By Hermione Silver, Year 11
I’ve never been a big fan of awards ceremonies; the Oscars, the Grammys, the Emmys, they all just feel a bit pointless to me. Critics can sit around in a room for days comparing the cinematography, acting, music, and whatever else they deem so important. Not to discredit these key aspects, but at the end of the day, a film appeals to the individual for so many personal reasons that may not apply to the next person.
Despite my fairly clear-cut opinion on awards ceremonies, I still follow certain awards ceremonies, notably the Oscars and BAFTAs. Whether it is out of curiosity or a want not to feel left out at the dinner table I don’t know, but both ceremonies have released their nominees recently and so I decided to take a look. Out of the highly nominated films are those we have been expecting, big blockbusters like Oppenheimer, Barbie, and Killers of The Flower Moon. However, there are also some films that only earn a fraction of the popularity and box office scores of their counterparts. This was the case this year for films such as The Anatomy of a Fall, Maestro, Poor Things and The Holdovers. After hearing great reviews and having watched its trailer, I was pretty certain I would enjoy The Holdovers.
Directed by Alexander Payne, The Holdovers tells the story of a curmudgeonly teacher called Mr. Hunham (Paul Giamatti), or “Wall-eye”, nicknamed for his unfortunate lazy eye. This teacher of ancient history is forced to stay at a prestigious boarding school in New England over the winter holidays to babysit the students whose families have not picked them up. He forms an unlikely bond with a troublemaker of a student, Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), whose mother neglected him to spend Christmas with her new husband, and with the head cook at the school, Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who is in mourning for her son Curtis.
The exposition doesn’t paint the main characters particularly well, with the exception of Mary. Angus and Mr. Hunham appear stuck in their ways; One being a spoiled and rude teenager, while the other is a heartless and unhappy man with what seems to be a mild drinking problem. The story then opens up to portray these three damaged characters, just trying to navigate their way through a lonely Christmas break without any company, but for the eclectic acquaintances they have been left with. From afar, it seems to be another take on, what is in my opinion, to be quite an overused plot line. That being said, the characters are so well-written and the parallels between them serve as a great point of connection. Additionally, when characters are first introduced as rude or entitled, then personally I feel like it can be hard to disregard their flaws and come around to them. This is certainly not the case for The Holdovers, as all three characters have redeeming qualities that make you want them to find joy amongst their loneliness. Without wanting to spoil too much, I found myself tearing up a bit at the end, which I will credit as a testament to the amazing writing.
It is not just the characters that make a film and in the case of The Holdovers, I could find a multitude of reasons that make the watch well worth it. As mentioned before, the story is set in a posh boarding school over the winter holidays in 1970, so the film looks visually stunning, reminiscent of Dead Poets Society. In addition, the film is categorised as a comedy, and certainly lives up to the label. The jokes do not feel forced at any point but are not lacking either, so I felt the humour was quite charming. The music was well-chosen and the film’s pace is good so that the ending does not feel rushed or dragged out, and the actors are a pleasure to watch.
You might have been asking yourself what my seemingly irrelevant rant about awards ceremonies has to do with any of this. I think the point I am trying to make is that if it were not for the Oscars I would not have watched The Holdovers, and what a shame that would have been, this being one of those films with a moral that sticks with you. Every day, we meet new people and write them off for whatever reason, but this film shows us that everyone suffers and that maybe we can find some common ground upon which we can build a meaningful bond. In short, The Holdovers is a great watch and I am glad to see it get the attention it deserves. So, with that being said, do yourself a favour and get around to watching it!
