Compassionate acts have a snowball effect across a small-town community in this simple but huge-hearted festive tale about healing and the magic of human kindness. Directed with warmth and sensitivity by veteran film-maker Robert Harmon (The Hitcher), the short story-based feature allows the delightfully natural performances to speak for themselves, as perceptive farmer Sam Elliott helps a seriously ill child and her family celebrate Halloween, and then Christmas, ahead of time. Elliott's relaxed charm and his character's innate goodness really make this a TV movie to remember, infusing the episodic, often contrived narrative with a contagious positivity that emphasises the pleasingly old-fashioned values in this intimate drama. He's complemented by a similarly subtle turn from John Corbett (as the sick girl's father), whose quiet, poignant desperation is likely to move parents in the audience.
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