| 'R Xmas | |
| Director: | Abel Ferrara |
| Producer: | John P. Adams Barry Amato Stefano Celesti Frank DeCurtis Cassandra De Jesus Denis Heraud Pierre Kalfon Richard Klug Tony Trimarco |
| Starring: | Drea de Matteo Lillo Brancato Ice-T Victor Argo Andrew Fiscella |
| Music: | Schooly D |
| Cinematography: | Ken Kelsch |
| Editing: | Patricia Bowers |
| Studio: | StudioCanal |
| Distributor: | Artisan Entertainment |
| Runtime: | 85 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
R Xmas is a 2001 American crime film directed by Abel Ferrara. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.[1] Its U.S. release was delayed by StudioCanal's difficulty in finding a domestic distributor[2] and internal financial troubles.[3] It eventually received a small theatrical release in November 2002 from Pathfinder Pictures before being released on DVD shortly after by Artisan Entertainment.[4] In 2022, the film was released on Blu-Ray by Shout! Factory.
The movie opens with the following disclaimer: “In December of 1993 the Honorable David Dinkins was completing his first and only term as Mayor of New York.”
An unnamed Latin-American married couple outwardly live as affluent socialites - sending their daughter to a private school, living in a high-rise with doormen - but earn their money commuting to a drab Flushing apartment where, with their relatives, they package and sell heroin. Before Christmas, one of the husband's regular associates asks him to hold a large quantity of heroin for him over the holiday.
On Christmas Eve, the husband takes an ostensibly routine meeting while the wife visits an illicit pawnshop hoping to obtain a popular sold-out "Party Girl" doll for their daughter. After buying the toy, she is accosted by a man in possession of her husband's driver's license. He informs her he has been kidnapped, and gives her 20 minutes to collect as much money as she can for ransom. After getting approximately $15,000 from her street dealers, she brings it to him, but he is dissatisfied with the low sum. Relaying his knowledge of personal information about them and their child, he demands she deliver more money, and all the drugs they have on hand. As she attempts to gather these during a time when clients and family are out of contact for the Christmas holiday, the husband is beaten by a gang whose manner of speaking suggests they are rogue police. When the wife returns, the liaison gets strangely familiar with her, asking personal questions about their marriage, and warns her to make sure he stops dealing. Come Christmas morning, the father is safely home, and their daughter happily receives her Party Girl doll.
TV coverage shortly after the incident reveals that a corrupt band of police have been arrested for activities including dealing drugs, and the wife recognizes one of the arrested officers as the man she dealt with. While they share concerns about what future troubles may arise from their business, they are not willing to give up their upscale lifestyle, and ultimately continue. At a lavish party they attend, the husband is briefly diverted by some of his dealers, who reveal they have found and killed the associate who asked him to sit on the heroin, assuming that he had tipped off the cops who kidnapped him. He returns to the party, and goes on stage to sing a ballad to his wife.
The movie closes with the following disclaimer: "Less than one month later Rudolph Giuliani is sworn in as the 107th Mayor of New York City. To be cont..."