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If you're tired of watching Its A Wonderful Life for the umpteenth time or Dreaming of A White Christmas is not for you, there's a trio of movies starring Asian Americans that might put you in the mood appropriate for the season.
The Christmas movie genre is not everyone's cup of tea and may not be the greatest examples of movie-making but the holiday films serve their purpose as mental health breaks from the day's news dominated by topics like anti-Asian assaults, Ukraine, Trump, inflation, the rise of white supremacy and COVID-19.
The typical X'mas movie usually follow a proven formula with slight variations: big city successful writer/lawyer/journalist/celebrity returns to small town hometown and meets a long lost flame. After some clever repartee, initial resistance gives way to eventual romance, snow falls, and Christmas music fills the air.. But, hey, we love it.
This year, out of the bevy of Christmas movies there are three movies starring Asian American actors.
Must Love Christmas
A renowned romance novelist (Liza Lapira of The Equalizer) famous for her Christmas-themed books finds herself snowbound in the charming town of Cranberry Falls. There, she unexpectedly becomes involved in a love triangle with her childhood crush (Nathan Witte) and a reporter (Neal Bledsoe) determined to interview her to save his dying magazine. The movie premieres Dec. 11 on CBS. Check local listings. After the premiere, it can be streamed on Paramount Plus.
A Hollywood Christmas
An up-and-coming director (Jessica Van) of Christmas movies finds herself living in one in this holiday romantic comedy with a clever movie-within-a-movie twist when a handsome network exec shows up threatening to halt production on her latest film. The film is currently available to stream on HBO Max.
Big Fat Family Christmas
Liv (Shannon Chan-Kent) is a photojournalist eager to make it on her own. To get a dream assignment – shooting the Chang family’s annual holiday party for a cover story – she doesn’t reveal that they are in fact, her family. When she finds herself growing close to Henry, the coworker covering the story with her, she wants to confide in him but doesn’t want to jeopardize her big break. Also featuring Tia Carrere and Jack Wagner. The Hallmark film can be streamed on the Peacock network.
There aren't many Christmas movies featuring AANHPI actors. The three this year, unfortunately, are the exception to the majority of films made by every holiday season.
Surprisingly, the queen of Christmas movies appears to have hung up her crown (at least for this year.) In the years 2018 to 2021, Filipino American actress Vanessa Hudgens made four Christmas movies, including the three in The Princess Switch franchise. Last year, one of the three look-alike "princesses" revealed that she was of Filipino descent.
The holidays are a particularly stressful time for individuals and relationships. Christmas movies are often a butt of a joke among serious cinemaphiles, but considering the stresses and pressures of the real world, for countless fans, the holiday films serve a role reminding people that there are possibilities beyond doom and gloom that offer hope and light.
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