Some Thoughts On…Winter’s Tale

So, my family doesn’t really celebrate Christmas, which resulted in a general indifference towards the holiday season. Sure, we kinda gave each other gifts, but it’s about as unceremonious as you can get. There were no traditions or rituals that we did every year. Sometimes I might watch a Christmas related movie by myself, but seasonal viewings aren’t really my thing, just like how I don’t go on horror movie binges during October because I watch horror movies all year long anyway.

But I now have a personal ritual that I commit to. It’s just one movie that I’ve decided on watching every year. And given that I wrote it in the title of this post – yes – that movie is Winter’s Tale.

I vividly remember seeing this when it came out. It was February of 2014; I was still working in a local Regal theater at the time, and I had just clocked off. I watched everything, so I decided to see this movie that I haven’t heard or seen much about. As I sat in the auditorium, waiting for the movie to start, I went on my phone just to get an idea of what I’ll be seeing, and I learned that it was based on a 1983 book by Mark Helprin, and that the critics were really not fans of the adaptation. I haven’t looked into the details, so I didn’t know what to expect, and I found myself astonished by what I was seeing on screen.

If you haven’t seen it, Winter’s Tale is about a burglar, Peter (Colin Farrell), who falls in love with an ailing heiress, Beverly (Jessica Brown Findlay). Oh, and Peter is being chased by a demon – disguised as a gangster – named Pearly (Russell Crowe), but he escapes Pearly when he stumbles onto a flying horse (though, it’s later stated that it’s actually a dog???). And also, Peter is eventually caught, not too long after Beverly dies, and is also taken out by Pearly. But it turns out, he survives and remains alive for a century, taking the story to 2014 where he wanders through New York with amnesia, and uses the help of Virginia (Jennifer Connelly) to remember who he is. Pearly is also still around at this point, and asks for Lucifer’s (played by Will Smith) permission to kill him for good.

You might think I gave away too much there, but I promise you, I barely scratched the surface of the insanity that is this movie. I won’t give away all the juicy details, since they’re best experienced as they unfold. You might be thinking, “oh, so this is one of those ‘so bad it’s good,’ kinda movies?” To which, I say…I suppose. Over the past few years, I’ve basically abandoned the basic notion of “so bad it’s good” or “guilty pleasures” because the whole good-bad binary is the least interesting way to explore and experience movies. If a film is providing an overall positive experience for you, then does it really matter if it has elements that might not have worked the way it intended?

Admittedly, the first time I watched this, I did enjoy it in a way that I would’ve described back then as “ironic.” Naturally, I tried to tell everybody about the craziness that was in the movie, and convince them to see it. I ended up seeing it twice in the theater, and I hadn’t revisited it until much later in December. By this time, I’ve read a bit on how the movie came about. Apparently, Warner Brothers really wanted Martin Scorsese to direct, but he turned down the offer, deeming the book “unfilmable,” which – in the the grand scheme of things – he was pretty much right. It’s definitely a film that feels like it took a dense source material and crammed it to fit a standard two hour narrative. The person who ended up doing said cramming was Oscar winning screenwriter of Batman and Robin, The Da Vinci Code, and The Dark Tower, Akiva Goldsman. To be fair, he did do one other movie I liked, Cinderella Man, but…man, you wanna see the phrase “failing upwards” manifest in human form, check out this dude’s filmography. Winter’s Tale was apparently a passion project for him, so WB gave him the opportunity to make his directorial debut with it. The film, ultimately, did very poorly, making only $31 million on a $75 million budget, and was thus lost and forgotten in time.

When I saw the film the following December, it had a bit of a different effect. Yes, I was still amused by the bizarre details and befuddling creative choices, but it no longer felt like I was laughing at the movie. In fact, I found myself getting more invested and charmed by its delightfully surreal qualities. I have a general admiration for films that go for broke (as you’ve lively noticed if you read my reviews for Mortal Engines and Aquaman), and that extends to films that might not totally “work” because of its audacious choices. And Winter’s Tale isn’t like one of those “problematic faves,” it’s an achingly wholesome movie about love and loss; it’s super sincere and kind-hearted, and all the actors are giving it 110%. It’s like a puppy, there’s nothing to get mad about, it’s only crime is being off-the-wall ludicrous, and if you’re a bad movie, the best thing you can hope for is that you’re weird enough to make yourself compelling and watchable, which Winter’s Tale achieves in spades.

Over time, I really grew to love this silly ass movie. And given the title, winter setting, and magical elements, I made it a regular Christmas viewing. It’s not what I would consider a conventional Christmas movie, by any stretch of the imagination, but with its fantastical qualities, the central love story, and just generally being a hopeful tale of good triumphing over evil, I think it makes a solid fit for the season. The film never ceases to delight me with its relentlessly bonkers story, and it’s one I always look forward to introducing to other people. It’s just a fun experience all around. I feel like I’m the only person who even remembers, much less watches, this movie, so this seemed like a fun thing to write about. I hope the one thing you can get from this is that you should feel free to experience art that makes you happy, even if it doesn’t fit into the conventional idea of a good or a bad movie, and there’s nothing you should feel guilty for. This is absolutely the season that – from my understanding – encourages one to unabashedly embrace what makes you happy. Some folks watch It’s A Wonderful Life, some watch Black Christmas, some watch Batman Returns, some watch Bad Santa, some watch Home Alone, some watch Die Hard; I like to watch Winter’s Tale.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!