The Holdovers (2023)

Director: Alexander Payne

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa

A cranky history teacher at a remote prep school is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a troubled student who has no place to go.

The film is set in 1970. The Holdovers in this case are five boys (Angus, Jason, Teddy and two young boys, Je-Yoon and Alex) and one teacher (Paul Hunham), who has nowhere to go for the Christmas Season and therefore stay behind at the boarding school. Ah yes, and then there’s the cook, Mary Lamb (yes, that’s the character’s name!), who recently lost her son.

Thanks to Jason’s wealthy dad, they are all invited to go on a skiing trip. But when Angus can’t get hold of his mom to get her permission, him and Paul must stay behind. And so the film mainly revolves around the interaction between Paul, Angus and Mary. It’s sort of a coming of age story – for both Angus AND Paul.

‘The Holdovers’ boasts a great script, a good soundtrack, and fantastic performances from Paul Giamatti as Paul, Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Mary, and Dominic Sessa as Angus. Paul Giamatti, especially, delivered and wonderfully affectionate performance. We learn so much about each character as the film develops.

‘The Holdover’ dishes up drama and humour in equal proportions without any of these genres overshadowing the other. It was just as fun to watch as it was an emotional watch. 

It’s still early in the award season for ‘The Holdovers’, but it already received 248 nominations, winning 76 including Golden Globes for Paul Giamatti as Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress for Da’Vine Joy Randolph. It also won awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film. I’m sure this is going to be a big Oscar contender.

Would I watch it again? I think so, yes.