{"id":27397,"date":"2023-11-09T00:55:36","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T08:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=27397"},"modified":"2023-11-09T00:55:36","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T08:55:36","slug":"the-holdovers-makes-the-honor-roll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=27397","title":{"rendered":"THE HOLDOVERS Makes the Honor Roll"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 133 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film from Focus Features opens in Albuquerque, New\nMexico on November 10th.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll be honest. For most, a film about a curmudgeonly\nteacher in a prep school filled with privileged students doesn\u2019t sound like a\nparticularly relatable or even entertaining cinematic experience. However, The\nHoldovers is quite a remarkable movie. The writing is so strong and the\nperformances so compelling that the story does manage to involve viewers in the\ncharacters and their struggles. As a result, this surprising comedy\/drama\nstands as one of the strongest efforts of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story takes place in 1971 and is set on the campus of\nBarton Academy, a remote prep school filled with wealthy and arrogant students.\nIrritable history teacher Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) unsurprisingly has no\nfans in his classroom, but he is also on the outs with employers after failing\nthe son of a prominent figure and donor to the school. As punishment over the\nChristmas holidays, he\u2019s forced to stay on campus with pupils who cannot return\nhome to their families. This includes Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), a bright but\nextremely disobedient and difficult student. As the days pass, the film focuses\non everyone\u2019s struggle to endure the lengthy break, including sharp-witted cook\nMary Lamb (Da\u2019Vine Joy Randolph), who has recently lost her son in the VietNam\nwar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s very clear from the outset that this picture is\ninspired by character-driven films of the 1970s. In fact, it goes out of its\nway to adopt a visual style that makes it look exactly like a picture from the\nera. The color scheme is slightly muted and even the company logos and opening\ncredits feel like a perfectly crafted recreation of older movies. For those who\nappreciate titles from this period, it\u2019s a fun little homage, but by the end of\nthe first act the movie diverges from the obvious visual tributes and focuses\non the leads and their personal trials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As details about them are slowly revealed, the characters\nfeel less like conventional leads and come across as eccentric and troubled,\nbut authentic individuals. Hunham and Tully are both prickly, with more faults\nthan heroic tendencies. These are uncommon traits in most dramas with similar\nset-ups. This approach allows for amusing pointed barbs, as well as the\noccasionally insensitive and hurtful comment. In a very general sense, the\nbitter Hunham hates the privileged status of his students and sees every one of\nthem as inferior, while Tully does his best to hide an unfortunate secret. And,\nwhile Lamb puts on a brave face, the grief over her lost child slowly begins to\nbubble its way to the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A great deal of praise should go to director Alexander Payne\n(Election, Sideways, Nebraska<\/em>) and, of course, the cast, who are all\nphenomenal. Some of the characters aren\u2019t initially likable, but the filmmaker\nand performers succeed spectacularly in using biting humor to keep viewers\nintrigued until they are all fully understood. Through their cutting and\ncombative confrontations, their outward behavior is ultimately shown to be a\ncoping mechanism for other problems. And it should also be noted that the\npicture never feels the need to force emotive sentiment during its final act,\nand yet it still feels moving and poignant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Admittedly, there aren\u2019t any stunning shocks or major twists\nin the story (although Humham does make a surprising admission about his past\nlate in the film). But while the plot may be familiar, it\u2019s rare to see a film\nhandle tone, humor and character arcs this well. It may be a small picture, but\nThe Holdovers<\/em> is a striking and memorable film that deserves plenty of\nattention from audiences over the holiday season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 133 minutes This film from Focus Features opens in Albuquerque, New Mexico on November 10th. I\u2019ll be honest. For most, a film about a curmudgeonly teacher in a prep school filled with privileged students doesn\u2019t sound like a particularly relatable or even entertaining cinematic experience. However, The Holdovers is quite a remarkable movie. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[213,995,4660,5041,6047,6251,7700,9245,15822,15922,16334,20995,20996,20997,20998],"class_list":["post-27397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-213","tag-alexander-payne","tag-comedy","tag-davine-joy-randolph","tag-dominic-sessa","tag-drama","tag-focus-features","tag-holidays","tag-paul-giamatti","tag-period","tag-prep-school","tag-the-holdovers","tag-the-holdovers-film-review","tag-the-holdovers-movie-review","tag-the-holdovers-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}