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The is a New York drama so laidback that it required a decade to reach the UK’s cinema screens. First released in the US in 2015, it’s a micro-budget first feature from debut filmmaker Charles Poekel, set almost entirely on a 24-hour pop-up Christmas tree stall. Poekel’s style is far too genuinely independent and naturalistic to get slushy or sentimental about Christmas; in his view Christmas tree lights blink like police lights. But in its own low-key way, he positions the movie perfectly for a modest dose of festive warmth.

The Jaded Seller Amid the Brooklyn Cold

Kentucker Audley portrays Noel (it took someone in the film to joke about his name for the connection to be made). Noel returns for his fifth year selling Christmas trees in Brooklyn, standing outside in the freezing cold and sleeping in a barely warmer caravan parked next to the trees. A few customers inquire after the girl assisting him last year. But this year Noel works solo, broken-hearted and on the night shift.

There’s an observational quality to a lot of the scenes, with customers asking idle and peculiar questions. One woman requests the same Christmas tree as the Obamas (this is 2014). Noel looks frozen to the bone in body and spirit; he’s exhausted and disenchanted, though Audley’s understated acting makes it clear that he hadn't always been like this.

Quiet Encounters and Flickers of Hope

Frankly, not much happens. Noel rescues a woman, Lydia (Hannah Gross), who has passed out drunk on a bench. She reappears later in some genuinely moving scenes as Noel drives around New York, making tree deliveries – and these sequences could ignite a small glimmer of good cheer in the grinchiest of hearts. Poekel has not directed a feature since this, which is regrettable – it is unmatched for naturalness and ease, and it’s shot on beautifully grainy 16mm film.

The film of understated charm and authentic mood, portraying the loneliness and brief warmth of the holidays.

Christmas, Again arrives in UK cinemas from 12 December.