I watched Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers on the same day as Godzilla Minus One, which seems an incongruous double-bill until you remember Payne co-wrote Jurassic Park III. It also shares the Godzilla flick’s theme of found family in the wake of war, but admittedly the comparisons end there.

The Holdovers is set at an American boarding school over Christmas 1970, when a teacher (Paul Giamatti) is tasked with minding the handful of boys remaining at school over the holidays. Slowly the prickly professor bonds with a smart-mouthed student (Dominic Sessa) and the school’s recently bereaved head cook (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). The comedy/drama unfolds like Dead Poets Society as told from an outsider’s perspective, instead of the elitist vantage point of the 1989 picture.

The characters inhabit a festive liberal bubble (or possibly bauble) which feels at odds with the film’s patronising racial stereotypes; a no-nonsense black cook, bedwetting Korean kid etc. But the self-deprecating characters keep us firmly on the film’s side, even when it contrives reasons to make us feel sorry for them.

The movie’s greatest gift is its sense of humour, both in the wit of the dialogue and physicality of the performances. Sessa proves a promising newcomer, his hawklike face the perfect foil for Giamatti’s classical putdowns and facial contortions. And Carrie Preston is a joy as a kind staff member and part-time diner waitress, stealing the show in her brief screen time just as she managed in The Good Wife.

But Payne always balances his comedy with, well, pain – the word bittersweet might as well have been coined to describe his films. And this is another gentle yet spiky story of loneliness and connection, perhaps falling short of his 2013 road movie Nebraska, but successfully getting the taste of Downsizing out of our mouths.

This is his first “period” piece (Jurassic Park III notwithstanding), with affection given the 1970s colour grading and retro aspect ratio. It captures with wry warmth (and warm rye) the Christmassy feeling of being equal parts cosy and annoyed, like curling up in front of a fire with people you can barely stand. The Holdovers may be performative in parts, but it holds a place in festive viewing for years to come.