Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

 

For Christmas Eve a Christmas story. Watched this on a plane trip back home a few years back. Set on Christmas Eve, Finland, an archaeological dig out Santa Claus. They soon discover that it is the elves which are the trouble as they search for Santa. A monster hunt eschews, and the local children hope they're not on the naughty list. A strange mix of fantasy and horror that sticks in your head. 3/5.

The Girl King

Went to watch this on my birthday with my mother - then got very embarrassed when lesbian sex started. With that out of the way let me get started on the film...

This is a historical drama about a reforming unmarried Swedish Queen alone on the throne at the time of religious upheaval between Protestants and Catholics. This sounds a lot like Elizabeth 1st but with an addition - hence my embarrassment because I didn't know that. The addition being in reality Queen Christina was suspected to be a lesbian, in the film they make this explicit. For some reason even though English was a second language for the actors they mainly spoke English some intonation was off a bit which was off-putting. Loved the outfits though. Overall I'd rate the film a 3/5.