Movie #3144 "Holdovers" - this is very different for the "christmas movie genre" --- 1) it isn't happy, peppy and up" and 2) it doesn't have a lot of action --- depends on layered characters, 3) there isn't one snowball fight in it! What does it have? I really good indie-feeling film. The last movie Giamatti and this director worked together was on "Sideways" (the movie that introduced merlot to the world). And this is another great collaboration. It does deal with the holidays........the holdovers refer to boys in a private school who are left at the school for various reasons, and the teacher who is assigned to watch over them. So right off the bat, you know this isn't gonna be chockfull of laughs, but there is a good sense of humor here as the boys try to get along with this curmudgeon of a teacher left behind. It ends up to be one student, who happens to be very bright, one terribly bright teacher, who happens to be didactic and stubborn, and one female cook, very congenial, caring and pragmatic, all with a bunch of baggage to work out throughout the film. The story is really good, the photography is beautiful at times, esp. with the various locations in Boston that are filmed. I highly recommend it at 4.5 out of 5. Hopefully, after it has made its rounds in the theaters , it will also be available to be streamed, because it is worth the time to seek it out.
"THE HOLDOVERS"2023 R 2 hours, 13 mins
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.
Director: Alexander Payne
Writer: David Hemingson
Actors: Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa
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