The Netherlands does not yet have a tradition of Christmas movies, although a boom in romantic comedies in recent years has spawned films about Christmas, such as Take from my heart (2014) in All you need is love (2016). Moreover, broadcasters mainly return to the large arsenal of American Christmas movies about Christmas.

Netflix wants to change that which is why we now have our first Dutch / Flemish Christmas movie: The Close Family. Director Matthias Timmermans, who mainly directed The Adventures of Capwater Bloop, K3 and Mega Mindy, The Close Family I looked closely at the American examples. It has turned it into a super sweet fairy tale that no Christmas clichers are skipped.

The central character is Gul (Mo Packer), a teenager who hates Christmas because his father passed away on Christmas Eve last year. A year later, just before Christmas, he moved with his sister Nour and his mother Susan (Pracha van Doesburg) to a picturesque Belgian town where – of course, because this is a Christmas movie – it snows.

He doesn’t spend the Christmas spirit on Jules, but he does enjoy spending time at his grandfather’s toy store Noelle Claus (Jan Declair). If that name isn’t a fleshy hint of a grandpa’s secret life like Santa Claus, then Jan Decleir’s bearded look is. When Jules secretly shakes his grandfather’s mysterious ice ball (according to his grandfather), he ends up in completely different places around the world, and in Santa’s workshop. This is how he finds out his grandfather’s secret: Noelle Close is Santa Claus.

But when Grandpa has an accident, the delivery of Christmas gifts is in danger. Gul has to overcome his Christmas hatred and help Grandpa. That’s why he got help from a number of Elves who suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), who, due to their Flemish accent, appear to have escaped from the Capoter Blup forest.

The Family Film, which is more a Flemish than Dutch in terms of acting, aligns with the tradition of the annual Sinterklaas, where gift delivery is always in danger. But The Close Family It especially looks very American because all of the emotions are played in bold and underlined with sticky music.

The fact that Jules’ mother works at a biscuit factory, and tries to bring her bakery to the director’s attention in an equally predictable fringe, is apt: the movie is also so sweet that the ice jumps off you. teeth. The fact that everything will be fine and that Jules is learning to appreciate Christmas again can’t be a spoiler.

Young viewers will enjoy the pesky street fairy-tale, but otherwise The Close Family At most appropriate to rest after Christmas dinner with a mind at zero.