All Is Bright

All Is Bright (2013) is a bittersweet comedy-drama worth watching online on iFILM for the pairing of Paul Giamatti and Paul Rudd as two Quebec losers chasing fast cash off Christmas trees. Dennis is fresh out of prison and learns that his wife told their daughter he was dead and has moved in with his best friend, Rene.

So the two men load a truck with fir and drive to New York to hawk trees from a freezing December sidewalk. Dennis needs the money to buy his way back into his kid's life. Along the way he meets a transplanted dental assistant, played by Sally Hawkins, and beneath the gruff banter the sadness keeps leaking through. Director Phil Morrison, who made Junebug, returns to that quiet, awkward register where the funny and the painful can't be pried apart.

Forget holiday gloss — the film's own tagline swears that all is busted, all is broke, all is bitter, and bright anyway. This is a small movie about second chances and a male friendship held together by grumbling. It lands for anyone who likes indie dramedy with no sugar and no sentimental bows. Stream All Is Bright (2013) online on iFILM.