Six degrees of Santa

Movie length: 89 minutes
Directed by Michael Kennedy
Premiered: 2022

The plot

A single mum helps in her family business and runs a Christmas gift program called Six Degrees of Santa. But should she keep Six degrees anonymous or not? And how will she keep the family business going?

My Christmas movie review

For starters, Six Degrees of Santa (the program) is a gift program where someone prepares a gift and gives it anonymously to a stranger or peripheral acquaintance (like your postie, the man you see on the train every day, the lollipop lady). That person enjoys the present for a day or two then also passes it on. This continues until the sixth person who gets to keep the present. Ideally, the present has special meaning to the original Santa, like a Christmas movie you love watching or  favourite game or puzzle.

Harper arrives at her shop

So the movie starts with Harper (Kathryn Davis) explaining this program on a video for her website. Then she and her daughter pack their six degree boxes.

Six degrees of Santa (the movie) is a romance, and the ending is not exactly a surprise! But how they get there is less obvious.

Local entrepreneur and internet guru, Jason Sparks (Steve Lund), runs a number of enterprises, including one Harper used to work for. Currently, is focus is the Sparkle tree – a ready decorated Christmas tree you can order online. Harper doesn’t like the Sparkle tree as it is too commercialised and interferes with the tradition of choosing a tree from a farm. While I understand her sentiment, I think the Sparkle trees are pretty and no more commercial than artificial trees from any department store.

Jason ends up being the recipient of Harper’s Santa gift, and is so touched by the gift that he wants to meet the Secret Santa. Not wanting to tell him, but wanting to make a business deal with Jason, Harper gets a friend to pretend to e the relevant Secret Santa.

From there, we move through confusions, developing friendships, Christmas cooking, respectful and caring friendships between Harper and her ex, a wrapping competition, and social media marketing. We also hear of such happy stories where the six degrees of Santa reaches many parts of the world. And Harper struggles between keeping Six Degrees pure and simple, and sharing it more widely.

The credits do refer to some incorrect names! Look out for Harper and Dani – or their alternative names, Steph and Shani!

Would I recommend watching Six Degrees of Santa? It’s a sweet little movie that involves a book about an elf, the magic of Christmas, Christmas trees, Santa in a wrapping presents competition, and a lovely mother, daughter and granddaughter family. So, yes it is worth watching as a feel good movie.

The ride ~ a Christmas Eve parable

Movie length: 30 minutes
Directed by Dallas Jenkins
Premiered: 2015

The plot

A bored taxi driver is given an extra run on Christmas Eve and becomes concerned about his passenger.

My Christmas parable movie review

There is a simplicity to this movie. The cast has literally five people, of which only two are central to the plot. Very little of the movie is outside of the taxi. It is refreshing to not switch scenes so frequently, and to have no extravagant homes or effects.

The taxi driver (Kirk B.R. Woller) is totally disengaged with his first passenger (a very annoying man!) but then tries to make conversation with his next passenger (Brad Heller). This change was a bit of a jerk to my thinking, although obviously necessary to continue the plot.

While I don’t know Chicago so had no idea there was a river or bridge at the requested intersection, the taxi driver became suspicious of the passenger much quicker than I did – he could have given terse answers because he was tired, had a bad day, been an introvert, or just didn’t like nosy taxi drivers! However, once he did get suspicious that his passenger was intending suicide, the driver worked hard to prolong the trip and engage the man.

I could understand the clunky way the driver prolongs the drive. He was not generally a chatty or personable person so he found it challenging to engage this man in his taxi. Again, it would have been annoying and unbelievable if he had been able to do this smoothly. I think this is why the movie works – it is simple and real.

A Christmas Eve parable

So why it is sub-titled a Christmas Eve parable? I took it as there would be a moral or maybe a story that somehow paralleled another, well known story (like the tortoise and the hare or the boy who cried wolf). It was a moral of helping others and the love of parents superseding mistakes, and I guess it could be a version of the prodigal son. Yet it didn’t feel like a parable to me – which is not a bad thing in a movie!

Is the Ride a Christmas movie? Not really. It was set on Christmas Eve while the taxi driver’s wife and daughters were at a church service. A few things they drove past were covered in Christmas lights. Otherwise, it was not really about Christmas (but no less so than Die Hard!)

I came across this movie in the movie section of a streaming channel and took it at face value. There was clearly a Christian element to the driver’s actions but I didn’t feel it was a religious movie. However, I discovered it is from Christian Movies – it mentions church and grace, but otherwise leaves the action to tell the message without preaching religion.

Would I recommend watching this Christmas movie? As a cheerful Christmas story with Santa and tinsel, this certainly fails! But it is more thought provoking and gives a meaningful story that is enjoyable. So, yes I recommend this for adults.