Alicia I love this movie so much

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Joseph P. Ulibas Our Christmas (2001) was a highly underrated film from street level director Abel Ferrara. Instead of making a sell-out movie like all of the other directors do, Ferrara sticks to his guns and makes the kind of films that he wants to do. Loosely based upon a true story, Ferrara takes this simple tale about a innocent family living a double life and makes it into a compelling urban character driven drama that's filled with flesh and bone people instead of paper cut-outs.An young family that lives the good life has a shameful secret. They like to deal dope on the side to support their high class living. The movie takes place during the late 80's to the early 90's. Police corruption in New York City was at a all time high. So many of the cops were on the take. One group of cops didn't like the couple and their crew squeezing them out of the heroin business. Ice-T co-stars as an officer who tries to convince the wife (Drea Matteo) to leave the drug trade and do whatever it takes to keep Hubby away from it as well. Not convinced, they kidnap him and the wife has 24 hours to come up with a large sum of money to obtain his release.After receiving a reality check from Ice-T, Drea must come face with the fact that she has wasted her life and is better than the typical dope slinger. When Hubby is released retribution is in order. The crooked cops are all apprehended and the loser responsible for the entire mess is done away with. But really, are their any lessons to be learned by all of the main characters? Abel Ferrara leaves all of the questions open ended. He makes you think about what happened to everyone. This is not a violent soap opera filled with nonsensical gun play. It's a street level drama that pulls no punches and not everyone will appreciate it.Highly recommended.

Cristiano-A The movie is a good example of the independent American cinema. And on the same time it's a Christmas tale, a little different from the usual stuff. It's Christmas! A walk on the Central Park, some last minute shopping and a trip to the tree on the Rockfeller Center. A family, like so many others, prepares to celebrate Christmas. It's a Latin family, of immigrants or sons of immigrants, that came to America searching for a better life. But to achieve the American dream only one occupation is offered to them: the drugs traffic. They do the drug deal as any other family business: on a big glass table, the husband cuts and blends the cocaine and fills the small bags. The uncle seals the bags while another relative puts the mark. But another part of the business happens on the streets and there, the gangs rule. When the husband is kidnapped the wife's life stars to spin around. Abel Ferrara is the author of provocative films like Bad Lieutenant or Driller Killer. And in this film he tries to provoke us once more. 'R Xmas is a kind of moral tale, without a final lesson, but suggesting we think about this little story. Yes, because it doesn't happen much in this movie. We are presented to the daily life of a family, his way of life is exposed to us and then, suddenly, everything is threatened by a sudden and brutal happening: the husband is kidnapped. In the end, he is saved, but the situation is by no means defined. The two leading actors do a sound performance. Drea de Matteo and Lillo Brancato are very convincing in their roles of caring parents and on the same time, drug dealers. Ice-T is also good, in a character who is at the same time, menacing and moral. It's a pity that in the end, the moral message (keep the drugs out of the streets)is hardly related to a dirty cop. In conclusion, it's a good movie, but not an excellent one. Ferrara builds a fiction about the presence of evil and the possibility or will of redemption. Another chapter in his saga of catholic dispair. We hope he can take a project which allows him to develop more of his themes or renew his career by a radical change of course. As a Portuguese critic said, he may direct a sequel of Harry Potter, in which Harry could be tormented by images of Christ, who lead him to question himself about the practice of magic and the obedience to the Bible, for example.

niquems 'R Xmas is one of the only films I've seen where I can almost say that simply nothing happens.I felt as though I watched a drug dealing middle- class couple,with child,walk around,eat,smoke,converse(excuse me,swear)through most of the film.And I don't believe I'm missing the point.I think this film was well directed,well acted(although the husband's performance was rather wooden),and the constant feeling of impending doom around every corner certainly kept the viewer involved.But when the dust clears,your left with zero(just a boat-load of fade outs).I didn't want car chases,gun violence,beatings,etc.In fact,I'm sick of violence.But my goodness,let's at least get a bit deeper into all these characters(let's get to know each of these corrupt officers a little better-not just show glancing shots of them as street thugs).Why was the dialogue so juvenile? Everyone spoke as if they were in junior high.I believe even this side of our human race can say something other than fu_ _,sh_ _,etc.The pacing and the storyline of 'R Xmas I found quite interesting,but the execution was plain and simple-empty.4/10

Chris_Docker (7/10) Abel Ferrara directs a powerful drama where law enforcement and drug dealers come together with emotional force. The central character is an "honest" drug dealer, kind to his family, helping the community out, oblivious to the fact that his decent lifestyle conflicts with the fact that drugs do a lot of damage (to put it mildly). A nice add-on to "Traffic", though even less satisfying as a narrative. Saw it at the Buenos Aires international film festival (2002) and queuing so long for a ticket perhaps made me more inclined to rate it highly as well.