Kringle Time (2021) Film Review
We all have heroes.
Different circumstances forged them into being figures that, for some reason, we have to follow without hesitation.
However, this doesn’t mean it’s always a good thing to do. Sometimes those heroes are not as good as we thought.
Sometimes the end simply can’t justify the means.
This is what happens to Jerry in Kringle Time, an indie film that walks toward paths we usually dare not cross. It’s a comedy, one that turns into a very dark one all of a sudden and it forces us to go with the flow as Jerry decides not to disregard a horrible fact about a childhood hero.
A man’s realization becomes the discovery about a very powerful and disheartening fact.
Jerry is a TV manager/producer in a public station. A very small one. He isn’t very happy. He’s in a relationship that’s far from ideal, and his employees don’t see him as a figure of authority. Jerry has a bit of a traumatic past as he grew up in a violent home.
Luckily he had someone to look up to: a singing and dancing snowman on TV called Kringles. To say he was obsessed is an understatement.
Kringles’ show runs on Jerry’s station. But something happens. The man behind the costume passes away during a live show. The entire town grieves while Jerry and his partners must decide how to continue the station’s most successful program. Jerry gets appointed to replace the man, but the costume brings along a dark part of the legacy. In a shoe box there is a secret, and when Jerry opens it, hell ensues.
The big reveal and theme of Kringle Time is done through a deconstruction of a central character whose goals are practically nonexistent. He looks at himself in the mirror, he questions his own acts and goes back to the same daily practices he can’t get himself out of.
When he gets the chance of a lifetime, he smiles for the very first time and celebrates a legacy he must now hold in his own hands.
The secret behind the character of Kringles and the love people had for him is horrific. This puts Jerry in the cornerstone of his life, one that changes overnight. This is when Kringle Time becomes a dramatic cruzade for a man with a broken dream that forces him to leave his past behind.
Perhaps you’re thinking the plot of Kringle Time is sort of childish, and I can’t say it isn’t. However, it’s also weirdly mixed with a horrific statement about power going to obscure boundaries.
It’s also hard to oversee the inconsistent initial tone of the film. Kringle Time begins with a midlife crisis that’s pointed up as the main reason for Jerry’s burden after his dream actually becomes true. He has to give personality to a character he actually wrote a manual of. He can’t be blamed for something other than being too naive.
And when the film turns its attention to something else entirely, the plot fizzles out a bit in favor of being a collection of creepy imagery and scenes that don’t add up. The curious thing is that this is the most interesting part of the film.
