Having been a consumer of western traditions for most of my life, from their rather weird obsession with rabbits on Easter to thanksgiving that we simply don’t get to share, their Christmas is just as weird, with an obsession with Santa and his elves. Even so, with the power of storytelling over the years, we have had the opportunity to consume and even adapt to these traditions that we never got to live through. That might have been then. Now, with a growing film and television industry fuelled by the need to tell our own African stories (because the world is running out of content), Showmax’s A Familiar Christmas jollies its way into our screens, offering a filtered version of what a Kenyan Christmas movie feels like, made in the spirit of family and sharing.
Drawing from a formula that has produced a constant and successful stream of family-friendly movies with only the characters, their environment, and their customs, A Familiar Christmas feels very familiar. From the family dynamics to the character actions and arcs, this is a movie that the audience knows so well that they know where it’s going. Locked into an echo chamber of family drama over a few days, the conflicts in A Familiar Christmas are handled with a leniency that guarantees all will be well by the time the end credits roll. It’s a formula that doesn’t fail when done well. Tyler Perry has made his fortunes on it. A Familiar Christmas is so familiar that the audience is allowed to get distracted from time to time by a crying baby, an annoying cousin, or whoever you have chosen to watch the movie with. It’s simple enough to allow a family to glide in and out in the middle of watching it instead of worrying about the plot. A Familiar Christmas knows what it is, and it doesn’t shy away from it.
The plot: Frank Moran, played by Dennis Musyoka (Maria, Crime and Justice) and his wife, an often-worried matriarch (Alice Mbeyu, Zora), welcome their two grown children to the family home for Christmas (and with it all the drama in their lives), their first celebration in three years. Their sketchy yet gentle son Melita (Pascal Tokodi, Selina) brings along his unannounced fiancé (Ugandan Ruth Kamanzi, Sanyu), only to be met by an unannounced former love interest (Ann Muli, The Good Child). A mother, played in her debut performance by Elani member Maureen Kunga, is trying to figure out what she wants with her life and that of her daughter, caught between a familiar relationship with Keith Chuaga (Igiza, Ayaanle) and a new flame (Charles Agengo, Selina). And that’s it. And that is all it wants to be. The acting might have fallen short at times, but there was a charm to the actors and actresses that was good enough to lull the audience back to the drama.
On the technical side, with the film mostly closed in on one environment to work around, there is a comfortable grounding to the scenes, one the audience is assured to slowly grow accustomed to. The pacing, especially at the beginning, could use a better flow, with scenes shifting from underused introductions to overstretched fillers. All these, I should note, are nothing more than nitpicks since, like I said before, A Familiar Christmas knows what it is. Every ounce of attention and consideration is given to the performers and the direction of award-winning filmmaker Reuben Odanga (Selina, Nafsi) to turn the feelings in the script (written by Natasha Likimani, Sincerely Daisy, Disconnect) into something perceptible.
Whether it achieves this is a debate I still haven’t settled within myself. On one hand, I could see my mother loving this film. Just as much as she loves some Nigerian movies – and definitely more than she likes the Kikuyu movies on Inooro TV. Mostly because her appeal as the matriarch in the family is handled in a careful and accurate manner that would make her enjoy seeing the film from that perspective, as I’m sure other people will find their own appealing perspective inside it as well. So, on that front, I think it does deliver everything it intends to. On the other hand, I question if it accomplishes to be a tradition in itself. Christmas movies’ success lies in how often they will be watched and rewatched during the holidays. Whether it’s Home Alone, A Wonderful Life, or even Die Hard, a Christmas movie has to be a timeless reflection encapsulating all the familiar feelings of Christmas that warrant coming back time and time again to unearth these feelings. I fear A Familiar Christmas lacks that.
Then again, it doesn’t need to be any of that. It just needs to exist as its authentic self, and thanks to the people behind it, it does. A Familiar Christmas takes its place as the first Kenyan Christmas feature film, with muratina, a goat’s head, and the all-too-familiar family drama that is part of the festivities here in Kenya. That is an achievement in its own right.
I look forward to seeing the other alliteration of Christmas (and other holidays and traditions) we get to adapt over time, family-friendly or otherwise. Tyler Perry had to crawl for Jordan Peele to walk. For now, we have A Familiar Christmas, and it’s good enough to play in the background with family and loved ones.
A Familiar Christmas is streaming on Showmax.
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