The Holdovers (2023)

The Holdovers:

Alexander Payne’s (Director of Nebraska, Election, and Sideways) 2023 film The Holdovers, which is set in an Englishwhomthat boarding school who remains on campus during Christmas break to supervise held o is set in in 1970 and follows a curmudgeonly history teacher (played by Paul Giamatti) at a Newver students, and ends up forming an unlikely bond with a brainy but damaged troublemaker.

The Holdovers has almost immediately become a contemporary Christmas classic. The film received 5 Academy Award nominations and won Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for Da'Vine Joy Randolph’s performance in the film. The film follows an unlikely group of loners and outsiders, all of whom find themselves in a state of melancholy that the season often entails, but find comfort and companionship amongst each other despite their vastly different backgrounds. The Holdovers is nothing if not cozy, evoking the texture and sincerity of a throwback 70s tear-jerker that you might have caught on TV. While it may not have the grandeur of something like Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, it certainly contains the same kind of humanity that we often need to be reminded of this time of year.

Rated R.