 2023 ad is whimsical and pretty entertaining. Watch, and root for the eye-rolling teenage kid to become “more Christmas” like the terminally uncool adults around him. [2:30]

John Lewis & Partners is a high-end British department store chain, started on Oxford St, London in 1864 by a young and ambitious draper. As such, they put particular effort into making these fancy little Christmas productions. As I posted in that earlier thread, a favorite of mine is their 2018 ad, featuring Elton John as himself, along with an array of young performers portraying earlier versions of him. [2:29]

In the John Lewis 2021 ad, young Nathan makes an unusual friend. [2:30]

Here is their 2023 ad! In a way, it riffs on Little Shop of Horrors, but of course, it’s a heartwarming Christmas story, so our “Snapper” is nothing at all like the evil Audrey. That’s Andrea Bocelli on the soundtrack, expressively singing a song composed for the ad, whose sole lyric is “la vita na festa”: “life is a party”. [2:00]

Here’s their video about making the ad. There’s a lot of blather about the true meaning of Christmas and so on (which is lovely, if a little mawkish), but I enjoyed it for the CGI-enhanced puppet (see about 1:40). [3:28]

And because I could not resist, here is their accompanying video in which an expert from Kew Gardens explains how to care for your Venus flytrap. Extra points if you can get yours to smile like Snapper. [1:55]

Seen any good ads lately?

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