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This is a New York drama so laidback that it has taken a decade to arrive on the UK’s cinema screens. Initially unveiled in the US in 2015, it’s a micro-budget first feature from debut filmmaker Charles Poekel, set almost entirely on a 24-hour pop-up Christmas tree stall. Poekel’s style remains decidedly genuinely independent and naturalistic to become slushy or sentimental about Christmas; in his view Christmas tree lights flash like police lights. But in its own low-key way, he positions the movie just right for a modest dose of festive warmth.

A Weary Seller Amid the Brooklyn Cold

Kentucker Audley portrays Noel (it took someone in the film to joke about his name for the connection to be made). Noel is back for his fifth year peddling Christmas trees in Brooklyn, standing outside in the freezing cold and sleeping in a not-much-warmer caravan parked next to the trees. Several patrons inquire after the girl assisting him last year. But this year Noel is alone, heartbroken and on the night shift.

There’s a documentary feel to many of the scenes, with customers asking idle and peculiar questions. One woman requests the same Christmas tree as the Obamas (the story is set in 2014). Noel looks numb with cold in body and spirit; he’s exhausted and disenchanted, though Audley’s understated acting makes it clear that he wasn’t always like this.

Quiet Encounters and Flickers of Connection

Frankly, not much happens. Noel rescues a woman, Lydia (Hannah Gross), who has passed out drunk on a bench. She reappears later in truly poignant scenes as Noel drives around New York, delivering trees – and these sequences could ignite a little flicker of good cheer in the grinchiest of hearts. Poekel hasn’t made a feature since this, which is a shame – it is unmatched for naturalness and ease, and it’s shot on beautifully grainy 16mm film.

A picture of quiet appeal and real atmosphere, portraying the loneliness and brief connection of the holidays.

Christmas, Again opens in UK cinemas from 12 December.