剧情

Every year, starting on December 26, Steve Pancini begins to think about what animated-doll he will add to his lawn for next year's Christmas-even though he's already got hundreds of such dolls and has just taken weeks off from his job to maintain this year's display. So he places a call to Lou Nasti, Brooklyn's only builder of such custom holiday displays, and they begin to conspire. Of course, Lou also gets such a call from a half-dozen of other clients, each eager to outdo the other and have the biggest, brightest, most over-the-top Christmas house in New York City. Each of these men, from Pancini, a Staten Island electrician, to Frank Seddio, an Assemblyman in Canarsie, Brooklyn, is a man obsessed. Each disregards the enormous cost and time commitment to indulge their passion. Meanwhile, Nasti, a modern-day Geppetto with a huge handlebar mustache, is their enabler. This short documentary shows what motivates these men and what it takes for them to pull it off bigger and flashier every year-despite the sometime objections of angry neighbors. What emerges is an affectionate and funny look at men striving distinguishing to themselves and their homes in fantastical, outrageous ways-a quirky glimpse of a slice of New York City so many Americans never get to see. e9e Written by David Katz