The best movies of the 2020s, so far: CHRISTMAS EVE IN MILLER'S POINT

   CHRISTMAS EVE IN MILLER'S POINT is the holiday hangout movie of my dreams (fingers crossed for one based on Halloween, though).

  It's impossible to fully describe because it's constantly changing shapes. Like, it's as cozy and schmaltzy as it is cynical and blunt but even that dichotomy is too easy! It's also a poignant drama, a goofy comedy and, at times, a tense, kaleidoscopic, acid-dipped flurry.

  Every moment—no matter how big, small, internal or shared—lasts just long enough to get us invested but nothing is spelled out with overwritten monologues or proclamations...and then we move on to something else. There's no plot obstruction, just facial expressions, dialog, and textures to carry us through; the comic and dramatic timing are both impeccable.

  It's not a slice-of-life movie so much as a whole platter of life to feast upon; cinema as charcuterie board. As scant and varied as the conversations are amongst the 55,000 characters, there's no shortage of verisimilitude. These people have plenty of history behind them and between them; with that comes plenty of unspoken depth and complexities. Director Tyler Taormina allows himself spontaneity, whether it's to stage a gag or let a moment breathe longer than you'd expect or have tragic brevity leave you wanting more. Even the way he lets friction build and build only to eventually cool, WHILE NOT losing any of the tension, is pretty remarkable.

  Even if everything else wasn't so magnificent it's, at the very least, one of the absolute best-looking movies of the decade (and it joins Terrifier 3, of all things, as a great new Christmas movie). Every frame is just so giddy and thoughtful, there's almost an anxious monopolizing going on where the filmmakers take advantage of every idea they have. During the opening credits I got anxious that it would eventually drop the ball because I was so bowled over by how good it was but! it never lost that, just gained momentum.

  The ending is the most unexpected because it fades out as soon as the sun starts to come up on Christmas day, putting a firm punctuation mark on its very literal title: it's strictly about Christmas Eve, nothing more, nothing less. I fully embrace it as a new classic that I can't wait to turn into a tradition.