“And it's probably a dream. It’s got to be that.”
Primarily shot in Smithtown, Holbrook, and Selden in 2023, The New Yorker’s No. 2-ranked film of 2024 is now streaming for free on Hulu.
“Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point,” directed by Smithtown native Tyler Taormina, is a timeless, feel-good (and occasionally gut-punching) holiday hangout film that brings four generations of a proudly loud Long Island Italian-American family together for what could very well be their last epic gathering in their matriarch’s forever home.
It stars Michael Cera, Elsie Fisher, Ben Shenkman, and Maria Dizzia, alongside various newcomers with local roots earning their big break in a certifiable super-indie. Watch and you’ll spot countless Suffolk County fixtures that wound up being showcased on the silver screen at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in France.
Distributed by IFC, “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point” was previously available on AMC+ and Amazon. The film is also due to air on AMC in conjunction with its holiday programming block.
“Miller’s Point” has drawn comparisons to the intimate works of Richard Linklater (“Dazed and Confused”), Robert Altman (“A Prairie Home Companion”), Martin Scorsese (“GoodFellas”), Ron Howard (“Parenthood”), John Hughes (“Home Alone”), and Ingmar Bergman (“Fanny and Alexander”). It’s also been described as something straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting and likened to a snow globe-kept time capsule.
Suffolk staples featured as memorable locations in the film include Red Acre Farms of St. James (formerly Dairy Barn), and Cella Bagels of Selden.
In addition to Taormina, local producers on the film include Eric Berger (co-writer, script supervisor), Calogero Carucci (producer; also director of “Moving in 2008” and “Long Island Gus”), Amanda Donnadio, Krista Minto, and South Shore Press reporter Michael J. Reistetter.
“We're going to clean up good for this one, boys. Suits, ties, socks, the whole nine.”