As young people sing these days, Tyler Thomas Taormina’s “Christmas Eve at Miller’s Point” has a twist. This is less a traditional narrative than a mood piece that captures the surreal nature of family life in suburban America during holiday time. The lights, the noise, the laughter, the family fights; There’s something so different about this time of year, when emotions are so powerfully stirred by the warmth of the season that you can almost feel the memories settling into place. It’s happening. I have so many memories of Tallerico family Christmas parties, stretching back to the time I spent in my great-grandmother’s basement as a child, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a movie that more masterfully captures that feeling of chaotic comfort. . It unfolds in conversation, as if attending a big family party, with Carson Lund’s camera panning from person to person without a traditional driving narrative or even a central protagonist. And yet there are inferior versions of this movie that make you feel like you’re watching someone else’s home movies. The reason this works is because it feels like you’re watching mine.

“Christmas Eve at Miller’s Point” takes place in and around a family gathering in a nice, average home owned by the Balsanos on Long Island. Through snippets of conversation, we learn that the head of the family can no longer care for himself, which led to a discussion of assisted living possibilities and, as most family members have just learned, the sale of the house. . This casts a shadow of finality over the entire film. Remember the aforementioned Tallerico Christmas parties? These don’t happen anymore. Houses were sold, some people moved out of state, others had their own families and in-laws to see, etc. And in “Miller’s Point,” set in 2006, there’s a palpable sense that this is the last time these people are going home. Everyone gathers on the 24th of the month^This of December. Of course, dinners and smaller groups have been held since then, but it’s not the same anymore. In this movie, something is erased and lost in memory.

What is remarkable about Taormina’s approach is the tonal needle he uses in erasing that memory. That fine line between sincerity and emotionality. There’s a refreshing lack of sarcasm in his work, yet he never succumbs to the tropes of sentimental holiday drama. One of the reasons for this is the natural, unforced nature of the cast and the writing around them. We feel more like party goers than movie watchers; We move from seeing a few kids throwing food on the Christmas tree to checking in on teenagers playing video games in the basement and then having a serious conversation outside about the mother’s fate. It really feels like there are others going on all over the house while we are eavesdropping on an interaction.

My only real complaint is that I feel like Taormina’s grip on homeostasis and material is tighter than when she follows a few teenagers around town into their flirtations and interactions with a couple of cops played by Gregg Turkington and Michael Cera. The originality remains – Taormina is aware of the playful unpredictability that arises when a group of teenagers decide to leave their parents behind for a few hours – but these sequences seem a little more artfully produced than the household items.

Ultimately, “Christmas Eve at Miller’s Point” stands out for what it avoids, never quite being a nostalgia-filled sitcom version of the “better times” of nearly two decades ago. (It also cleverly avoids period stings with deft use of music, particularly a magnificently moving scene from Frank Sinatra’s “A Garden in the Rain.”) This is a deceptively complex piece of filmmaking, artfully executed and organic in feel. something that gives. at the same time. It has so many layers, all covered in the emotions that erupt when we reconnect with our families.