#michal czernecki | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thewomanwhowatchedchristmas · 2 years ago

Text

David and the Elves (2021)

I didn’t mean to pick a movie entirely in Polish to start the 2023 season, but it’s for sure an interesting one. Warning- I watched this on Netflix with English subtitles, but there was a background narration voice that wasn’t subtitled. I don’t know how much I missed, and I never will.

Elf Albert (Jakub Zajac) has been the top elf at the North Pole for 5 years in a row. With the help of his close friend Elf Erwin (Piotr Rogucki), Albert tries to stay on top of his declining levels of Christmas spirit. That’s where an elf’s power comes from, so if they lose it, they shrink until they vanish altogether. Albert is convinced that the solution is to get humans to love him more. Santa Claus (Cezary Zak) tells Albert that humans don’t know who he is and that humans aren’t as understanding about elves. Albert leaves anyway. Erwin tells Santa, so Santa and Mrs. Claus (Monika Krzywkowska) can keep an eye on him and help if he needs.

Albert lands in the street in front of a kid named David (Cyprus’s Grabowski). I’m not sure how old David is supposed to be, but younger than 10 seems likely. David believes in the magic of Christmas and loves Albert, but that’s not enough to help Albert. Albert causes mayhem with David’s dad, Piotr (Michal Czernecki), by making his fake beard real and with David’s mom, Hania (Anna Smolowik) by turning the Christmas tree into a life size Albert statue.

This movie is chaotic and has multiple characters having existential crises but, like, festively, so I’m into it. There’s also a moment at the end that’s really cool, but would be a little homoerotic in an American movie. I probably wouldn’t watch it again, but it was fun the one time. Any time I noticed music, it was cringey. Having no frame of reference for Polish acting, the acting was good. Santa and Mrs. Claus were a little weird, but that seemed intentional. Overall, 3 stars.