Emily The Little Match Girl

Directed by Matt Hickinbottom

2021

Musical Motion Pictures

Dudley-based filmmaker Matt Hickinbottom exits lockdown with a Christmas film that is not only suitably-timed right now but one that is animated AND also a musical.

With that in mind, we begin Emily The Little Match Girl in a Dickens-style turn of the century town where snow covered timber buildings and a bell-ringing church excellently set out the film’s time and place before we are introduced to a young girl named Emily.

Emily (Megan Sadler) unfortunately has lost her mother, and after her Grandma (Lesley Joseph) passes away she is left in the care of a Scrooge-like owner of a match-making company (Game of Thrones’ David Bradley as Harry).

The old-fashioned setting and abundance of Christmas decor is complimented by a selection of songs interspersed at suitable times in the narrative. The poor Emily has to hunt for scraps in the wintery night and the metaphor of the warming match shedding some small light on her predicament is a sensitive symbol of hope.

First off, the film is an impressive achievement. It’s difficult to believe the director has never done any animation before this musical project and the inclusion of well-written AND well-recorded merry musical numbers is quite unbelievable given the circumstances of its creation during lockdown.

And although the home-made animation could never achieve Pixar standards – the difficultly of facial expressions is the aspect most missing – the film’s body language and dialogue mainly make up for that.

Personally, the film’s opening could have done with a bit of a reshuffle. Immediately after great scene-setting, the first minutes cover the loss of a mother, a funeral, a graveyard, a dead Grandma, a chat about the after-life and a young girl being “sold” into a workhouse. Blimey!

Perhaps a little bit of lighter Christmas joy before the tragedies may have just helped with some empathy as we know nothing of the character at the time of these events. It does improve from there and the narrative follows an Oliver Twist orphan tale of a young person fighting against the harsh authorities.

As Emily struggles, the match-maker’s penny-pinching ways are in contrast to the wealthy Richard (Ross Berkeley Simpson) whose opulence doesn’t stop him from being kind and empathetic. And Emily’s matches begin to exhibit a magical ability taking her into a world of make-believe.

We also get a dash of A Christmas Carol and some dreamy wish-fulfilment fantasy sequences with marching toy soldiers and floating festive treats.

Also in the plus column, the fantastic framing and shot composition adds variety and keeps it visually engaging. And although the inclusion of well-known actors David Bradley and Lesley Joseph add experienced gravitas, that’s not to take away from strong performances from other local voice actors and singers.

The tunes range from soft ballads to upbeat ditties and they have a professionalism and grandiose that far surpasses the expectations of low-budget features. The narrative itself continues as Harry could soon be in trouble with the law as work-houses made illegal and Richard looks for a solution to help Emily and other children.

At nearly 1 hour 20 minutes, the film was perhaps a little too long for me. More impact could have been had with a trim here and there, but I think children would generally be entertained as it moves at a swift pace.

Emily The Little Match Girl is a lofty Midlands feat. Like Wallace and Gromit’s Nick Park, it sometimes takes a singular vision for animators to get projects moving and this film places splendid songs over a well-worn story. As the touching tale concludes, this festive feature from a first-time animator is first-rate and despite budget restrictions, acts as a significant calling card for the director’s up and coming technical talents.

Michael Sales