The Holdovers

THE HOLDOVERS (15)

D: Alexander Payne

Focus Features / Miramax / Gran Via (Mark Johnson, Bill Block & David Hemingson)

US 🇺🇸 2023

133 mins

Comedy/Drama

W: David Hemingson

DP: Eigil Bryld

Ed: Kevin Tent

Mus: Mark Orton

Paul Giamatti (Paul Hunham), Dominic Sessa (Angus Tully), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (Mary Lamb), Carrie Preston (Lydia Crane), Brady Hepner (Teddy Kountze)

The Holdovers may well be one of the best Christmas movies released in the 21st century, starring Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, a curmudgeonly professor at a New England boarding school in the early 1970s who is selected to take care of a group of teenage boys during the festive holidays.

Whilst many of the boys do eventually get picked up to spend Christmas with their families, Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) is still left behind at the school along with Hunham & Mary Lamb, the school’s cook, who is dealing with her own grief, following the death of her son in the Vietnam War.

The performances of the three principals are all excellent, with each character going through their own journey of growth as the days play out.

Giamatti & Randolph both received Oscar nominations for their work, but Dominic Sessa also deserves special mention for a very strong breakthrough in the role as Angus Tully, a spoilt kid who starts out rebellious but soon comes to form a strong, believable understanding with his strict teacher.  Director Alexander Payne also does a quite remarkable job recreating the period & delivers to the big screen a truly picturesque Massachusetts town as the main setting.

One of my personal favourite films of 2023.

8/10