No Christmas plans? Line up these FIVE unconventional films for your holiday viewing pleasure

Christmas joy is back but traditional Christmas movies don’t necessarily have to be.

While several Christmas-themed movies already exist, and another dime a dozen released this year alone, the holiday viewing can get pretty boring.

Skimming through one festive watch after another, like guzzling down sugary drinks from the Christmas treat catalogue, catch a much-needed break with five titles you may have not considered as essentially holiday appropriate (they’re not; and that’s the fun bit).

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

The Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman vehicle Eyes Wide Shut is not your typical Christmas movie by any means and certainly not for family viewing. However, what it lacks in the festive spirit, it makes up with its somewhat related visual style.

A story about a married couple whose superficially held together marital bliss goes up in flames after the wife’s admission about nearly cheating on her husband during one marijuana-fuelled conversation, Stanley Kubrick’s final film takes place during Christmas and features contrastingly cold and warm tones, made up of gorgeous blue and orange hues.

La La Land (2016)

This famous best picture loser is stretched across all of the four seasons — however, it all begins during the Christmas season, when Mia (Emma Stone) meets Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) one fateful night, mesmerised by the tune of his piano, just as he gets fired from his job as a pianist at a local bar for playing said tune.

La La Land is not considered a Christmas staple by any standards, but it is a musical, fit for modern standards of romance, and would make for a comfortable viewing as everyone settles in for a cosy night on the cherished holiday.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

If you wish to check out the original film which largely inspired La La Land, look no further than the classic French romance/musical, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

Covering all of the four seasons as well and featuring another star-crossed pair of lovers, this Jacques Demy masterpiece will wrench your heart out while delivering its final blow, wrapped up in an exuberantly glossy cover of a white Christmas.

The Apartment (1960)

Another romance, Billy Wilder’s The Apartment begins as a nihilist love story only to turn around and embrace the pleasantness of its genre.

Starring old Hollywood icons, Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, this celebrated rom-com does not dull for a minute of its entire just-over-two hours runtime, ending on a high note during a Christmas celebration.

The Holdovers (2023)

This title is a bit of a cheat code — while The Holdovers is a fairly recent release and therefore not a classic, it has achieved the status of a Christmas film pretty quickly.

The multiple-time Academy Award nominee, Alexander Payne’s directorial takes place over a period of Christmas break at a New England prep school, making all of the story’s endearing quirks and episodes inherently entwined with its festive setting.