Hopefully you, dear reader, get a nice long break around Thanksgiving, and are looking for a few movies to watch. To get into the holiday mood, you can stream the tried and true titles like “Home for the Holidays” and “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles,” or go the theatre to watch “Wicked” and “Gladiator II.”
Maybe you have a family tradition all your own. Growing up, my family loved watching Clint Eastwood movies after stuffing ourselves, and to this day, catching sight of the Man with No Name makes me think of those times.
Here is a rundown of titles that, for a myriad of reasons, say Thanksgiving to me.
Starting with the food movies, I never miss an opportunity to recommend one of the best food fight movies ever – the Czech New Wave Classic “Daisies.” Věra Chytilová’s surrealist comedy classic is a hedonistic exercise in excess with experimental film techniques and pranks galore as the camera follows two wild and crazy gals on a romp. It’s a much watch for film connoisseurs of all stripes (stream on Max & Criterion).
Or go a whole other direction with the cozy, feel-good movie “Soul Food,” a portrait of an extended Black family in Chicago, and the meals that bring them together every Sunday. “Soul Food” launched the career of George Tillman, Jr. and his subsequent “Barbershop” films, which are also good Thanksgiving movies (stream on Tubi). And we are blessed with Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci as brothers running a restaurant in “Big Night,” set in 1950s New Jersey. Or explore the intersection of food and Catholicism and family ties in the long-lost, newly remastered “Household Saints.” You can stream “Household Saints” and “Big Night” on hoopla, a free, no-ad streaming app available with your Library Card.
Since Thanksgiving means family to so many, it’s no wonder that films about family make this list. I never let a year go by that I don’t tell the world about my favorite family film – “The Farewell,” featuring a Chinese family who come together from all around the world to say goodbye to their terminally ill matriarch. The thing is, she has no idea that she is sick and no one is sharing this information with her. This sounds like a depressing and rough watch, but is instead an uplifting, rich, and hilarious film (stream on Max).
Even though these films fall short of being escapist, they are feel-good films, despite some occasional heavy themes. But this time of year does bring a certain level of melancholy to the table, and I have films that will help you lean into that feeling. Robert Altman’s dreamy cult classic “Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean” is a portrait of nostalgia and regret, all set in a wore down, small town diner and centered around the friendship of a once tight circle of friends (rent on Prime).
And if you want to spiral deeper with this theme, check out “The Last Picture Show,” a crisp, black and white ode to fading youth and bad decisions (stream on Criterion and Prime). It feels like a good year to revisit “The Ice Storm” and marvel over how young Christian Ricci and Elijah Wood were in this film. Based on the novel by Rick Moody, “The Ice Storm” is a quintessential 1970s suburbia film set on Thanksgiving, about the heartbreaking dynamics of a dysfunctional family and society (rent on Prime).
And for many people, Thanksgiving means Friendsgiving. Netflix has gifted us with “It’s What’s Inside,” a body-swap film centered around friendship, that turns into an existential nightmare for all involved. It recalls “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies,” but is nowhere as polarizing as that film. Staying with the dark theme, other films like “Dark Harvest” (stream on MGM+ and Prime) and “Blackcoat’s Daughter” (rent on Prime) make good use of the season, letting the look of harvest time and winter set the tone for the horror unleashed on screen.
But if what you are looking to do is crawl out of seasonal depression rather than wallow in it, I have a film that may have slipped under your radar and is an utter delight. Do yourself a favor and fire up the Roku Channel and enjoy the over-the-top “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.” Daniel Radcliffe stars as Yankovic, alongside Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna and Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento in a biopic like no other.
This article appears in Nov 20 – Dec 3, 2024.