Payne has a unique gift: knowing how to tell tragic and complex stories with a smile on his face. What could border on the pathetic as a sum of dramatic events in his hands takes on the light tone of everyday life, so difficult and at the same time so cruelly ironic.

The holdovers perhaps because it is set in the Seventies, perhaps because it tells of the days of the Christmas holidays, perhaps because filmed in the snow it finds an extraordinary balance and once you enter this story you never want to leave. The cards for pietism are all there because all three co-protagonists have very sad stories behind them and yet nothing ever seems out of place.

Yes, perhaps some of the narrative points of the many present are a little predictable and the ending slightly long, but for such a warm film you can forgive that. The direction then accompanies the protagonists with an eye that is always attentive and ready to underline the characters.

The cast led by an excellent Paul Giammatti convinces and involves. He is a certainty and here he confirms his skills as a character sketcher without ever having the need to overdo it. The young Dominic Sessa is an excellent supporting character who seems impossible to be making his debut. Closing the trio is Da'Vine Joy Randolph, another beautiful confirmation of Payne dealing with a sweetly sad character.

The holdovers is the film that marks Payne's return to the excellent levels of Sideways and Bitter Paradise. A convincing work that benefits from an excellent screenplay and a great cast. You're enchanted by looking at it and it's really not a small thing. Give it a chance it's worth it.