Every so often, a holiday spot hits you square in the chest before you even realize what’s happening. Uber’s new Christmas film, Close, did that to me. I started watching it as an editor covering the brand’s first-ever national holiday campaign — but within seconds, I wasn’t writing about Uber at all.
I was thinking about my own daughters, Chloe and Max, back in Chicago… about the airport pickups I’ve missed, the quiet car rides that mean more than either of us ever says out loud, and the way the holidays stretch the distance between us until it tugs in your ribs.
Created by Mother and directed by MJZ’s Michael Spiccia, Close builds on Uber’s recent “In Good Time” suburban campaign and shows how these everyday rides — an airport pickup, a ride home, a familiar route through childhood streets — can become emotional fault lines during the holidays. It’s Uber’s most cinematic and heartfelt work yet, and the brand leans into the simple truth that transportation isn’t just utility. Sometimes it’s the bridge between two people who haven’t quite figured out how to say the things they need to say.
The film follows a young woman stepping into her Uber after landing for Christmas. As she watches her hometown roll by outside the window, memories wash in. We learn — quietly, powerfully — that she and her father parted on painful terms. This ride isn’t just a ride. It’s the first step toward something fragile and necessary.
Set to a ghostly, aching cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide by James Blake, the film captures the feeling of returning home changed, uncertain, older — and still wanting connection. Watch below:
“Our first-ever national holiday campaign celebrates families reconnecting this season, and the quiet moments we have to reflect,” said Georgie Jeffreys, head of marketing at Uber, North America. “Whether it’s that first Uber pick-up at the airport or the ride home after a family gathering, Uber is there when you need it, helping to bring loved ones close together this holiday season.”
“The idea was simply to showcase an emotional journey within an actual one,” added Felix Richter, chief creative officer at Mother. “A heartfelt family story in the context of the holidays set to an incredibly haunting track by James Blake.”
And as for me, when the spot ended, I didn’t think about impressions or placements or strategy. I thought about Chloe, Max, the skyline off Lake Shore Drive, and how long it’s been since I’ve taken that same kind of ride home. I can’t wait to go to Chicago for Christmas. Some distances aren’t meant to stay distances.
The film is rolling out across cinema, CTV, OLV, and social in the U.S. and Canada.
CREDITS:
BRAND: Uber
AGENCY: Mother (New York & Los Angeles)
PRODUCTION COMPANY: MJZ
Director: Michael Spiccia
PRODUCTION SERVICES: Sailor Productions
POST/VFX: 1920
EDIT: WORK USA
MUSIC/SOUND: King Lear
Colin Costello is the West Coast Editor of Reel 360 News. Contact him at colin@reel360.com or follow him on Twitter at @colinthewriter1
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