The Holdovers movie storyline. Barton men don’t lie. This is just one of the many rules Professor Hunham (Paul Giamatti) takes much too seriously as he hands out poor grades at an elite boarding school in 1971. As he dismisses the politics that come along with educating the children of people in high places, he’s punished by the headmaster who gives him a most undesirable assignment for the winter break: to stay at the school and supervise the students who are unable to go home.
Hunham resolves to have the students suffer with him, forcing them to start studying next semester’s curriculum ahead of time. Among them, 15-year-old Angus (Dominic Sessa), bright but belligerent, makes a ruckus. Teacher and student become foes, antagonizing one another and tiring themselves out, as Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), the school cafeteria manager, observes from the sidelines, herself alone after recently losing her son in the Vietnam War. As the petulant pair succumb to the depressing truth that they’ve got little else but each other this holiday season, Professor Hunham starts to soften up and they begin to see themselves in one another.
Giamatti gives a career-high performance as the risible teacher who delights in doling out punishment, while newcomer Sessa makes an immediate name for himself, revealing layers of complexity to his character’s rebellious nature. With The Holdovers, director Alexander Payne (Downsizing, TIFF ’17) makes a delicate point about how a first impression never tells the whole truth and shows that the pains and tragedies that feel specific to us actually make us a lot more alike than unalike.
The Holdovers is an upcoming American comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne and written by David Hemingson. The film stars Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Dominic Sessa. It is scheduled to premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, and to be given a limited release in theaters in the United States on October 27, 2023, followed by a wide release on November 10.
The Holdovers (2023)
Directed by: Alexander Payne
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa, Tate Donovan, Carrie Preston, Gillian Vigman, Michael Provost, Brady Hepner, Colleen Clinton, Darby Lily Lee-Stack, Oscar Wahlberg
Screenplay by: David Hemingson
Production Design by: Ryan Warren Smith
Cinematography by: Eigil Bryld
Film Editing by: Kevin Tent
Costume Design by: Wendy Chuck
Set Decoration by: Markus Wittmann
Art Direction by: Jeremy Woolsey
Music by: Mark Orton
MPAA Rating: R for language, some drug use and brief sexual material.
Distributed by: Focus Features
Release Date: September 10, 2023 (TIFF), November 22, 2023 (United States)
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