The Holdovers

Due to the upcoming Oscars, I wanted to watch all ten nominees for Best Picture before the ceremony. I had already tackled Barbie, Maestro, Oppenheimer, and Killers of the Flower Moon, so with The Holdovers I am now halfway there. I don’t think I’ll do a full blog post for each of the remaining five due to time, but I’ll try to at least touch on each of them.

The Holdovers is like a warm hug on a cold, winter afternoon. When the windchill is five below and you make hot chocolate in your favorite mug and enjoy it under a fleece blanket – that’s the same feeling you get while watching this movie.

The biggest strength of the film is the acting. Paul Giamatti shines as Paul Hunham, a curmudgeon teacher at Barton Academy who smells of fish and has a drinking problem. It’s no surprise he was nominated for Best Actor. He gives such a human and real performance, pulling the character off the page and onto the screen.

Co-starring in the film are Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Mary Lamb, a cook who recently lost her son, and Dominic Sessa, a newcomer to acting, as Angus Tully, a lonely student looking for guidance in life. Both of these two give incredibly real performances with undertones of tragedy and pain. It would be difficult to imagine a different actor in either role.

The film ultimately is about living through disappointment during the holidays. Paul is stuck taking care of people instead of reading or writing his book. Mary is going through her first holiday season after the loss of her son. And Angus is stuck at school, not wanted home at the holidays so his mom can go on a vacation. All three characters have lost so much and are riddled with disappointment, but are able to find solace in each other’s company.

This really is an amazing film with a great message on the meaning of found family. It’s certainly not the first movie to tackle this theme, but it is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time.