The Holdovers

My favorite film of 2023. Oscars wait down the road.

This is a unique film on multiple levels. Paul Giamatti has already won the Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Best Actor awards and Da’Vine Joy Randolph similar awards along with the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress.

You will watch Mr. Giamatti play Pual Hunham, a curmudgeonly, New England prep school instructor. Single, with no family, he is disliked by nearly all students and fellow teachers.

The film centers on the Christmas break in 1970 where Giamatti was forced to remain on campus supervising a small group of students with nowhere to go. The only other adult is the school’s head cook, brilliantly played by the above-mentioned Ms. Randolph, whose son just died in Vietnam.

Only one student, Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), remained after the others found a trip home. A brainy troublemaker, Angus is bitter that his divorced mother remarried and cancelled their holiday trip to St. Kitts.

Giamatti is captivating as a stern history teacher who simply wants Angus to follow his demands and keep his distance. But he starts to melt as he spends time drinking booze with a depressed Ms. Randolph who mourns the death of her only son.

In the process, the spirit of Christmas helps the three of them merge as a troubled family. It encourages Giamatti to buy an old Christmas tree to share with them and drive Angus to Boston to visit his father in an institution.

But what grabs your heart is watching Ms. Randolph gather her dead son’s possessions and give them to her pregnant sister. Be prepared to wipe a few tears from your eyes.

In closing I think Mr. Giamatti will challenge Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) for the Best Actor Oscar, while Ms. Randolph is my favorite pick for the Best Supporting Actress award.

Regardless, take the time to see this great film. It captures the Christmas spirit in a way you will never forget.