'The Holdovers’ delivers heart-felt moments

The highly acclaimed film, ‘The Holdovers,’ started gaining buzz when it started to show at film festivals. ‘The Holdovers’ premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival before being released in select theaters two months later.

After it started its theatrical run, positive reviews and word-of-mouth have been flowing and the film was also named one of the Top 10 films of 2023 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. The film has also received many other accolades, which I’ll mention later on.

‘The Holdovers’ follows a curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during holiday break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go.

Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook who has just lost a son in Vietnam.

‘The Holdovers’ is definitely a must-see film that is not to be missed during Winter Fest. This drama delivers remarkable performances, some touching, thought-provoking moments and segments that are really humorous.

First off, I truly enjoy the look and feel of this film. ‘The Holdovers’ is set in the early 1970s and the filmmakers gave it all they got to make this film look like something that was produced during that decade.

The producers and the director used camera lenses that were time appropriate for that era during that time that gave the film the vintage feel and worked on the color grading during post-production to complete the look. They even created retro style logos for the film’s production companies which really helped with the feel of the film.

All of the actors did a spectacular job with their performances and both Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Jay Randolph really deserve the accolades that they’ve been receiving for this film. Both Giamatti and Randolph have moments that can make you laugh and feel moved.

There’s a scene in ‘The Holdovers’ where Mary Lamb (Randolph) breaks down at a party when she’s thinking about her recently deceased son who was killed in Vietnam. Her acting during that moment is exceptionally moving and I hope Randoph and Giamatti receive the Oscar that they deserve. Dominic Sessa also does a great job in his debut role as Angus Tully.

‘The Holdovers’ is a film that will truly make you laugh and maybe shed a tear during the emotional, moving moments. Seeing the Paul Hunham character (Giamatti) become closer to people during the holiday break really feels good and it’s nice to see his character (who was never close to anyone) slowly become closer to every one.

So, during the Winter Film Festival, I highly suggest you do not miss ‘The Holdovers.’

The cast includes: Giamatti as Paul Hunham; Sessa as Angus Tully; Randolph as Mary Lamb; Brady Hepner as Teddy Kountze; Ian Dolley as Alex Ollerman; Jim Kaplan as Ye-Joon Park; Michael Provost as Jason Smith and Carrie Preston as Miss Lydia Crane.

‘The Holdovers’ is written by David Hemingson and directed by Alexander Payne (Downsizing; Nebraska; The Descendants).

During the current awards season, ‘The Holdovers’ has won two Golden Globes and has five nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing.

‘The Holdovers’ is rated R for language, some drug use and brief sexual material and has a running time of 133 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhKLpJmHhIg