Review 708: The Holdovers

  

The Holdovers is a lovely film; a rare breed of old-fashioned cinema

In New England during Christmas 1970, Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), a strict and grumpy classics professor at the all-male Barton Academy, boarding school is forced to chaperone a handful of students who have nowhere to go during Christmas break. Among theme is Angus Tully

the cinematography is beautiful and captures the winesomeness of New England and Boston in 1970 by crafting a picturesque look the score by Mark Orton is wonderful, the production design is fabulous (recreating New England and Boston in 1970 with equsite detail. The Barton Academy, boarding school is a  the locations are stunning and help to lend a strong sense of authenticity to the setting. The colours are rich and warm, Payne  from the delicate white of snow to deep browns and warm yellows. The costumes are

The film takes place in 1970, the first year of American history's greatest hangover. Capturing the look and ideas of that time   It feels like a movie from the 70s.  capturing the look and texture of the period.  

Paul Giamatti delivers a career  performance playing teacher Paul Hunham, a curmudgeon who has such a grumpy attitude but beneath his disconsolate and misanthropic exterior, there's an underlying lonliness  He views the students with a degree of contempt even though he's a great educator. His arc of going from grumpy teacher to slowly mellowing out and not being such an old fuddy-duddy was somewhat predictable but very well handled and Giamatti's performances added a lot of credibility to the role. Watching him in the role, you get the sense that something has happened in his life and he should have been somewhere else in more glorious surroundings, but he isn't. Over the course of the film, Hunham becomes a sort of reluctant father figure for this unlikely trio.

Da'Vine Joy Randolph from Hulu's Only Murders in the Building delivers a heartbreaking performance as Mary Lamb, the Barton Academy cafeteria manager. She is grieving the loss of her son in the Viatnam War. Her role as the surrogate mother of the trio is beautifully juxaposed to Hunham's stern, relucatant father father.

Dominic Sessa, in a breakout performance, is  playing Angus Tully. 

Carrie Preston, Tate Donovan