A holiday heartwarmer is not what you expect from Danny Boyle, of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later fame, but that’s what he delivers here, from a screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce, frequent collaborator with Michael Winterbottom. Adorable urchin Alex Etel narrates and animates the story, as a 7-year-old who engages in easy conversation with saints in the flesh, asking if they’ve seen his recently dead mother in heaven yet. He’s in his backyard cardboard castle when a satchel of cash is thrown off a passing train. After his 9-year-old brother also sees the fantastical money, as he doesn’t the saints, they are in a quandary what to do with their found treasure. Boyle’s characteristic camera-trickery imbues this charming fairy tale with magic-realist energy, but the boys and the sentiments keep their sweet Nativity spirit. (2005, dvd, n.) *7* (MC-74, RT-88.)
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