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Short gray days and long dark nights can be hell on moods, bodies and Vitamin D stores. But what if Oregon winters are just nature’s way of prescribing more movies?
This winter, we’re recommending a seasonal mix of comfort classics, modern marvels with holiday DNA, and some chilly cinematic reminders that, well, the weather could always be worse.
Little Women (2019)
Director: Greta Gerwig
Runtime: 135 minutes
Best enjoyed: With the fam gathered ‘round.
Little Women spans all seasons, but the story seems to peak in winter: Pa returning home from the Civil War, altruistic holiday feasts, Amy falling through the ice. Louisa May Alcott’s totemic coming-of-age novel has been adapted by Hollywood ever since Katharine Hepburn was passing as a teenager, but never with the wit and top-to-bottom acting quality of Greta Gerwig’s take on the source material. Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson and Eliza Scanlen lend intelligence, empathy, and hard-earned wisdom to the March sisters while Meryl Streep, Laura Dern and Timothée Chalamet round out a rich world of family and friends.
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Director: Frank Capra
Runtime: 130 minutes
Best enjoyed: When you need to remember you’re loved.
Frank Capra’s inverse of A Christmas Carol only hits harder as you get older and realize this what-if-I-never-existed fable is all about expectations vs. reality. George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) jumps into a river (before a prospective angel shows him a George-less version of life) not just because Uncle Billy inadvertently handed all the Bailey Brothers Savings & Loan’s cash to wicked bank baron Mr. Potter. The story runs deeper than that; the life of a small-town pillar and family man wasn’t the one George imagined for himself. When times are low, it’s all too easy to believe that everything leading to a personal nadir was a terrible mistake. Not so. It’s a Wonderful Life affirms the value of having been there for someone—anyone—when it mattered.
Carol (2015)
Director: Todd Haynes
Runtime: 118 minutes
Best enjoyed: After having caught someone’s eye at a Christmas party.
Rooney Mara in her Santa hat is about all that needs to be mentioned in order to recommend this modern classic directed by Portland icon Todd Haynes as a winter staple. The romance begins just before Christmas 1952, with an aspiring photographer (Mara) working a Manhattan department store’s toy counter. There, she meets Carol (Cate Blanchett), a wealthy customer who immediately lays the breadcrumbs of an elegant seduction. Blanchett’s entire performance negotiates frost and fire. She’s at her hyper-composed best, posturing and smoking in fur coats, while betraying a furnace of desire through unbroken eye contact and sultry intonations. You could also consider this a perfect lead-in before watching Haynes’ May December, which was released in late November and may result in Oscar consideration for Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman and Charles Melton.
Day of the Outlaw (1959)
Director: André De Toth
Runtime: 92 minutes
Best enjoyed: When utterly snowed in.
Generations of stop-motion Rudolph fans have enjoyed Burl Ives’ jolly caroling as Sam the Snowman. So why shouldn’t they like him as a renegade Army captain taking violent refuge in a saloon during a blizzard? Filmed in Central Oregon near Dutchman Flat, Day of the Outlaw is a taut Western thriller that clearly influenced Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight. Robert Ryan plays a cattle driver locked in conflict with Wyoming homesteaders, a brilliant diversion from the fact that Ives and his bloodthirsty gang are about to ratchet that preexisting tension through the roof.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Director: Peter Jackson
Runtime: 178 minutes
or 208 minutes
(extended version)
Best enjoyed: When you want to turn relaxation into sport.
With all due respect to the avalanching Pass of Caradhras scene, there’s nothing particularly wintry about the first (and arguably best) entry in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Take Fellowship’s placement on this list as a reminder to marathon watch comfort films in your own way this season. Yes, many Tolkien devotees will throw on 12 hours (if we’re talking extended editions) of LOTR as an annual tradition. But during a season when too many of us end up stressed by travel, meal prep, and expectations about what the holidays should look like, having a multifilm excuse to plant yourself on the couch and forget about all of that for a while can be helpful. So if you or someone you know has been impacted by holiday stress, plan the living room film festival of your choice. Couldn’t go wrong with Fellowship, though; Hobbits famously know how to enjoy themselves.
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Director: Brian Henson
Runtime: 85 minutes
Best enjoyed: When you need to be scared into the holiday spirit.
Charles Dickens’ warning to let Christmas into your heart before it’s too late is timeless and, obviously, the Muppets made the authoritative movie adaptation. Musicwise, it’s banger after banger, and the memorable Paul Williams lyrics start immediately: “There’s nothing in nature that freezes your heart like years of being alone / it paints you with indifference like a lady paints with rouge / And the worst of the worst / the most hated and cursed / is the one that we call Scrooge.” Michael Caine, probably the greatest cockney actor ever, understands the Scrooge assignment perfectly—never better than when he mutters “humbug!” with inimitable spite.
Hold the Dark (2018)
Director: Jeremy
Saulnier
Runtime: 125 minutes
Best enjoyed: With a thermos of the world’s hottest coffee.
The only warm thing in this Alaskan mystery is Jeffrey Wright’s gravelly baritone. He plays Russell Core, a writer and wolf expert investigating a remote village where townspeople are rumored to become wolves and sacrifice local children. Hold the Dark is directed by Jeremy Saulnier (Green Room), so even if the supernatural element sounds slightly dubious, rest assured that its bleakness reaches near-meditative levels. If Portlanders need to feel better about the onset of darkness at 4:24 pm, then they should get a taste of the Arctic Circle’s daylight hours during winter.
Groundhog Day (1993)
Director: Harold Ramis
Runtime: 101 minutes
Best enjoyed: When February is testing your sanity.
Yes, prickly TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is losing his shit because he’s living the same day over and over, but isn’t that a fairly accurate representation of the winter doldrums? Like It’s a Wonderful Life, Groundhog Day is another classic that gets more philosophically interesting with multiple rewatches and interrogations into what happens to a person when life loops. On a daily basis, Connors experiences both absolute helplessness (oh, look, it’s Feb. 2 again) and absolute power (he’s the only person in Punxsutawney, Pa., experiencing the repetition). So Groundhog Day ends up asking its audience provoking questions, like what can we accomplish with a heightened awareness of time? Master the piano? Make amends for our self-centeredness? Easy. Binge as many movies as possible before spring.
Oregon Winter is Willamette Week’s annual winter activity magazine. It is free and can be found all over Portland beginning Wednesday, December 6, 2023. Find your free copy at one of the locations noted here, before they all get picked up!