Screenshot via Sony Pictures
Audio By Carbonatix
November is kind of the odd month out when it comes to pop culture.
Halloween is over, and while goths and horror fanatics will keep doing spooky stuff all year without missing a beat, the rest of us are faced with a few options for holiday movies. Thanksgiving is the next major holiday, but there’s no way that we know of to throw yourself into the Thanksgiving season. Pumpkins have already been lining the yards for more than a month. And this is Texas, so you basically have a better chance at being struck by lightning than accurately guessing when the leaves begin to brown.
The blanket term of “Holiday Season” is definitely more of a Christmas thing, and yuletide music and decor are already creeping into malls and restaurants. It’s honestly tempting to follow suit, and plenty of people are inclined to throw on a Christmas movie and trim a tree the day after Halloween. The problem with that is that you risk becoming fatigued with the merriment and running out of movies before December even begins.
We don’t claim to have all the answers as to what you should and shouldn’t do before Thanksgiving, but we do know that some seasonal movies have stronger November vibes than others. These movies will gently usher you from late autumn into early winter, microdosing holiday spirit but not burning you out too soon. And if Mariah Carey is going to skip Dallas on her annual holiday pop-bar tour anyway, we’ll soak up as much of this month as we can.
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Edward Scissorhands
There are few films that will help you transition from the Halloween season into the winter holidays like Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands will. The 1990 film features some of Burton’s signature spooky flourishes (like the Frankenstein-esque titular character) set against the backdrop of the holidays. It is, without a doubt, our favorite Halloween-Christmas crossover movie released in the 1990s and associated with Tim Burton.
When Harry Met Sally
This classic carpoolers-to-friends-to-lovers romantic comedy takes place over the span of 12 years. Every season gets a chance to shine, but the film is probably best known for its impeccable sweater weather vibes. Colorful fall foliage and holiday parties serve as tasteful but effective backdrops for the story, and the all-star supporting cast of coats and cardigans will have you yearning for winter weather. No sleigh bells or garland required.
Catch Me If You Can
Sometimes, all it takes to get you in a festive mood is some well-placed retro glam. Catch Me If You Can, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a teenage con-artist, takes place in the early 1960s and features some of the best fashion, design and music from the era. For some people, the nostalgic element might be enough to evoke vintage holiday vibes. Just for good measure, though, a key scene towards the end takes place on Christmas.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
This story (the 1971 version with Gene Wilder, to be perfectly clear) has nothing to do with the holidays, but it kind of feels like it does. A family-friendly musical about candy is a natural fit for anyone’s Christmas movie lineup. The fact that it was filmed in the real-life storybook city of Munich, which adds a bit of a Rankin-Bass effect to the outdoor scenes, is the cherry on top.
Mona Lisa Smile
At an East Coast women’s college in 1953, art professor Julia Roberts and her all-star cast of students (including Kiersten Dunst, Julia Stiles and Maggie Gyllenhaal) navigate politics, gender roles and what constitutes “good” over the course of a school year and all the scenic seasonal changes that come with it. Need we say more?
Silver Linings Playbook
If you’re a diehard Cowboys fan, consider this Philadelphia-based film about a bunch of Eagles fans a bonus horror-adjacent entry. The Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence-starring romantic dramedy takes place over the course of fall and into the holidays. Football season looms largely over the plot, and Christmas decorations linger out of focus in the background. Throw in the themes of poor mental health and the frequent tense family dinners and you basically have November: The Movie.
Mary Poppins
It’s not specified which time of year this Disney classic takes place in, but the lyrics contain some hints: “Winds in the east/mist coming in.” That sounds like late autumn to us. Mary Poppins checks a lot of the same boxes as Willy Wonka. It’s a whimsical, family-friendly musical beloved by multiple generations. It has the nostalgia factor, which is right up there with the birth of Christ as a “true meaning of Christmas” contender. “It’s a jolly holiday with Mary” indeed.
The Apartment
The Apartment, an Oscar-winning comedy and Shirley MacLaine’s breakout film, follows a pencil-pushing office worker who climbs the corporate ladder by letting his supervisors use his apartment to cheat on their wives. The holidays loom slightly larger over the story than some of the previous entries (a significant scene takes place at a Christmas party) and might slot best into the end of the month, but it’s still not making its way into a 25 Days of Christmas marathon any time soon.
Meet Me in St. Louis
This is the movie where Judy Garland debuted “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” so it’s naturally considered one of the greatest holiday movies of all time. But what often gets lost in that hype is the fact that, like When Harry Met Sally and Mona Lisa Smile, Meet Me in St. Louis actually takes place over a full year, with the Christmas scenes coming in at the very end. Just as much of the movie takes place on Halloween, and we have to assume that those genuinely spooky scenes get forgotten because there’s no iconic song attached to them. But trust us when we say the autumnal vibes are there and this movie is more seasonally versatile than it gets credit for.
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott’s book has been adapted several times, and fans have strong opinions on which version is the best. We’re not going to wade into that debate, but we feel fairly confident that Greta Gerwig’s 2019 interpretation works the best within the context of this list. The Christmas scenes are subdued and washed in the same golden color grading as the autumn and late summer scenes. You can watch this film in July, and still, Jo March’s “Merry Christmas, world” wouldn’t sound out of place.
