I took a punt on this one a few months ago during one of Vinegar Syndromes irregularly regular sales, I figured with Christmas only a few months away at that point, it might have been nice to have something of a novel documentary to explore during the season.

The way this was pitched to me was:

‘Mick Foley loves Santa Claus, so much so that he wants to have a go at PLAYING Santa Claus, and he’s going to team up with some folks who are professional Santa Claus’ to learn the ropes ahead of actually getting to be the big guy in red for a day!’

The reality is? this is really actually kind of two documentaries uncomfortably crammed together. The first (and probably my favourite part) is just a pretty straightforward documentary following just shy of half a dozen gentlemen who play Santa professionally, they all have different backgrounds (one was a former tattood biker, another poses for specialist ‘bear’ magazines etc) but we get to spend a year with these gents as they ride the highs and lows of the industry, the impact on their personal and social lives and why they gave so much of their time to such an unusual and rewarding field.

The second part of this doc is Mick Foley kind of stumbling around slowly trying to figure out how to play the part of Santa. They establish up front that he’s a major Christmas nut and loves the season the whole year round, and that, while he’s worn santa suits and appeared WITH Santa, he’s never ACTUALLY played the guy seriously…and then the film just kind of…bumbles around with him as he gets the materials together to play the part, leading to him getting his chance to play the part, and much like a Godfrey Ho movie, for one scene, the two documentaries overlap…just about.

I’ll be honest, I actually kind of liked this one, but my biggest fault with it is just that this really does feel like it needed to be two seperate documentaries. Both sides of this film had MORE than enough ammunition to make two really solid and much more fleshed out documentaries. But by cramming the two together in this way, it kind of makes for a ‘worst of both worlds’ for both sides, it pulls you away from the, at times genuinely quite impactful ‘Life as a professional Santa’ documentary, but also it means the Foley doc, to me at least, came across as a little bit hollow and undercooked. There just wasnt enough ‘oomph’ behind it to make it its own thing, and compared to the other side of this doc, it just felt a bit tepid.

I dont know this for sure (This is just my opinion), but it almost felt like this started out as a documentary about people who perform as Santa professionally, but in order to secure the last of the funding from the backers to complete the documentary, they said they wanted a bit more goofiness and a stronger USP…and so Foley entered the frey.

Again, that isnt to say this documentary is BAD at all…its genuinely delightful in places, and the cine and direction is rock solid. I just feel like its all a bit inconsistent structurally. As a character piece, its a gauntlet of emotions and you really feel for these guys as they dedicate their lives to a greater cause, its also a fascinating insight into the. ‘cliquey’ nature of the profession…and the weird (but not unsurprising) split in the industry between the guys who play Santa to bring joy to kids, the guys who believe that Santa and Christianity are intrinsically tied and add a hard religious tone to their ‘portrayals’ and the guys who sit between the two fence posts.

I found this documentary (for the most part) a lot more engrossing than I expected. With, even the extra features offering a good tug on the heart strings for good measure. But its a documentary that feels a bit conflicted and confused about exactly what it wants to be for the audience. It flip flops around on ideas and by the time the end credits rolled, I wasnt entirely confident that what i’d seen wasnt at least a LITTLE bit cobbled together, But I was still very happy id seen it.

I think this ones worth catching at least once, that I can recommend. If you like it, then im certain it’ll become a welcome addition to the Christmas rotation, but do be prepared to be jostled a bit.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/i-am-santa-claus/