Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas (2014) — watch online on iFILM. Joe Swanberg directed and largely improvised this low-key indie with Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey and Lena Dunham.

Jenny shows up on her brother's couch after a breakup — aimless, charming, good at derailing other people's evenings. His wife Kelly, played by Lynskey, has quietly shelved her writing career to raise their toddler and is running on empty. Swanberg shoots handheld and lets scenes breathe past the point of comfort. Not much happens. That's the point. The film works best as a study of two women with different kinds of stuckness nudging each other — clumsily, honestly — toward something. Stream Happy Christmas on iFILM.