A CHRISTMAS COTTAGE/ THOMAS KINCAIDE’S A CHRISTMAS COTTAGE

US, 2008, 96 minutes, Colour.
Jared Padalecki, Marcia Gay Harden, Aaron Ashmore, Peter O’Toole?, Chris Elliot, Geoffrey Lewis, Ed Asner.
Directed by Michael Campus.

A Christmas Cottage is a story about American artist, Thomas Kincade. Kincade also served as producer of the film and appears momentarily at the end, painting his famous picture of a Christmas Cottage.
This is a film of great feeling, with a great deal of sentiment, sentimentality. It will not appeal very much to those who are wary of such sentiment. Rather it is an appeal to American emotion.
The film is set in 1977, when Thomas was at college as was his brother Patrick. They come home for Christmas, find that the mother is in dire financial straits and unemployed, with the bank going to reclaim their cottage. She is proud and does not want help from others. The film is quite warm with the presentation of the two brothers and their relationship with their mother and their wanting to help her. Thomas is played by Jared Padalecki and Patrick by Aaron Ashmore. The always reliable Marcia Gay Harden plays the mother with great feeling.
One of the main focus points of the film is the performance by Peter O’Toole? as the ageing artist, Glenn who is influential on Thomas Kinkade. It is a typical Peter O’Toole? performance, his looking aged and weary, moving into moments of dementia, anxious because he cannot control his hands to complete a painting. And he has lines which he delivers in the most oratorical style, as if it was Shakespeare…
The influence of the artist on Thomas Kinkade, his emphasis on painting hope, joy and the light instead of remembering the past with shades of darkness, meant that Kincade’s painting of the Christmas Cottage is also full of light and the artist is known as a painter of light.
The film has a great deal of sentimentality in his presentation of people from the town who also appear in a mural that Kincade paints to get money to support his mother. There’s the old man and his dog, the eyes and ears of the town who knows everything. There is Butch, Geoffrey Lewis, whose 18 year old son was killed in the Vietnam War. There is the would-be sex pot of the town. There is also the man who wants to put the town on the map as the Christmas tree centre of the world, Chris Elliott. A good deal of the film goes to the rehearsals for the Christmas pageant and the disaster of the actual event, especially when it was being filmed for television, with Marcia Gay Harden stepping in to bring some dignity to the experience.
Norman Rockwell is mentioned. In a sense this is an attempt at a 1970s and 2007 version of a Rockwell painting and a Rockwell story.

1. The impact of the film, for an American audience, non-American? The obvious sentiment, relishing of small town American Life, the celebration of Christmas, the Christian religious dimension, folksiness both happy and sad, sentimentality?
2. The small town setting, California, in winter, the weather, the snow, Christmas? Work in the town, difficulties in employment, legal companies and laying off people, bars, the painting of the mural?
3. The tone of the film, the title, the visuals of the cottage, the paintings, the mural and Norman Rockwell 1977-style? The Christmas pageant, the eccentric characters in the town, the organist, the three kings and the difficulties, the children as angels, the beauty queen as the virgin Mary and her provocative manner? The Christmas carols?
4. Thomas Kinkade, his reputation as a painter, his appearing at the end of the film? The influence of Glen? The interactions between Tom and Glen, the visits to the studio, Glen and his wanting to complete his painting of Nicole? His hands and his inability? His age, his mind wandering, living in the past? Yet his encouragement of Tom, to be positive, his speeches about painting and capturing life, his final light-filled painting? His telling Tom not to stay in the dark but to paint the light? Thomas and his talent, being encouraged by Glen, the mural, his painting the characters of the town, his subsequent career?
5. Tom as a character, at college, his good relationship with Patrick, their returning home, discovering the truth about their mother’s financial situation? Wanting to work? With Ernie, the painting? Hope and her visit, yet her disappointment, wanting him to get out of the town? Nanette? His marrying her? His devotion to his mother?
6. Patrick, genial, younger brother, getting the job, supporting his mother, supporting Patrick?
7. Maryanne, separation from her husband, supporting her sons, working, being laid off, going to work and staying away, her pride, and Glen telling her that her pride was destructive? Her work and the town, helping people, helping with the pageant, getting substitute kings, her discussions with Butch, with Ernie, her saving the pageant and her reading of the Isaiah text? Her discussions with Glen, his wise advice, the Christmas gifts? Glen’s gift of his last painting, being sold and saving the cottage?
8. The boys and their father? His wild character, visit, Maryanne asking him to be a king, his doing it, supporting his son, driving off?
9. The eccentrics in the town, Ernie and his ambitions, bravado, the pageant and the mess, the Reverend and his support, the organiser and her husband and his problems with his beard, the clash with the electrician, the electrician and the rivalry with the neighbours for the decorations, the old man with his dog, knowing all the information? The old lady playing the organ and her set ideas? The young girl, beauty queen, wanting to light the tree, her portrayal of Mary, the sex pot image? The rival girl? Watch, said, talking with Maryanne, going to the cemetery and remembering his dead son?
10. The TV, the failure of the opening of Christmas, at the Church?
11. Glen coming to the house, the meal, the painting?
12. Life in a small American town, in the 1970s, the changes for the 21st century?