The Gift of the Magi

The Gift of the Magi (2014) , is a small film adaptation of the homonymous short story written by O. Henry.

For the people that haven't read it , it's a tale of love and the things that we are prepared to do for the ones we hold dear. Considering that the story was published in 1905 and with a length of around 4 pages, you expect a 15 minute movie filmed more than a hundred years later to look disconnected and out of place.

Instead , after a couple of minutes you are experiencing a x-mas story that is neither childish nor outdated. The actors weave the tale wonderfully while sticking to the original dialogues and the soundtrack finds a beautiful place between O. Henry's time and ours ,including among the x-mas themed songs, a classic from the 40s. Lastly the photography and directing are like handmade jewellery of inexpensive materials, meaning that it's great value lies in the carefully chosen details and a story well told with a just a few scenes. The movie was very enjoyable from start to finish, would definitely recommend it and not just during the holidays as -like the original story- conveys moral values that should be treasured.

Trivia: The radio station that opens up the movie is "Radio 18,62" which immediately clicked as a date and after a bit of searching turned out to most probably be a tribute to O.Henry ,who was born on 1862.