Wes Anderson creates beautiful Christmas short

The world’s most fastidious filmmaker, Wes Anderson, has made the Christmas ad of the year with a new short film for high street chain H&M, without a sign of David Beckham in his pants – watch the film in the player above.

The three minute film, titled Come Together, is Anderson to the max. It’s set on Christmas day on board the "H&M Lines Winter Express", and begins with its conductor, Ralph (Adrien Brody), announcing to its various passengers that due to challenging weather conditions (fake snow falling hard) and mechanical difficulties, the locomotive won’t be getting them home for the holidays.

The train setting and the presence of Anderson-favourite Brody immediately calls to mind the director’s 2007 train-set comedy The  Darjeeling Limited. There’s also a touch of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou in the way the camera pans across the facade of the double-decker train, revealing its various passengers through the carriage windows.

"The winter train ride, under Wes Anderson’s direction, is the perfect setting for H&M’s holiday collection full of relaxed, wearable elegance,” said Pernilla Wohlfahrt, head of design and creative director at H&M. “It’s about mixing the informal with a sense of occasion, capturing the holiday mood for both dressing up and getting cosy with loved ones."

This statement may make the film sound an awful lot like an advert, but Anderson has proved himself a master of making these commercial products into delightful short films. He made a charming short for Prada back in 2013 featuring Jason Schwartzman and one for a Japanese bank, with Brad Pitt riffing on Jacques Tati's Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot.

His best ad yet, however, is his promo for American Express. It's a little meta-masterpiece starring the director himself that pokes fun at the idea of what the set of a Wes Anderson film is really like – check it out in the player below.

One thing is for sure, Anderson’s H&M ad is a big improvement from the saccharine Katy Perry one from last year, which featured sugar plum fairies and giant gingerbread men. As Adrien Brody has commented, this short is more in keeping with the true spirit of christmas. "This story may resonate more than ever at a time in the world where we could all do with giving a stranger a hug," he said.

We couldn't agree more, Adrien.