Happy Christmas

September 26 – October 2
Happy Christmas
Sat 9/27 6:30; Sun 9/28 5:00; Mon 9/29 6:30; Tue 9/30 9:00; Thu 10/2 6:30
Dir: Joe Swanberg / 2014 / US / 88 min / DCP

Happy Christmas is the story of thirties-ish Chicago couple, Jeff (played by Swanberg) and Kelly (Melanie Lynskey), who are navigating the changes in their lives following the arrival of their now toddler son, Jude. As a filmmaker, Jeff is in preproduction on his recent project, novelist-turned-stay-at-home-mom Kelly finds no time for her latest book after caring for Jude. Jeff’s younger sister Jenny (Anna Kendrick) arrives for a post-breakup visit of indefinite duration. The original plan of Jenny taking care of Jude so Kelly can work becomes questionable as she takes off for a wild night out with her friend Carson (Lena Dunham). Indiewire’s Eric Kohn enthuses, “Sweetly funny and relatable, Happy Christmas builds on the director’s previous work by channeling its strong aspects – naturalism and self-effacing, true-to-life humor – into a relatively straightforward but utterly enjoyable character study.”